Multiple tornado warnings have been issued for Oklahoma City and its suburbs this afternoon, and forecasters warn that tornadoes are possible after dark tonight in Kansas counties south of Wichita.
The storm threat will grow as more moisture pours into the Sunflower State, National Weather Service meteorologist Brad Ketcham said. The greatest tornado threat will likely be in Sumner, Harper and Cowley counties, he said.
That fits, considering the Storm Prediction Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has shifted the moderate risk’s northern boundary to the Kansas/Oklahoma border. The severe thunderstorm warning for Butler, Chase and Marion counties demonstrates that moisture and instability have established themselves in the region.
Walk around outside in the Wichita area, and you’ll feel a mix of cold and warmth in the atmosphere that reflects the clash of air masses typically associated with strong thunderstorms. While it doesn’t have that textbook sticky, unsettled sensation that has been prevalent on such major tornado outbreak days as April 26, 1991, or May 3, 1999, I’m not surprised at all that storms are firing today.