Tornado damage southwest of Dodge City on the 23rd. I came in to work this morning to check my e-mail and the latest on the storm since my cable/internet are out at home (Ugh!)… then after receiving a report of damage from last night’s tornado in southwestern Ford County, our WCM came in and I went on a damage survey with the WCM at our office, and we found a decent track through southwestern and west-central Ford County…with a smaller track to the southwest of it. Damage was not major with the primary indications of tornado being flipped center pivot irrigation systems. This storm was extremely rare being in February and at night as well. Dodge City was in the cross-hairs of this storm between 10:45 and 11:00pm last night but the storm circulation diminished quickly and lost supercell characteristics. While out on the survey, the northwest winds were incredible…
55 to 65 mph wind gusts behind the low! Some of the surface obs in western KS and eastern CO are awesome today. Many 33040G55KT surface wind observations (northwest at 40 knots gusting to 55 knots). Even here in Dodge City we have peaked at 55 knots at 3:00pm, which caused commercial power interruption at the office. We’re missing out on the blizzard conditions though as it’s not snowing in Dodge City. Farther northwest in western Nebraska, far western Kansas, eastern Colorado… blizzard conditions are incredible with the winds as strong as they are.