Mother Nature Put on Quite a Show Tonight

My estimate of 65 mph (below) turned out to be pretty good: Jabara Airport (far northeast Wichita) had a peak gust of 69 mph. Here is the Westar Energy Outage Map at 11pm:
13,501 "customers" (homes and businesses = roughly 40,000 people) are without power in the blue, purple, and yellow-shaded areas. The trail of dots just north of I-35 seems to correspond to the strongest winds indicated by Doppler radar.  There is also some roof damage, the crossing gates blown off a BNSF Railway crossing in south Wichita, etc. 

In Warnings, I talk about how language "inverts" when meteorologists talk about storms. A storm like tonight's is talked about with terms like, "what a show!" and "tremendous storm" (a good thing!). So, let me speak to both groups visiting Wichita this weekend:
  • For those from outside the region that are here for the High Plains Conference: Welcome to Wichita! Mother Nature put on a great show for you. 
  • For those arriving for the Midwest Family Conference (also being held here this weekend), sorry for any inconvenience and sorry if the storm frightened you. 
And, if you want to get out of the heat and humidity, come and join us -- starting at noon tomorrow -- at the Wichita Marriott (Webb Rd. and U.S. 54) for the High Plains Conference. All you need is an interest in Weather. I'm the keynote speaker. 

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