WICHITA, Kan. — According to a Wednesday report from the National Weather Service office in Wichita, a rapidly moving line of storms called a derecho moved out of western Kansas and into Reno and Kingman counties shortly after 7 p.m. Sunday, May 19. This intense line of storms produced widespread 70 to 90 mph winds as it raced off to the northeast at 70 to 80 mph. Hardest hit were the communities of Hutchinson, Haven, Burrton, Halstead and Newton where widespread tree damage and power outages were reported.
Damage was also reported across southern Marion and northern Butler counties with tornado damage was documented near Burns. The destructive line of storms continued to produce damaging winds as it tracked toward Kansas City late Sunday night.
This was following the development of a high precipitation supercell that moved along the I-70 corridor earlier that afternoon.
Around 2:30 p.m. on Sunday May 19, a high precipitation supercell developed near Hays along a warm front. This storm tracked east along I-70, producing a few brief tornadoes across Russell and northern Ellsworth county. As it progressed east, the wind and hail threat ramped up as it moved into Saline County. The Salina Airport measured a 100 mph wind gust. There was also numerous reports of golf ball size hail across Salina.
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