The record
Everything the slot carries, as measured. Series arrays are drawn above and listed here in full.
| Event typeevent_type | Wildfire |
|---|---|
| NOAA NCEI event IDncei_event_id | 997,699 |
| Episode IDepisode_id | 163,841 |
| Begin UTCbegin_utc | 2021-12-15T20:16:00+00:00 |
| End UTCend_utc | 2021-12-17T00:00:00+00:00 |
| Statestate | KANSAS |
| County/zone typecz_type | Z |
| County/zone namecz_name | RUSSELL |
| 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 | Emergency Manager |
| 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 | Extreme non-thunderstorm winds up to 100 mph downed several power poles and as the poles and lines hit the ground sparks were produced and caused the start of the Four County Wildfire. With the strong winds, the fire quickly moved east ahead of any possible fire suppression causing damage and evacuations along the way. ||The number of communities evacuated, 4 (Paradise, Waldo, Fairport, and a portion of Luray). |Estimated number of structures damaged by fire, 50 plus.|Estimated number of structures destroyed by fire, 70 plus.|Estimated number of injuries/fatalities, 4 injuries.|Estimated number of acres burned was 121,000.|Estimated number of livestock killed, over 1000.|Estimated number of livestock relocated due to loss of grazing, over 1000.||In addition to these numbers, hundreds of miles of fencing were damaged, a significant number of bales of hay was lost in the fire. |
| Yearyear | 2,021 |
Provenance
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Storage: spine