A quick-moving line of severe thunderstorm wind gusts raced from southwest-to-northeast across parts of this six-county North Central Kansas area on this Sunday evening, mainly between 7-9 p.m. CDT. While strong gusts of 40-55 MPH were fairly common across much of the area, the primary swath of damaging winds in the 60-75 MPH range impacted Rooks, Phillips, Smith and northwestern Osborne counties. A few of the most impressive measured gusts from personal weather stations included: 75 MPH south-southwest of Stockton, 73 MPH north-northeast of Codell and 70 MPH near Damar. In addition, airport sensors at Phillipsburg and Smith Center clocked peak gusts of 62 and 59 MPH, respectively. As for actual wind damage, the majority of ground-truth reports focused in Rooks County, including downed power poles in Stockton and Zurich, and large tree branches knocked down in Plainville.
Tracing this storm complex back to its roots, it originated in east-central Colorado during the early-to-mid afternoon, before occasionally flaring up to severe levels as it traversed parts of northwest Kansas mid-to-late afternoon. However, the aforementioned, concentrated corridor of damaging winds did not really take shape until shortly before storms entered the local area into Rooks County. In the mid-upper levels, the main instigator was a low-amplitude shortwave trough lifting east-northeast into northern Kansas from the west. At the surface, convection was largely tied to a triple point centered over western portions of the Nebraska-Kansas border, featuring the intersection of a 1000 millibar low, a north-south oriented dryline, and a northeast-southwest oriented cold front. Early evening mesoscale convective parameters in North Central Kansas featured around 1000 J/kg mixed-layer CAPE and 30-40 knots of effective deep-layer wind shear.

Thunderstorm Wind in PHILLIPS, KANSAS
From 21-APR-19 18:52:00 to 21-APR-19 18:52:00 (CST-6)
Location: SPEED
Magnitude: 56.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

A 65 MPH wind gust was measured by a mesonet station located 3 miles west-southwest of Speed.

Thunderstorm Wind in SMITH, KANSAS
From 21-APR-19 19:46:00 to 21-APR-19 19:46:00 (CST-6)
Location: CORA
Magnitude: 55.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

A 63 MPH wind gust was measured by a mesonet station located 8 miles north of Bellaire.

Thunderstorm Wind in PHILLIPS, KANSAS
From 21-APR-19 19:05:00 to 21-APR-19 19:05:00 (CST-6)
Location: AGRA
Magnitude: 53.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

A 61 MPH wind gust was measured by a mesonet station located 5 miles west-southwest of Agra.

Thunderstorm Wind in PHILLIPS, KANSAS
From 21-APR-19 19:07:00 to 21-APR-19 19:07:00 (CST-6)
Location: PHILLIPSBURG ARPT
Magnitude: 54.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: AWOS

A 62 MPH gust was measured at Phillipsburg airport.

Thunderstorm Wind in OSBORNE, KANSAS
From 21-APR-19 19:14:00 to 21-APR-19 19:14:00 (CST-6)
Location: ALTON
Magnitude: 53.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

A 61 MPH wind gust was measured by a mesonet station located 5 miles northeast of Alton.

Thunderstorm Wind in PHILLIPS, KANSAS
From 21-APR-19 18:54:00 to 21-APR-19 18:54:00 (CST-6)
Location: SPEED
Magnitude: 59.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

A 68 MPH wind gust was measured by a mesonet station located 3 miles west-southwest of Speed.

Thunderstorm Wind in SMITH, KANSAS
From 21-APR-19 19:32:00 to 21-APR-19 19:32:00 (CST-6)
Location: SMITH CENTER ARPT
Magnitude: 51.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: AWOS

A 59 MPH gust was measured at Smith Center airport.

Thunderstorm Wind in ROOKS, KANSAS
From 21-APR-19 18:30:00 to 21-APR-19 18:45:00 (CST-6)
Location: PALCO
Magnitude: 65.00 MG
Property damage: 25.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Damaging winds as high as 75 MPH raced across Rooks County. Measured wind gusts included 75 MPH at 7:37 PM CDT by a mesonet site located 5 miles south-southwest of Stockton, 73 MPH at 7:44 PM CDT by a mesonet site located 8 miles north-northeast of Codell, and 70 MPH at 7:37 PM CDT by a mesonet site located 1 mile south-southwest of Damar. Power poles were knocked down in both Stockton and Zurich, and tree limbs of 6 to 8 inches in diameter were downed in Plainville.