Thunderstorm Wind — Rooks, Kansas

2024-04-15 · near Webster, Rooks, Kansas

Event narrative

A wind gust of 60 MPH was measured by a mesonet station located four miles north-northeast of Webster State Park.

Wider weather episode

A closed upper low/trough was over the Central Plains which brought an increase in atmospheric lift. Moisture and instability increased across the area during the afternoon of the previous day. Wind shear and helicity increased after sunset. As the low moved northeast over Kansas and Nebraska, a cold front with gusty northwest winds moved into the area during the day on April 16th. These conditions were conducive to the development of severe weather. Strong to severe storms in the form of a QLCS moved northeastward across north central Kansas during the early morning hours of April 16th. The storms produced wind gusts up to 64 mph which resulted in wind damage, an EF-0 tornado (in Smith County), and a non-thunderstorm wind gust of 68 mph. The severe reports began just before 1 AM and ended just after 3 AM CDT.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (39.4500, -99.4100)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1174848. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.