Storm speed an often overlooked detail

It’s a gray, soggy, dreary Monday in the Wichita area, as rain continues to pound down on already sodden soil.

As I listen to the police scanner sporadically report the latest in a line of flood warnings for the region, I’m reminded of a meteorological detail that can be significant but is often overlooked by the public: how fast a storm system is moving.

When it’s a supercell, whether a tornado moving at 30 miles an hour or 60 miles an hour will have a significant impact on how much time people have to get to safety. When it’s a thunderstorm dumping steady rain, the difference between 10 miles an hour and 30 miles an hour can mean the difference between a healthy summer dousing - or flooding.

One Comment

  1. stuever
    Posted June 16, 2008 at 3:56 pm | Permalink

    Remember that storm that dumped 15 inches of rain in NW Sedgwick County a couple years back? Man, I didn’t think that system was EVER going to move. It just sat there on the radar..

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