Thunderstorm Wind — Jewell, Kansas

2025-08-09 · near Jewell, Jewell, Kansas

Event narrative

A wind gust of 68 MPH was measured by a mesonet station located three miles west-northwest of Jewell.

Wider weather episode

A stalled frontal boundary tied to a surface low pressure in south central Kansas became the focal point for early overnight, wind-producing severe thunderstorms across north Central Kansas. At least dozen reports of wind gusts in excess of 58 mph were recorded by Automated Weather Observations Stations and mesonet sites in the six-county area. An 86 mph wind gust was recorded at a mesonet station southeast of Long Island in Phillips county. A peak wind of 90 mph occurred 7 miles northeast of Burr Oak as thunderstorms intensified before moving into Nebraska, after which the thunderstorms morphed into a large damaging wind complex in the Cornhusker State. Fortunately, widespread damage was not reported, though there were likely areas of tree damage and sporadic property damage with the high wind gusts.

With the frontal boundary stalled in the area, deep moisture convergence increased during late afternoon hours as low-level moisture pooled near the front. A broad upper trough was moving through the Northern Plains and Northern Rockies at the time. As the trough approached, a lead shortwave in northwest Kansas tapped into surface-based CAPE of 4,000 J/kg and little to no Convective Inhibition (CIN) to spark the thunderstorms. Despite the low-level moisture, steep near surface lapse rates developed as temperatures reached 95 degrees. This high instability became the 'juice' for the storms later that night. A surge of dry air in the 850-700 MB layer aboard strong southwest winds pumped into north central Kansas and likely supported the strong wind gusts produced by the thunderstorms. Eventually, a 40 mph low-level jet fed into the frontal zone and pushed the storms northeast along the front into Nebraska.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (39.6800, -98.2100)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1298686. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.