First off, let’s clear the air so to speak. The wind in Kansas has nothing to do with what you might think of Nebraska and/or Oklahoma or Missouri. If you’ve never heard the “Do you know why Kansas is so windy?” joke, then I’ll let someone else fill you in on that one.

So, what does make it so windy here if it’s not caused by what some think of Nebraska? Well, it all comes down to a little force called Pressure Gradient Force (PGF). Essentially it is the difference in pressure over a change in distance — how much the pressure is changing as you move horizontally across the map. So when low and high pressure either both have very different pressure readings or if they are quite closer together, then the PGF is strong. When the PGF is strong, so are the winds.

There are more forces that act on the wind, but that is the main driving force behind it. Because of a couple other forces, air will circulate counter-clockwise and inward toward a low pressure area. We usually find the greatest PGF (strongest winds) near the low pressure areas. These areas of low pressure form around dips in the jetstreams called troughs.

In the image above, you can see that the air moves counter-clockwise and inward toward the low pressure. All of that air has to go somewhere and it is forced upward where it reaches the jetstream which helps to disperse the air away by the very strong winds. When all of that comes together with moisture you get a storm system, just like we did Monday night with the gusty winds blowing through on the backside of the system.

There is another low pressure system that will be swinging through the Midwest on Wednesday, but since this one will essentially be devoid of much moisture, we’ll just get the wind…and a lot of it!

So there you have it. It turns out that Missouri might not be the cause of our wind after all.