142
NOUS43 KGLD 211201
PNSGLD

Public Information Statement
National Weather Service Goodland KS
500 AM MST Fri Feb 21 2025

...ON THIS DATE IN WEATHER HISTORY...

In 1935, winds between 50 and 60 mph produced a large dust storm,
one of the worst that hit the Tri State area during the Dust Bowl
era. This was the first of three significant dust storms in three
days. Rural schools in Rawlins and Thomas counties were closed
because blowing dust was so thick that children could easily become
lost on their way to school. Schools in Atwood were dismissed early
when a dust cloud was viewed on the horizon. By the time the dust
cloud reached Leoti, the cloud was several thousand feet high and
several counties wide. The storm began in Goodland, Kansas, around
11 AM and continued for 10 hours. Visibilities were near zero.
Automobiles crept slowly and pedestrians took their lives in their
hands when crossing streets. Porches and doorways contained buckets
of fine dirt and people found it difficult to breathe. The dust
storm extended west all the way to Limon, Colorado. People in Kit
Carson, Colorado, used oil lamps to illuminate the darkness in the
middle of the day. Some drifts of dirt in Cheyenne County, Colorado,
were near 20 feet deep and covered trees.

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