A question I’ve heard lately: Have hurricanes ever reached Kansas? Although rare, tropical systems that were once hurricanes have made it as far north as Nebraska. Aside from Gordon, the most recent occurrence was Hermine which was tracked from September 4-September 10, 2010 before it dissipated in Southeast KS. The west most occurrence was in 1983 when Hurricane Alicia made landfall in Texas. It weakened rapidly as it moved over land. By the time it reached Kansas, it was a tropical depression. With Alicia, we didn’t see the dramatic rainfall totals that can accompany land falling tropical systems because we don’t have the dramatic elevation changes that are seen along the mountain ranges that frame the east coast. Most areas of the state saw between ½ an inch to an inch of rain – welcome amounts, but certainly nothing unusual.
Mary Knapp, Weather Data Library
mknapp@ksu.edu