Power Outage in Kansas City, MO

Strong synoptically driven winds brought gusts between 50 and 60 mph to the Kansas City metro area. Aside from numerous locations reporting stronger than 58 mph winds, there was a residence in Greenwood that had shingles and tar paper removed from the house. There were also numerous powerlines and trees down around that area.

Small branches were reported down and power was out around Grandview.

Trained spotter in the area reported 60 mph wind and power outages.

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.

A spotter with wind instruments reported a 82 mph wind gust, along with tree and powerline damage at E College St and ETC Lea Road.

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.

NWS Employee estimated 60 mph wind gust and power outage in the Waldo neighborhood of Kansas City.

Power lines were down near Greenwood.

At Highway 24 and Arlington Road a 4.5 inch tree limb was down, as well as multiple power lines.

Multiple power lines were down north of Highway 50 at Highway 7 due to 70-80 mph winds.

Numerous trees across the downtown portions of Lee's Summit were snapped when strong winds came through the area. The swath of wind carried at least through the shopping centers along Highway 291 North. Numerous trees in the Lee's Summit Cemetery were down, and power was out to the business along the Highway through most of the day.

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.

Multiple trees fell in this area. At least one tree fell on a power line, knocking out the power.

A trained spotter reported a 70-80 mph wind. Power flashes occurred at the BP station across from Kauffman Stadium.

A power line was down at 39th Street and Gudgel.

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. The ASOS at Lees Summit recorded a 62 mph wind gust.

A tree limb fell onto a power line south of downtown Kansas City.

Several reports from Kansas City Fire Department of tree limbs falling on to power lines south and east of the downtown Kansas City area.

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 nearby Kansas City International Airport (KMCI) reported .37 of rain while reporting freezing rain. After the freezing rain transitioned to snow 1-6 of snow was reported across the county, including 3.3 at the KCI airport, and a 6 report from the northern part of the county. 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.

Powerlines and trees were reported down, just west of Highway 7, on Highway 40. Thunderstorm wind gusts were estimated up to 60 mph.

Powerlines were reported down in Independence. Thunderstorm wind gusts were estimated up to 60 mph.

Sheds were reported damaged, and numerous trees up to a foot in diameter were felled, in the vicinity of Red Bridge and Hillcrest Roads. A steel power pole was knocked over at 108th and Bristol.

Tree limbs were reported down with power out. Lawn furniture was blown across the street.

Powerlines were reported down, around Kaufman and Arrowhead stadiums. Trees were also reported blown onto Interstate 435.

Power lines and trees were down because of thunderstorm wind gusts.

Large branches and power lines were reported down in southern Kansas City.

Numerous reports of trees and downed power lines near fire stations 2 and 5. Roof damage and trees through windows in homes were reported.

Extensive damage to a business near Highway 291 and 23rd Street. Also power poles and lines were downed. Fifty three homes suffered minor to major damage, mainly to roofs and windows.

Reports of power outages on the north side of Blue Springs to Independence, due to downed power lines.

Multiple trees down in Independence neighborhood near Hwy's 291 and 78. Power also went down in that location.

Large tree limbs and power lines down in Independence. Wind gusts to 50 mph were measures at the Lee's Summit Airport.

Trees down on houses and power lines down.

A tree trimmer was fatally electrocuted in South Kansas City around 3 pm. He was in a tree when a wind gust caused a power line to swing into the tree.

The KC Fire Department reported numerous downed power lines.

On December 15, 2021, a large-scale weather event rolled through the Central Plains and Upper Midwest bringing tornadoes, dust storms, wildfires, and snow across several central and northern states. Record high temperatures were set across the region including Kansas City, with the Kansas City International Airport tying its all-time December high temperature. ||Non-convective winds both ahead and behind the thunderstorms were quite strong. Several locations around the area reported wind gusts above 50 MPH with Lees Summit peaking at 53 MPH, St. Joseph reached 52 MPH, and Johnson County Executive Airport in Olathe, KS reached 60 MPH. Once the line of storms arrived, several areas reported winds in excess of 75 MPH. The Kansas City Downtown Airport reached a peak gust of 77MPH. This resulted in the roof damage to a few airport buildings. Numerous trees and power poles fell across much of eastern Kansas and western Missouri. Areas in far northwest Missouri observed winds of 80-90 MPH as the thunderstorms moved through. Several homes and buildings were damaged across northern Missouri including missing shingles, peeled siding, and blown out windows.

During the overnight hours on New Years Eve, into the morning of New Years moderate freezing rain moved into southern, western, and central Missouri. While rain was a little heavier than traditionally efficient for ice accumulation, there was a quick quarter to three quarters inch of ice that accumulated on surfaces before light to moderate snow moved in for the daytime hours. This snow accumulated a few inches on top of the ice accretion. Overall minimal impacts were felt as a result of this system aside from scattered vehicle accidents and power outages.

The morning of May 3, 2020 brought a marginally severe storm into portions of east central Kansas and west central Missouri. This storm was somewhat isolated in the damage it caused, but the worsts of this two day event occurred the next day. The morning of May 4 started out incredibly active across eastern Kansas and western Missouri. In eastern Kansas several supercells formed and moved eastward into western Missouri. The initial round of supercells were generally decaying as they progressed eastward, but one particular supercell formed an enhanced downburst in western Bates County and produced between 70 and 90 mph winds. Upstream of this supercell in eastern Kansas 15-20 power poles were snapped near the intersection known as Jingo, KS. This storm then went on to produce heavy damage to trees and structures between Amsterdam and Butler. It was in this area just west of Passaic that a single fatality occurred when a tree fell into a house. After this storm moved out of the area a follow-up bow pushed through the same area producing pockets of strong winds that were recorded up to nearly 80 mph at more than one ASOS.

A line of generally sub-severe thunderstorms moved through the region during the early morning hours on May 21. These storms didn't produce any 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 prolonged freezing drizzle and freezing rain event impacted all of eastern Kansas and western and central Missouri from February 5 until February 7. While the bulk of the precipitation fell overnight February 6, into the morning of February 7 the higher impacts appeared to come on February 5, when freezing drizzle caused roads to become slick. In some areas the roads were completely impassible, and numerous injury vehicle accidents occurred. At least two fatalities were caused by the icy roads on February 5, in Lafayette County when a vehicle skidded off the road due to ice. A semi trailing the vehicular accident then impacted the vehicle, killing two of the four occupants. The MHP police report is linked here: https://www.mshp.dps.missouri.gov/HP68/AccidentDetailsAction?ACC_RPT_NUM=190068843 . Aside from those two accidents, there have been numerous injury accidents, mostly resulting in minor injuries, with a handful of moderate to serious injuries. Highway 7 just north of Pleasant Hill was closed for several hours on Tuesday evening because a MODoT salt truck among other vehicles impacted the guard rail just north of town.||Without any notable break in the freezing precipitation the ice continued to form on trees and power lines through Wednesday February 6, resulting in most locations seeing around 1/8 to 1/4 of ice through Wednesday afternoon. On Wednesday night heavy rain and sleet moved into the area, and added to the already robust ice amounts. With some modest instability in the atmosphere many of these storms produced lightning, a rare occurrence! One storm did produce some quarter-sized hail near Clinton, MO. By the end of the event almost all locations within the Ice Storm Warning (which was issued Wednesday afternoon - 2/6) received around 1/4 to 1/2, with some of the higher totals in Johnson County, MO approaching .60.

On the afternoon and evening of August 28 several thunderstorms affected the area with hail and wind. The winds ranged from 60 to 70 mph and did some damage to trees, power lines, and some structures. Hail sizes ranged from penny to half-dollar sized.

On the evening of August 6 a cluster of severe thunderstorms moved into northwest Missouri, and caused some scattered wind damage. The predominant wind gusts from this complex were around 60 to 70 mph winds, along with some tree and power line damage. There was a lone report of severe hail, with golf ball sized hail being reported near Mercer, Missouri.

On May 28 scattered thunderstorms moved through northern Missouri, causing some marginally severe hail and scattered wind damage. The following day, scattered thunderstorms produced some marginally severe weather closer to Kansas City. No widespread damage occurred, outside of some tree damage and some powerlines down.

A significant severe weather event impacted the greater Kansas City Metro on the evening of Saturday July 22nd. This corridor or strong winds then pushed eastward across southern portions of the Metro, before continuing all the way east through the remainder of the Pleasant Hill forecast area. Wind gusts of 70 mph were commonly reported as this activity pushed eastward into western and central Missouri. Around the Kansas City Metro area many large trees blown down causing damage to houses and property, blocking intersections, and taking down power lines. Storms caused over 100,000 people to be without power in the wake of Saturday night's storms. For more information about this event, visit the website dedicated to the event by NWS Pleasant Hill: https://www.weather.gov/eax/jul222017 .

On the evening of August 26, 2016 a line of strong storms formed in northeastern Kansas, and then moved into northwestern Missouri. Embedded within the line of storms was a supercell, which formed earlier in the evening. This supercell produced some isolated strong wind gusts, most likely associated with the RFD. It also went on to produce a weak tornado that lasted 10 minutes and traveled 4 miles. The only damage associated with this tornado was a few tree limbs and power lines. Later in the evening storms continued to train over northeast Kansas and northwest Missouri, which brought impressive flooding to portions of the Kansas City metro area late in the evening.

July 6-7, 2016 was an active couple of days across northeastern Kansas and northwestern Missouri. On the morning of July 6, there were a few isolated storms that produced some minor damage to some outbuildings and trees in Linn County, Missouri. Then on the morning of July 7th a large MCS bow moved out of eastern Nebraska and brought widespread wind damage to most of the area. Most the wind damage was relegated mostly to trees and powerlines, however a few outbuildings and vehicles were also damaged. No injuries were reported from this system.

On the afternoon of November a dry line pushed through the area, bringing very strong westerly winds to portions of western and northwestern Missouri. Several locations reported winds up to 60 to 70 mph, unrelated to thunderstorms. The majority of the damage caused by these winds ere done to trees and power lines, although there were some outbuildings and other structural damage as a result of these synoptic straight line winds. Along and ahead of the dry line thunderstorms formed, and also created some minor wind damage.

A major winter storm swept through the Plains, February 25th through the 27th, resulting in the second round of heavy snows, that the region had experienced in under a week. Temperatures near freezing, led to a heavy wet snow, that was slow to accumulate at the onset of the event. However, as snowfall rates increased overnight, snow rapidly began to accumulate, sticking to trees and powerlines and resulting in numerous power outages across the area. Unlike the event from 5 days prior, the heaviest snow fell overnight, and not during the morning commute. This allowed road crews open access to the highways during the peak of the event, even though they still struggled to keep up with snowfall rates, as much as 2 inches per hour. By the time the morning commute rolled around, most roads were snow-covered, but the combination of snow decreasing in intensity, and many more people that chose to sit this one out, the morning commute was not nearly as disastrous as with the February 21 event.||Snowfall totals from around the area, ranged from 15 inches near Sedalia, to only a couple of inches along the Missouri Iowa border.

Thunderstorms once again developed late Friday evening August 19th, 2011, along a boundary of very warm temperatures in the Southern Plains, and cooler temperatures in the Mid-Missouri River valley. A developing cluster of storms over east central Kansas rapidly transitioned into a wind producing MCS as it approached and crossed the Kansas City metro. Measured wind speeds between 60 and 80 mph, raced through the Kansas City metro, causing additional tree and power line damage, leading to power outages. ||As this storm system moved eastward it did weaken, but was still able to produce upwards of 50 mph winds, at the Missouri State Fair.

After what had been a quiet few weeks, conditions rapidly changed on Thursday, August 18th, 2011. A favorable setup for severe thunderstorm activity, developed in the mid-section of the country. Very warm and humid air lifted northward into the region, while cooler air lingered in the western Great Lakes. The battleground between these two types of air mass, established itself from Nebraska to western Iowa, northern Kansas, and northern Missouri.||Severe thunderstorms developed during the evening and overnight hours of Thursday August 18th and 19th, 2011. Scattered supercell thunderstorms developed over eastern Nebraska and western Iowa, producing very large hail and heavy rain. While this soon to be large cluster of thunderstorms was beginning to develop over western Nebraska, an isolated supercell drifted towards the city of Maryville, Missouri. As this storm rolled through the city, winds greater than 80 mph even approaching 100 mph created extreme damage. This storm crushed numerous corn fields and produced extensive hail damage. Quickly filling in behind this supercell was the aforementioned developing mesoscale convective system, or MCS, capable of producing extreme winds. This system quickly became organized and pushed from north to south down the Missouri river. Winds were estimated between 60 and 80 mph, as damage was reported from St. Joseph to Leavenworth, and across the Kansas City metropolitan area. Extensive tree and powerline damage was reported, with upwards of 100,000 customers without power, at the height of the event. This storm system, even knocked down the primary radio tower, for the Missouri State Patrol in St. Joseph, Missouri.||This thunderstorm complex continued to push south and east, finally reaching the Missouri State Fair around 1 am Friday morning. Measured winds of 62 mph caused havoc at the fairgrounds, blowing over tents and leading to the evacuation of the nearby campers and campgrounds. Damage cleanup at the fairgrounds, caused the fair to open up their gates, well into the daytime hours of Friday.

On the morning of July 11th, a small complex of thunderstorms moved southeast from Nebraska, and down the Missouri River into far eastern Kansas and western Missouri. These thunderstorms created an outflow boundary on the western flank of the precipitation shield. This outflow boundary, combined with southwest winds just off the surface, became the focus for lift. The airmass across southern Kansas during the mid morning hours became very warm and unstable, which helped feed deep thunderstorm development over the Kansas City metropolitan area and points east. Rainfall rates were in excess of 2 inches per hour, with rainfall totals in the Kansas City area, ranging from 1 to 5 inches. This created urban flooding in some of the typical areas, such as Southwest Boulevard, Westport Avenue, and portions of the Plaza area. This rainfall created minor flooding on some area rivers and streams.||In addition to the heavy rainfall experienced, one thunderstorm over the south Kansas City area, intensified extremely fast. In a matter of 10 to 15 minutes, a strong core of rain and hail was lifted to between 30,000 and 40,000 ft high in the atmosphere, and just as quickly collapsed over the Hickman Mills and Ruskin Heights area of south Kansas City. Extensive tree damage was reported in a couple square mile area, with an estimated 1000 trees damaged or destroyed. Trees and trees limbs falling on power lines created extensive power outages, with around 29,000 residents without power after the height of the storm.

A powerful, dynamic, and long duration winter storm, welcomed the arrival of Spring to the Missouri River Valley for March 19th through March 21st, 2010. An initial band of snow moved through the region, during the overnight hours of March 19 into the morning hours of Saturday March 20th, as an upper level storm system, started to develop in the Southern Plains. After a several hour pause in the snow early Saturday morning, additional precipitation developed across Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and southern Missouri, and then lifted northward into the area. This band of snow continued for 12 to 18 hours, as the upper level storm system drifted eastward, towards Arkansas and Louisiana by Saturday evening. The storm system finally moved far enough to the south by Sunday morning, to end the precipitation in the area. Snow totals upwards of 7 to 10 inches, was reported in areas generally along and south of the Missouri River.

During the evening of May 13, 2009, a series of powerful supercell storms developed ahead of a cold front, pushing southward out of Iowa and Nebraska. These supercell storms produced a wide array of severe weather, with large hail up to the size of golf balls and winds up to 60 mph reported. These storms marched across eastern Kansas and northern Missouri during the evening hours, with a strong supercell storm producing tornadic activity in parts of northeast Missouri. Damage surveys conducted|by the National Weather Service, in conjunction with emergency management, have|found evidence of three tornadoes in Sullivan and Adair counties. All tornadoes|appeared to have been produced by the same supercell thunderstorm. There were|three fatalities. Moderate to severe damage was reported, in the Kirksville area.

An abnormally warm and humid air mass, spread across Kansas and Missouri on December 26, 2008. Thanks in part to a large and powerful storm system which developed across the Great Basin. Temperatures in the afternoon of the 26th, soared to records levels in the upper 60s. By the evening hours of the 26th, the powerful upper level storm system|was beginning to bear down on the Central Plains. A potent cold front|was swinging through Nebraska and Iowa, with the development of|thunderstorm activity, across much of eastern Kansas and west central|Missouri. This thunderstorm activity, while strong to severe, caused|little in the way of damage. However, it did produce flash flooding in|areas from Warrensburg, Missouri to Moberly, Missouri.||After midnight, a large line of thunderstorms, began to develop further to the west, along the cold front stretching from central Kansas into northwestern Missouri. Additional thunderstorms developed in areas near Emporia, Kansas by 3 am on the 27th. These thunderstorms would go on to produce widespread wind damage, as they lifted northeast into the Kansas City Metropolitan area, and areas to the south and east.||Heavy rains of one to two inches was common across the area, and combined with the frozen ground, led to rapid runoff and flash flooding. Several rivers also went above flood stage.

A slow moving storm system, brought a long duration of freezing rain to a large portion of the nations mid section. Several rounds of freezing rain were observed from December 9th through December 11, 2007.||Canadian high pressure kept cold air at the surface with readings in the upper 20s to lower 30s. Very warm and moist air aloft was transported north ahead of the storm system. The result of these two ingredients led to several rounds of freezing rain.||Ice rapidly accumulated on many surfaces, especially trees and power lines. Ice accumulation was particularly devasting along and north of the Missouri River. Ice accumulations of 3/4 of an inch were common, with isolated accumulations around an inch, along and north of a Bean Lake to Trenton, to Unionville line. Along and south of the Interstate 70 corridor, accumulations were less than a half inch.||Numerous tree branched and power lines were downed, especially along an north of a St. Joseph to Unionville. Around 165,000 residents went without power, some for almost two weeks. There were also numerous traffic accidents due to the icy roads.

An extensive ice storm hit the area January 4th into January 5th. Widespread heavy ice accumulations of from 1/4" to 1" of ice was reported. At the peak of the storm, nearly 22,000 customers were without power.

A Thanksgiving Eve snowstorm left 6 to 8 inches of snow along and 50 miles either side of a line, fromKansas City to Carrollton. Numerous tree limbs and powerlines were reported down.

A long-lived major ice and snow storm blasted much of northwest, northern and central Missouri from late Tuesday, January 29th, until Thursday, January 31st. Ice accumulations of over an inch were observed from the Kansas City metropolitan area, east and north through Moberly Missouri. At one point 409,504 total customers were without electrical power in the CWA, with some residents without power up to two weeks. For the Kansas City area, the ice storm was ranked as the worst ever. Further north across northern Missouri, heavy snow fell generally along and north of a line, from St. Joseph to Trenton to Kirksville. Snow accumulations ranged from 8 to 14 inches.

Freezing rain and sleet spread into west-central Missouri late on the morning of November 8. Freezing precipitation continued into the night, and finally changed over to snow on the morning of November 9 before tapering off. Liquid precipitation amounts were generally around a half inch, with heavier amounts noted in some locations. The highest precipitation total was 1.28 inches at Higginsville. While relatively warm ground temperatures prevented significant ice accumulation on roadways, up to an inch of ice accumulated on power lines and trees, causing numerous power outages and downed limbs. In addition, pockets of sleet caused minor travel problems.