2022 Blowing in the Wind
While drought has deepened across the Plains, persistent winds have also been an issue. Measuring the drought is difficult and measuring wind can be even more challenging. Wind is often hard to reasonably sample because small changes in terrain/obstacles significantly influence measurements. However, we can all agree it has FELT windy but how windy has it been? This article summarizes the wind climatology, wind magnitude, and all about the wind gusts. One third of the 57 tower stations in Kansas have measured gusts over 60 mph since March 1st. This is the strong wind that many are referencing and that is responsible for much of the blowing dust and wildfire concerns.