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000
NOUS43 KGLD 211205
PNSGLD

Public Information Statement
National Weather Service Goodland KS
600 AM MDT Thu Mar 21 2024

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

In 1916, one of the worst prairie fires in Sherman County history swept
to the edge of Goodland after blackening miles of pasture land. The fire
began 18 miles northwest of Goodland. North winds which gusted to
50 mph pushed to fire to city limits of Goodland. Almost every man in
Goodland, numbering about 500, fought the fire. Women in town used
garden hoses to soak their houses. Tens of thousands of acres of
grass, farm structures and equipment, and telephone poles were
destroyed before the fire was extinguished.

In 1935, a dust storm continued over western Kansas, especially
over Greeley County. Two young brothers, who had gone to retrieve
some cattle, became lost during the dust storm. They drifted with the
cattle for a time, and then rested beside a fence. The boys spent over
six hours in the dust storm before their father found them around
11:30 PM that night. The older boy protected his younger brother by
using his body as a shield. Both boys survived, but were covered
in dust and dirt.

$$