High winds moved in behind a cold front during the night of the 13th. These winds caused blowing dust, reducing the visibility down to a few miles or so at times. The lowest visibility with the frontal passage was reported at McCook of four miles. As the night progressed the gusts remained strong but decreased below 60 MPH. During the day on the 14th the winds increased to near or above 60 MPH sporadically through the day then declined some that night. On the 15th a few sporadic wind gusts around 60 MPH occurred by early afternoon then declined.   The peak gust for the event was 76 MPH at McCook.
The very strong winds during the night caused embers four and a half miles northwest of Benkelman to ignite a wildfire that moved southeast and prompted an evacuation order of the town.  Only one small building by town was burned by the fire.  Roughly 400 acres was burned.  A total of sixteen fire trucks worked to put the fire out.

Wildfire in DUNDY, NEBRASKA
From 15-JAN-21 23:56:00 to 16-JAN-21 07:30:00 (MST-7)
Property damage: 2.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Shortly before midnight the very strong winds stirred up embers from a fire four and a half miles northwest of town that had burned out weeks ago.  The winds directed the fire southeast toward Benkelman.  The fire grew larger as it headed southeast.  Shortly after 3 AM MST the assistant emergency manager issued an evacuation order for Benkelman due to the fire continuing to move toward town.  The smoke from the wildfire was thick enough to drop the visibility to near zero in some spots.  The evacuation order was lifted at 7:30 AM MST.  The fire was stopped on the northwest edge of Benkelman where part of the fire had jumped Hwy 34.  There were some isolated spots in the northwest part of town as far as two blocks away from the fire that were burned from embers of the wildfire.  A restaurant near where the wildfire was stopped had extensive smoke damage, as did the high school.
The only building that was burned was a small outbuilding near a motel on the northwest side of town.  A total of sixteen fire trucks helped put the fire out.
Key impacts:  wildfire.

High Wind in DUNDY, NEBRASKA
From 13-JAN-21 22:30:00 to 15-JAN-21 13:30:00 (MST-7)
Magnitude: 52.00 EG
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: ASOS

Based on proximity there were several rounds of wind gusts around 60 MPH during this timeframe.  Blowing dust occurred with the cold front passage.  Key impacts: high winds, blowing dust.

High Wind in HITCHCOCK, NEBRASKA
From 13-JAN-21 23:30:00 to 15-JAN-21 12:40:00 (CST-6)
Magnitude: 52.00 MG
Property damage: 3.50K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

There were several rounds of wind gusts around 60 MPH during this timeframe.  Blowing dust occurred with the cold front passage.  During the 14th the high winds blew down a six inch diameter tree limb in Trenton.  This broke two windows in the museum.  Key impacts: high winds, damage, blowing dust.

High Wind in RED WILLOW, NEBRASKA
From 13-JAN-21 23:35:00 to 15-JAN-21 10:00:00 (CST-6)
Magnitude: 66.00 MG
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: ASOS

There were several rounds of wind gusts between 60 and 70 MPH during this timeframe, with a peak gust of 76 MPH.  Blowing dust occurred with the cold front passage reducing the visibility down to two and a half miles.  Key impacts: high winds, blowing dust.