Thunderstorm Wind — Sherman, Kansas

2004-05-29 · near Goodland, Sherman, Kansas

Event narrative

Widespread tree damage in town with 6-8 inch diameter branches down. Near zero visibility in blowing dirt resulted in a fatal accident on interstate-70 when the driver slowed down due to reduced visibility and was hit from behind.

Wider weather episode

This major, widespread damaging wind event began during the afternoon as thunderstorms developed across eastern Colorado and moved into extreme NW Kansas and extreme SW Nebraska. The event transitioned from small hail events and individual thunderstorm downbursts producing minor damage to a large scale high-wind event sweeping rapidly east away from the parent thunderstorms. Widespread winds of 60 to 70 mph occurred with swaths of stronger winds reaching over 90 mph. Tree damage was extensive over a 10 county area with some trees 18 to 24 inches in diameter being snapped off above ground. Numerous reports were received of small buildings and sheds destroyed along with widespread roof damage. Power poles were also either pushed over or broken, resulting in areas of power outage for 1-2 hours. A huge cloud of dirt was raised as the strong outflow raced eastward, likely enhanced by several years of dry soils. Visibility was instantly reduced to near zero with law enforcement and rescue personnel stating it was difficult to see beyond the vehicle hood when driving. Two fatalities were reported on Interstate-70, including the death of a Kansas state senator, whose vehicle was struck from behind by a semi-trailer as he slowed down in reduced visibility. Other vehicular accidents also occurred on county highways resulting in minor property damage.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (39.8167, -100.5167)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5402910. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.