Thunderstorm Wind in Barton County, Kansas

During the early morning hours of Tuesday June 17th, a line of storms developed into a bow echo as it progressed south. This line of storms produced extremely strong winds as it tracked south, with Hutchinson reporting an 89 mph gust and the Wichita Airport seeing a 102 mph gust! This was the strongest wind gust ever reported at the Wichita Airport.

These extreme winds caused extensive damage with Sedgwick County receiving around 250 reports of power lines being down which resulted in around 85,000 residents with out power. The stronger wind gusts around 50 to 60 mph lasted for around an hour.

Additional storms developed throughout the day producing wind gusts of 60 to 80 mph, near four inch hail in Arkansas City and a brief tornado in Harper County. Tree damage was extensive throughout much of Wichita and surrounding areas especially with multiple rounds of strong winds. The hail in Arkansas City was baseball to softball sized which led to damage of vehicles, homes and businesses across town.