New record for strongest wind in Wichita. Here’s what surprised meteorologists

Mother Nature set two records yesterday for Wichita — and one of those amazed meteorologists.

Tuesday’s 4.19 inches set a June 17 record for rainfall, surpassing the 2.50 inches of rain set on June 17, 1890. Those records date back to 1888.

But the thing that surprised meteorologists was the 102 mph wind gust measured clocked at 4:22 a.m. at the Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport.

It is the highest wind recorded in Wichita since those records were kept in 1970.

And while the storms did cause damage, what surprised meteorologists the most was that there wasn’t much more.

“A 100 mile an hour wind gust and to not have as much damage as there really could have been across the area. We have a lot of tree damage … in certain areas,” said Vanessa Pearce, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Wichita. “I think a lot of us here were a little surprised we didn’t see significantly more tree damage from that high of wind.”

Local areas around Wichita may have measured over 102 mph gust in the past, but the airport is the official weather station for the city. And even though Wichita, like Kansas, is no stranger to high winds, 100-plus mph measurements are rare.

It is only the third time it has been recorded at the airport since 1970. The other two 100-plus mph winds came in July.

• The 102 mph on Tuesday was reported on social media as 101, but was rounded up to 102 mph, Pearce said. It came from the north, northwest.
• 101 mph was reported coming from the northeast on July 11, 1993. A backup sensor recorded 109 mph, but the primary sensor was used for the official record.

“Part of the roof of the FAA approach tower was peeled off and blown into the tower itself, resulting in $145,000 damage,” the NWS in Wichita tweeted in 2024 about a flashback of the incident.

• An unknown speed, but over 100-mph, was recorded on July 14, 1948.

The Wichita Eagle archives note one event from the storm where a dozen children had “minor cuts and lacerations and bruises” and two adults were found injured when a roof dropped on them while 180 children from Kansas and Oklahoma and ministers were singing in the dining hall at Camp Fellowship at Lake Afton in Sedgwick County.

“The north wall of the building buckled ... The high school kids and the grade school youngsters stared at the buckling wall in the semi-darkness. Almost as one they dropped to the floor, slid under the dining room tables,” the article says. “Before anyone knew what had happened the roof was down upon them.”

A photo in the paper showed kids bundled up in blankets after being soaked in the storm.

A $20,000 fundraiser was launched to rebuild Camp Fellowship.

The next highest wind was 89 mph on June 27, 2013.

“This storm system caused a wide swath of damage from Lincoln County in central Kansas, south through McPherson, and Wichita and finally exited the state near Interstate 35 into Oklahoma,” the NWS says in an overview of that storm.

This story was originally published June 18, 2025 at 2:23 PM.