Dust Storm — Graham, Kansas

2025-05-14 · Graham, Kansas

Event narrative

Dispatcher on duty reported quarter mile visibility in a wall of dust along thunderstorm outflow boundary moving east through Hill City. These conditions continued across the county.

Wider weather episode

During the evening a group of thunderstorms moved northeast through part of Northwest Kansas. The main threat with these storms was straight-line winds with the storm activity, which continued for some locations after the thunderstorms had ended. The straight-line winds from these thunderstorms continued to produce an expanding outflow boundary as the storm activity moved in Kansas. Wind gusts of 60-86 MPH were reported as the outflow boundary moved through, with gusts around 70 MPH reported even after the thunderstorm activity had moved on. The highest wind gust of 86 MPH was reported north of Ludell. With the dry soils, dust storm conditions were reported as the outflow boundary moved through. The dust storm lasted for roughly 30 minutes before ending. A few of the thunderstorms managed to produce large hail, with the largest being half dollar size at St. Francis.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1262573. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.