Trees were destroyed and damaged all across Lawrence in a storm late Wednesday. Thursday morning light revealed the extent and the collateral damage from felled limbs and branches. Damage was widespread across town. Robert Bieniecki, director of Douglas County Emergency Management, said there were 40-plus reports of trees or limbs down, 12 reported power lines down, 14 reports of arcing power lines and two reports of traffic signals out. They did not receive any reports of injuries, he said. The city is canceling its city-load compost event set for Saturday and will instead open the compost facility to Lawrence residents only for storm debris dropoff. Find details about that in the article at this link. Some have speculated that the strong wind gusts that accompanied the thunderstorm may have been a microburst. Sarah Teefey, meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Topeka, said that “Right now I would classify it as what we call a downburst — wind gusts similar to a microburst except a little bit bigger in coverage. It was likely just a strong updraft from a thunderstorm that came down and pushed out from that thunderstorm.” Wind gusts reached between 70 and 80 mph, and the NWS’ rain gauge at the Lawrence airport showed the area received .63 inches of rain in the storm, Teefey said. She said temperatures would likely stick around the mid-90s, but “right now we’re looking dry through the weekend.”
Source: The Lawrence Times
