December 29, 2006 marked the start of a major winter storm that crippled much of southwest KS. Total precipitation from this storm ranged from 2 to 4 inches of rain and freezing rain to as much as six inches from Garden City to Dighton. This is record setting for any time of the year, let alone for December. Significant, widespread damage to trees and especially utility lines, poles, and towers resulted from one half to two and a half inches of ice accumulation. Over 60 thousand people were without electricity at one time or another from the nearly 10 thousand power poles that were taken down from the weight of the ice. Some of these structures were high transmission towers. In addition to the ice accumulation, large snow amounts were reported in the western part of the area. Amounts of at least 10 inches were measured from Hamilton county to Morton county. A location 15 miles west of Johnson had 32 inches of snow.
Mary Knapp, Weather Data Library
mknapp@ksu.edu