Friday, March 1, Governor Laura Kelly will sign the proclamation declaring March 4-8 as Severe Weather Awareness Week March 4-8, 2019.
A tornado siren safety drill is scheduled to be conducted in Hugoton and Moscow Tuesday, March 5 at 10:00 a.m.
If there is inclement weather Tuesday, the backup date is Thursday, March 7 at 10:00 a.m.
Don’t forget to stay ahead of the storm and enroll with CodeRed alerts! Click here to be instructed in how to become a member of CodeRed and receive text messages or phone calls about weather warnings, cancellations and other community events. Also be sure to follow the “US National Weather Service Dodge City Kansas” on Facebook for up-to-date local weather information.
Last year in southwest Kansas, there were 509 reports of severe wind, hail or flooding, compared to 527 in 2017. There were six tornadoes, well below the average of 28. The largest hail, measuring four inches in diameter, was recorded in Ford County May 29, 2018. The strongest wind was 87 mph and was measured in Stanton County July 29, 2018.
Severe Thunderstorm Events in 2018
There were only six tornado reports in southwest Kansas in 2018, and most of these were weak. The climatological average is 28 tornadoes. In this part of the state, the first tornado of the year was May 18, and the last tornado was July 13. The most prominent tornado occurred near Ensign May 29 and was visible from the NWS office in Dodge City located about 15 miles away. The tornado developed northwest of Ensign in Gray County and moved east-northeast, dissipating just inside Ford County. The tornado managed to miss structures that could have been damaged. Scouring of fields was observed to be eight inches deep in spots.
Several episodes of very large hail occurred across western Kansas in 2018. May 17, the most notable storm developed in Colorado and moved across Scott, Lane, Ness, Hodgeman and northeastern Ford counties. Winds up to 80 mph and hail as large as baseballs tore off siding and dented cars. Crops across parts of Scott County were destroyed. Most of the houses in Dighton suffered broken windows and roof damage. This storm left a hail swath ten to 15 miles wide. There were three consecutive days from June 22 to June 24 where severe wind gusts were observed at the National Weather Service office in Dodge City – 80, 70 and 59 mph wind gusts respectively) as lines of storms moved eastward and southeastward each day across western Kansas.
The National Weather Service office in Dodge City serves the southwest Kansas area. There are seven offices throughout Kansas. Each office is staffed by a team of highly trained meteorologists, technicians, electronics technicians, information technology specialists, hydrologists and administrative assistants. NWS offices are staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days per year.
Contact the NWS office to learn more about the weather, weather safety, NOAA Weather Radio, office tours or to learn more about careers in meteorology in the NWS or in NOAA.
