Yesterday was something else in Kansas! It looked like the dust bowl as the howling winds lifted the dirt from eastern Colorado and western Kansas into the air, mixing it with smoke from numerous range fires, and slamming the particulates across Kansas and on into Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, and beyond. We here in Derby were at the southern tip of the narrow band of storms that were basically aligned north-to-south, moving east at speeds faster than the highest legal land-based vehicle speed limit of 75mph.
The tiny bit of rain that we received (0.14") was mostly dilute mud. Our windows are now grime streaked. (Some of the grimy streaks show in the photo, above - IF one clicks on it to enlarge the above image.) But, hey, we got off really, really easy. Some of the state is still dealing with prairie fires left over from yesterday - mostly caused by downed power lines. Some small power companies turned off the juice for a couple of hours to prevent more fires' being set.
Firefighters and emergency responders are battling fires spreading across parts of central and western Kansas after a powerful storm blew through the state.
By MARGARET STAFFORD, Associated Press
Fires that erupted across Kansas continued to burn Thursday as the state responded to a wind-whipped storm that also churned up dust and reduced visibility for drivers, causing three fatalities.
Fires in 11 counties from Russell County west burned just under 400,000 acres, with about 365,850 acres in a fire that stretched across Ellis, Russell, Osborne and Rooks counties, said Shawna Hartman, spokeswoman for the Kansas Forest Service. Smaller fires were also burning in those counties and other areas.
The storm system on Wednesday carried winds that reached up to 90 mph in some areas. The winds combined with low humidity and dry vegetation and grasses to fuel fires in parts of western and central Kansas.
The dust reduced visibility on roads across the state, causing three fatalities, 20 injury accidents and 51 non-injury accidents, the Kansas Highway Patrol said.
While not at all comparable to the spate of tornados experienced by Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Illinois last Friday with the attendant deaths and destruction, this assault hit some of the farmers, hard. After evacuating to evade being trapped in the fires, themselves, some came home to dead and dying animals and destroyed buildings and equipment.
Most of Kansas is in drought conditions. According to my records from our own rain gauge, we received only 0.5" of rain in the first 12 days of November, and nothing after that until the 0.14" last evening.
BTW: The above Associated Press article says that winds reach 90mph. According to the weather service reports, there were spot reports of winds' reaching over 100 mph. I believe that the highest report was 107mph. The 250 miles of I-70 from Salina KS to the Colorado border was closed in both directions for some time to get high profile vehicles off of the Interstate. Too many semis were being blown over.
I saw that KS had hurricane force winds, fires and electrical outages on our local news the next evening. Texted Dudette to make sure everyone made it thru okay (which she affirmed).
Farming/ranching is a tough life since so much of it is at the mercy of Mother Nature and she is horrible about keeping her calendar up to date so that others can see what is coming up.
Posted by: bogie | December 19, 2021 at 04:35 AM
I'm surprised by the reach of coverage - that you saw the news, Bogie.
Yes, Cat II force winds. Normally, farming/ranching is really tough on the small farmer/rancher; but, I'm not sure there are any of those left, anyway. When I read about a rancher having to put down hundreds of head of cattle, I don't get the image of a small operation. (I thought that my grandfather's 25-head dairy farm was big in the 1940s!) Wildlife casualties were high in the fires, too. Really sad.
Posted by: Cop Car | December 19, 2021 at 10:15 AM
Sounds like serious damage we didn't hear as much about in the news media. Glad it was no worse for you where you live than what you described.
Posted by: Joared | December 20, 2021 at 01:00 AM
Joared--Too much other news to take notice of 400,000 acres of prairie fire in Kansas. Fun fact: Kansas covers about half the geography that is covered by California while being populated by only 13.5% of the population. California has had three (single) fires that exceeded 400,000 acres in the past 3 or 4 years.
Posted by: Cop Car | December 20, 2021 at 07:09 AM
OMG that is all horrific. The picture of the fire against the cow - wow. Why did I not hear this on the news? I"m sorry you are dealing with this.
Posted by: margaret | December 20, 2021 at 05:39 PM
Welcome, Margaret. Thanks for the thoughts. Fortunately for us suburbanites, well away from these particular fires, dealing with it isn't hard. We feel for those who cannot say the same!
Posted by: Cop Car | December 21, 2021 at 11:04 AM