Storm Impacting the Northwest U.S.; Fire Weather Conditions in Southern California; Severe Weather in the South

A Pacific storm is bringing areas of low elevation rain, moderate to heavy mountain snow, and high winds to the Northwest. Strong Santa Ana winds and very dry conditions are producing elevated to critical fire weather conditions in southern California. Isolated strong to severe thunderstorms are possible through early Wednesday morning across parts of northeast Texas into western Tennessee. Read More >

Overview

Extremely strong winds overspread the region on Monday March 29th 2021. South wind speeds gusted between 55 and 65 mph which downed trees, power poles along with ripping shingles off of roofs. In addition, strong winds and dry low levels resulted in volatile fire weather conditions with numerous large grass fires that were difficult to contain. The two largest fires were in northeast Reno County with one burning 600 acres and another around 300 acres.

Downed tree in Cleaerwater

Photos & Video
Environment

Photos & Video

Tree damage in El Dorado’s Gordy Park.

Photo Credit: Frank’s Mom#kswx pic.twitter.com/xOnPG27QGp
— Frank Waugh, CBM KAKE (@FrankWaughKAKE) March 29, 2021

Guess we won’t have to worry about that branch hitting equipment and seed trucks anymore ðŸ˜¨. That’s an old piece of wood there!
At least it didn’t land on either of the old Fords!#kswx #ðŸŒ¬ pic.twitter.com/PgkOGcoD6X
— Nathan Kohls (@nckohls) March 29, 2021


Satellite image showing location of fires	Location of the 600 acre fire in northeast Reno county, courtesy of Hutchinson Fire Department	Location of the 300 acre fire in northeast Reno county, courtesy of Hutchinson Fire Department

I’m near 30th and Buhler Rd in Reno County, where crews are battling a large grass fire. Avoid the area. #KAKEnews pic.twitter.com/xtqJ4EurHC
— Matt Crow KAKE (@MattCrowKAKE) March 29, 2021

#BREAKING - large grass fire in Reno County. @KSNNews has a crew on the way to the scene. Look for live updates at 5 and 6. #fire #grassfire pic.twitter.com/MEBrccYydZ
— Emily Younger (@EmilyYoungerTV) March 29, 2021

Numerous smoke plumes from wildfires in eastern Kansas, northeast Oklahoma, & others further soutbeast can be seen on the 'true-color' satellite image just prior to sunset, 6:31pm 29 Mar 2021. #KSFire #OKFire #KSwx #OKwx pic.twitter.com/G8hcbcQKXp
— Jayson Prentice (@SeverePlains) March 30, 2021

Environment

Insert synoptic summary.


Surface map from the afternoon of March 29th	Map showing that 850mb wind speeds were above the 99th percentile	AWIPS procedure used to diagnose strong low level winds