Although parts of this six-county North Central Kansas area received a very light dusting of snow on this Wednesday, it managed to avoid the steadier snow and blizzard conditions that slammed parts of Nebraska only 50-100 miles to the north. However, it could not avoid the same feisty northwest winds that its northern neighbor endured, as much of the day featured sustained speeds commonly 30-40 MPH and gusts of 45-60+ MPH. While observations from nearby/surrounding counties strongly suggest that all six local counties observed at least sporadic/brief instances of sustained 40 MPH and/or 58+ MPH gusts, the only verified severe-criteria gusts within the area included 61 MPH at the Phillipsburg airport and 58 MPH at Rooks County Regional Airport. There were no known ground-truth damage reports.
In the mid-upper levels, the main driving force behind this high wind event was the passage of a deep, slightly-positively-tilted trough, with its primary vorticity maximum tracking from the Central Rockies on the evening of the 22nd, and then across the heart of Kansas-Nebraska during the day on the 23rd before departing into the Upper Midwest/Upper Great Lakes through the evening-overnight. At the surface, the associated low pressure center gradually intensified from around 994 millibars as it crossed North Central Kansas during the overnight-early morning of the 22nd-23rd, to 988 millibars by mid-day in the IA-MN-WI border area, and then maintained intensity while reaching Lake Superior overnight. Locally, the initial surge of strong northwest winds passed through between midnight-3 a.m. behind the main synoptic cold front, but gusts largely peaked around 50 MPH or less. The overall-strongest winds of the day then occurred several hours later between mid-morning and early-afternoon, corresponding to the peak surface pressure gradient between the departing/deepening low and strong high pressure nosing in from the west-northwest (for much of the day the west-to-east gradient across the state of Kansas averaged 12-15 millibars). Between 5-7 p.m. wind gusts diminished to around 30 MPH or less, and they further decreased through the remainder of the night.

High Wind in PHILLIPS, KANSAS
From 23-DEC-20 09:00:00 to 23-DEC-20 15:00:00 (CST-6)
Magnitude: 53.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: AWOS

Periodic gusts near 60 MPH and sustained speeds near 40 MPH occurred across the county. The peak gust of the day was 61 MPH, which was recorded at 9:53 AM and 12:53 PM by the Phillipsburg Airport AWOS.

High Wind in ROOKS, KANSAS
From 23-DEC-20 09:00:00 to 23-DEC-20 15:00:00 (CST-6)
Magnitude: 50.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: AWOS

Periodic gusts near 60 MPH and sustained speeds near 40 MPH occurred across the county. The peak gust of the day was 58 MPH, which was recorded at 1:47 PM by the Rooks County Airport AWOS.

High Wind in SMITH, KANSAS
From 23-DEC-20 09:00:00 to 23-DEC-20 16:00:00 (CST-6)
Magnitude: 52.00 EG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: AWOS

Based on surrounding observations, periodic gusts near 60 MPH and sustained speeds near 40 MPH occurred across the county.

High Wind in OSBORNE, KANSAS
From 23-DEC-20 09:00:00 to 23-DEC-20 16:00:00 (CST-6)
Magnitude: 52.00 EG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: AWOS

Based on surrounding observations, periodic gusts near 60 MPH and sustained speeds near 40 MPH occurred across the county.

High Wind in JEWELL, KANSAS
From 23-DEC-20 09:00:00 to 23-DEC-20 16:00:00 (CST-6)
Magnitude: 52.00 EG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: AWOS

Based on surrounding observations, periodic gusts near 60 MPH and sustained speeds near 40 MPH occurred across the county.

High Wind in MITCHELL, KANSAS
From 23-DEC-20 09:00:00 to 23-DEC-20 16:00:00 (CST-6)
Magnitude: 52.00 EG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: AWOS

Based on surrounding observations, periodic gusts near 60 MPH and sustained speeds near 40 MPH occurred across the county.