Power Outage in Kansas City, KS

Through the afternoon on December 15th strong wind caused sustained winds in the 40 to 50 mph range, with frequent gusts well over 60 mph. While most ASOS and AWOS stations recorded gusts around 65 mph, there were several reports of higher winds and damage representative of around 70 mph, such as tree damage and powerlines down. This all preceded strong thunderstorms that also caused strong winds and scattered damage across the area.

Light to moderate freezing rain formed early morning on New Year's Day. This freezing rain quickly accreted between a quarter to half inch before sunrise. Shortly after sunrise the freezing rain switched to light snow, which persisted for the bulk of the remaining day time hours. The snow did not accumulate more than 1 to 3 inches, but on top of the ice accretion created winter storm conditions. Mostly scattered power outages and vehicle accidents were the impacts, but being a holiday, road traffic was likely light.

Through the day on February 20, 2018 numerous accidents occurred as a result of widespread accumulating ice. Patchy freezing drizzle started as early as midnight on the morning of February 20, but the heavier rain fell through the morning and early afternoon hours. Numerous powerlines and trees sustained some damage from the accumulation of 1/8 to 1/3 inch of ice across a widespread area, including the Kansas City metro area.

A dry line punched through the area on the afternoon of November 11, bringing 50 to 60 mph synoptic straight line winds. Local ASOS observations reported gusts near 60 mph across the area, but the winds also damaged, trees, power lines, and a few outbuildings. This dry line also created some thunderstorm activity, which caused some isolated convective wind damage.

A tree was blown down onto a power line.

Freezing rain moved into the area early in the afternoon on December 21. The time in which the ice accumulated was not very long, but in the 6-8 hours between when the freezing rain began and when it transitioned into light snow about .10 to .40 of ice accumulated. Trained spotters reported the various ice amounts, however the ASOS at Kansas City International Airport (KMCI) reported .37 of rain while reporting freezing rain. After the freezing rain transitioned to snow between 1 and 3 inches of snow fell on top of the accumulated ice. Several vehicle spin outs were reported across the Kansas City Metro area. While scattered power outages were reported, and despite the several disabled vehicles on the roads, widespread effects were not incredibly high impact.

Large trees and power lines were reported down.

Trees and power lines down between 16th and Kansas Avenue and 8th Avenue.

Tornado touched down just north-northwest of the Kansas Speedway around 318 pm CST. This tornado initially produced F0 to F1 damage, but produced F3 damage to 2 homes, just south of Parallel Parkway near I-435. The tornado grew to a width to near 500 yards in Kansas City, Kansas, where some marginal F4 damage was noted around 91st and Leavenworth Road. The tornado continued some F2 to F3 damage northeast near 84th Terrace north of Leavenworth Road. This is the location where an 82 year old man was killed in his residence. The tornado continued northeast through Wyandotte county, where another instance of marginal F4 damage was noted near 79th Street and Cernech. Considerable structural damage was noted in this location, along with four 150 foot-tall metal power poles engineered to withstand maximum winds over 200 mph. The tornado produced F1 to F2 damage up to the Missouri River before crossing into Platte county Missouri, near Riverside and Parkville around 335 pm CST.

Tree limbs down on a power line, resulting in a few power outages.

Tree fell on house and damaged roof. Garage door blown in. Numerous trees and power lines down.

A line of generally sub-severe thunderstorms moved through the region during the early morning hours on May 21. This line did produce a brief tornado in Atchison County (KS), which caused some minor damage. Otherwise, these storms didn't produce any more severe winds or hail, but as they moved east wake low winds produced damage consisting of several tree limbs down as well as power lines and power poles. The storms then went on to produce torrential rains which caused areas of flooding.

A slow moving storm system, brought a long duration event of freezing|rain to extreme eastern Kansas, December 9 through December 11, 2007.|Cold air was entrenched at the surface, while moisture and warmer air|aloft, streamed north across the cold air. This lead to significant|ice accumulations across the area, ranging up to an inch thick in|Doniphan county. Numerous tree branches and power lines were downed.|Several thousand utility customers were without power for|up to a week.