Sunday's strong winds caught many off guard, but they also left behind spotty damage around the area.

Wind gusts in excess of 40 miles per hour were recorded, and in some locations, sustained winds of over 30 miles per hour occurred.

But what brought this about? A combination of weather features can be blamed for the strong winds.

A strong low pressure center dragged a cold front across the south. Behind the cold front, strong high pressure also developed.

With such a huge difference in pressure in such a short distance, the atmosphere tried to even out those pressure differences by moving air from the high pressure into the low pressure.

It's similar to what would happen if you dumped a large amount of water at the top of a hill. The water would rush down that hill. The steeper the hill, the faster the water will move downhill.

In meteorology, that pressure difference is called a pressure gradient. The bigger the pressure gradient, the stronger the wind.

Combine all of that with the fact that cold air is heavy and was literally moving downhill from the Rocky Mountains toward the Southern Plains, and you have the makings of a mega wind event.