Power Outage in Hillsboro, KS

Damage to trees and power lines in and around Hillsboro was major! A few reports were of limbs taken down from 6 inches to 1 1/2 feet diameter. Some of the downed limbs no doubt exacerbated the damage to power lines, ultimately resulting in power outages.

Numerous reports of wind damage between Tampa, Kansas, and Lost Springs, Kansas. Damage included power poles and five foot diameter trees blown down. Also numerous reports of shed and barn damage.

Winds of 40 mph and gusts to near 60 mph occurred across the county causing minor issues with trees and power lines.

Very strong winds downed a few power poles in Peabody, and another in Hillsboro. A semi-truck was blown over on Highway 56 just outside of Marion.

Four to eight inches of snow fell across the county. This snowfall fell across broken power poles and downed power lines from a previous ice storm earlier in the month, further slowing the recovery process. The hardest hit areas were across the northern portions of the county.

One to two inches of ice accumulated across Marion County during the ice storm. This resulted in approximately 800 downed power poles and 4300 downed lines. Damage to the electrical infrastructure is estimated at $18.2 million. There was also widespread damage to trees but the cost of the damage is unknown. The Peabody Gazette-Bulletin contributed to this report.

A powerful thunderstorm produced extensive damage throughout the town of Hillsboro. Numerous large trees were uprooted, utility poles were downed, and street signs were blown over. Consequently, much of the town lost power. Fortunately, structural damage was relatively light, with the exception of three large umbrella-shaped canopies destroyed at the Hillsboro Family Aquatic Center. Information courtesy of the Hillsboro Star newspaper.

On the 28th, an Arctic Front surged south across Kansas, leaving a shallow layer of sub-freezing air in it's wake. Meanwhile, an 850mb low was positioned over New Mexico. As the 850mb low moved east across New Mexico on the 29th and 30th, much warmer, moisture-laden air was transported north across the southern plains in a layer approximately 3,000 feet thick, trapping the sub-freezing layer beneath. On the evening of the 30th, the 850mb low crossed the New Mexico/Texas border. A mid-upper level trough moving east across the southern Rockies provided sufficient lift across the region.Widespread freezing rain and sleet developed late in the afternoon of the 29th across south-central Kansas and continued through the night of the 30th, eventually changing to snow early on the morning of the 31st. The result was a major ice accumulation of 1-2 inches on trees and power lines across south-central Kansas that severed power to much of the area. The most prolonged power outages occurred across southeast Butler and Cowley Counties where the outages lasted for nearly a week. Trained spotters and area newspapers contributed greatly to this report.

The same winter storm that was responsible for burying much of central Kansas with 6-14 inches of snow wreaked havoc across south-central Kansas as well. Widespread sleet and freezing rain, resulting in ice accumulations of 1/2 to 3/4 inch, made travel treacherous across most of the region. Sleet reached depths around 1 inch across Cowley County. The mixture of sleet and freezing rain resulted in spotty power outages. The situation was compounded by a prolonged period of light to moderate snow which accumulated to as much as 2-4 inches.