March 23 marks the second anniversary of the Anderson Creek Fire, in Barber County. In 2016, a fire started in Northern Oklahoma late on the 22nd and spread rapidly into Comanche and Barber counties during the night. The on the 23rd a dry line with very strong west winds moved through the area causing the fire to shift. It rapidly advanced towards Medicine Lodge. Luckily, a cold front followed and pushed the fire southeast as the fire reached the edge of town. Nearly 400,000 acres of land burned before the fire finally was out, making it one of the largest in KS history. A secondary system brought as much as four inches of snow to the fire area on Easter Sunday which helped efforts to completely contain the fire.
Mary Knapp, Weather Data Library
mknapp@ksu.edu