The record
Everything the slot carries, as measured. Series arrays are drawn above and listed here in full.
| Event typeevent_type | Funnel Cloud |
|---|---|
| NOAA NCEI event IDncei_event_id | 989,129 |
| Episode IDepisode_id | 163,841 |
| Begin UTCbegin_utc | 2021-12-15T20:50:00+00:00 |
| End UTCend_utc | 2021-12-15T20:51:00+00:00 |
| Statestate | KANSAS |
| County/zone typecz_type | C |
| County/zone namecz_name | SALINE |
| Latitudelat | 38.897 |
| Longitudelon | -97.656 |
| End latitudeend_lat | 38.897 |
| End longitudeend_lon | -97.656 |
| Deaths directdeaths_direct | 0 |
| Deaths indirectdeaths_indirect | 0 |
| Injuries directinjuries_direct | 0 |
| Injuries indirectinjuries_indirect | 0 |
| Damage propertydamage_property | 0.00K |
| Damage cropsdamage_crops | 0.00K |
| Weather forecast office sourcewfo_source | Public |
| Episode narrativeepisode_narrative | A very strong low pressure system tracked out of the Rockies and marched across the Central Plains into the Upper Mississippi Valley. Further up in the atmosphere, a SW to NE directional mid-level jet was present along with impressive lapse rates. This setup was conducive to allow mixing of the extraordinary winds aloft all the way to the surface. As such, most areas to the west of the Interstate 35/135 corridor experienced historic straight line winds of 75 to 100 mph. Russell, KS recorded the highest gust of the day at 100 mph. All the while, Grassland Fire Danger Indices (GFDI) were in the catastrophic category for the same geographic area, and the Red Flag Threat Index (RFTI) yielded historical values for much of the same area. Once these record breaking winds were advected into Kansas, power lines began to fail and crash to the ground. Sparks began to fly as the lines toppled, and many wildfires were then set ablaze. Additionally, scattered thunderstorms and lightning in the area may have helped initiate fires. At this time, approximately 167,000 acres have been reported as burned across the state according to the Kansas Forest Service. The grandest of them all was the Four County Fire which engulfed much of northwest Russell and northeast Ellis counties along with smaller portions of Osborne and Mitchell counties. This Four County Fire comprised approximately 121,622 of those burnt acres which makes it the 3rd largest wildfire in Kansas since 2001 per the Office of the Kansas Fire Marshall. The communities of Fairport, Paradise, and Waldo were evacuated along with a portion of Luray for safety. Lastly, a convectively unstable atmosphere was present, and severe weather ensued as a line of severe thunderstorms developed across central and south central Kansas then rapidly moved to the northeast. This was the beginning of a derecho that not only affected Kansas but many states across the Upper Mississippi Valley. In fact, according to the Storm Prediction Center, the severe weather that occurred on the 15th set the record for the number of hurricane force (75+ mph) thunderstorm wind gust reports in a day (64) since 2004. This number of reports broke the previous record (53) of hurricane force (75+ mph) thunderstorm wind gusts in a day that occurred with the more well-known and publicized Corn Belt Derecho of August 10th, 2020. |
| Event narrativeevent_narrative | Submitted a picture of a funnel as it moved away from their homestead. The image was relayed to the NWS from Saline County Emergency Management. |
| Yearyear | 2,021 |
Provenance
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Storage: spine