Intense low pressure system brings prolonged period of strong to severe wind gusts to north central Kansas from the early morning hours on the 14th, though the afternoon on the 15th. The initial surge of strong wind gusts of 50-60mph occurred along and behind of a strong cold front that was associated with an intense (sub-990 mb) surface low pressure near the North Dakota/Canada border. This initial surge of northwesterly wind gusts arrived during the early morning hours of January 13th, between midnight and 2am. Wind gusts weakened for a period early Thursday morning before increasing once again during the mid to late morning as the primary surface low dropped southeast from northern MN into northeast IA. The strong winds were the result of steep low level lapse rates and efficient mixing into an intense low level jet.
Wind gusts up to 65mph are not terribly unusual for this area, but what set this system apart from many others was the long duration of strong winds - around 24 to 36 hours! In fact, despite many areas reaching High Wind Warning criteria on Thursday, March 14, many areas of north central Kansas actually experienced their peak wind gusts from this event during the morning hours of the 15th. Damage and impacts from the high wind were fairly typical, generally ranging from tree and power line damage to some roof damage. There were no known widespread or long-lasting power outages from this event at the time of this writing.

High Wind in SMITH, KANSAS
From 14-JAN-21 00:00:00 to 15-JAN-21 15:00:00 (CST-6)
Magnitude: 56.00 EG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Frequent gusts of 55 to 65 MPH were reported across the region.

High Wind in JEWELL, KANSAS
From 14-JAN-21 01:00:00 to 15-JAN-21 15:00:00 (CST-6)
Magnitude: 56.00 EG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Frequent gusts of 55 to 65 MPH were reported across the region. The peak measured gust in the county was 60 MPH, recorded at 2:14 PM CST on January 15th by a mesonet located near Randall.

High Wind in MITCHELL, KANSAS
From 14-JAN-21 01:00:00 to 15-JAN-21 15:00:00 (CST-6)
Magnitude: 56.00 EG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Frequent gusts of 55 to 65 MPH were reported across the region. The peak measured gust in the county was 62 MPH, recorded at 11:19 AM CST on January 15th by a mesonet located near Hunter.

High Wind in OSBORNE, KANSAS
From 14-JAN-21 01:00:00 to 15-JAN-21 15:00:00 (CST-6)
Magnitude: 56.00 EG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Frequent gusts of 55 to 65 MPH were reported across the region.

High Wind in ROOKS, KANSAS
From 14-JAN-21 01:00:00 to 15-JAN-21 15:00:00 (CST-6)
Magnitude: 56.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Frequent gusts of 55 to 65 MPH were reported across the region.  The peak measured gust in the county was 65 MPH, recorded at 11:54 AM CST on January 15th by a mesonet located 5 SSW of Stockton.

High Wind in PHILLIPS, KANSAS
From 14-JAN-21 00:00:00 to 15-JAN-21 15:00:00 (CST-6)
Magnitude: 56.00 EG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Frequent gusts of 55 to 65 MPH were reported across the region. The peak measured gust in the county was 61 MPH, recorded at 12:16 AM CST on January 14th by a mesonet located 1 W of Logan.