I kept hearing from storm chasers that there was more than one tornado in the Belpre/Macksville area Monday, and a damage survey conducted Tuesday confirmed that.
In fact, there were five tornadoes that touched down in the region that day, according to the report filed by Jeff Hutton, warning coordination meteorologist for the Dodge City branch of the National Weather Service.
From Jeff’s statement posted on the weather service’s Dodge City Web site:
The first tornado was a brief touchdown in an open area about 5 miles north northeast of Dodge City at 4:26 p.m. The second touched down at 5:27 p.m about 5 miles south southeast of Dodge City, was on the ground for about 1.5 miles and was 120 yards wide. Ten minutes after that tornado lifted, the storm spawned another tornado at 5:37 p.m. about 4 miles southeast of Dodge City.
What chasers now call the Belpre tornado developed at approximately 5:56 p.m. about 6 miles southwest of Belpre and dissipated around 6 p.m. 4 miles southeast of Belpre. It damaged a grain bin and several utility poles and carried an oil tank for one-quarter of a mile. This tornado was rated EF1 in intensity.
The strongest tornado of the bunch was the last one, which touched down at 6:03 p.m. about 8 miles southwest of Macksville and passed within 3 miles of the city. Hutton determined it was a multi-vortex EF2 tornado that grew as wide as 3/4 mile and was on the ground for 12 miles before lifting at 6:30 p.m.
No injuries were reported in connection with any of the tornadoes.
Storm chaser Mike Parker captured striking images of a wall cloud as well a pair of tornadoes in central Kansas Monday night. The first tornado touched down near Belpre in Edwards County, chasers have told me, and the second about 4 miles southwest of Macksville.
I’m hoping to learn more about these tornadoes from the National Weather Service office in Dodge City. Warning Coordination Meteorologist Jeff Hutton was conducting a damage survey Monday afternoon.
Multiple tornadoes have been reported in Butler County south and east of El Dorado tonight.
While no damage reports have come in, the thunderstorms in Butler County have a history of producing tornadoes. One tornado was reported near El Dorado Lake moving northeast. Another tornado has been reported 2 miles west of Rosalia, tracking northeast.
A tornado warning has been issued for western Reno County because of a thunderstorm with radar-indicated rotation.
Radar is indicating rotation in strong thunderstorms in Butler, Marion and Stafford counties, prompting the National Weather Service to issue tornado warnings.
Large hail has been reported in El Dorado. Any tornado is likely to be hidden within heavy rain, officials said.
The tornado warning in Stafford County states that the storm is moving northeast toward St. John and rural areas nearby. Meteorologists are warning that any tornado may well be rain-wrapped and difficult to see.
The Marion County thunderstorm with rotation is near Florence and moving toward Cedar Point. Authorities are urging residents to seek shelter.
…..a tornado touched down about 4 miles west of Maple City at 1:49 a.m. today.
That would have placed it perhaps 10 miles east of Arkansas City. The tornado was reported by a law enforcement officer. It didn’t last long, and no damage has been reported.
More overnight tornadoes are possible tonight, National Weather Service meteorologist Chris Jakub said, though the most likely severe weather threat for the Wichita area will be strong winds, large hail and heavy rain.
The tornado near Maple City was one of 4 reported in Kansas yesterday. Two were reported in Haskell County in far western Kansas, and the other was reported in Comanche County 3 miles north of Wilmore.
The Storm Prediction Center has upgraded most of Kansas – including the Wichita metropolitan area – to a moderate risk for severe weather.
Conditions will create “a risk of a few tornadoes during the early evening,” SPC officials warn. “However, the main threats appear to be very large hail and damaging winds as storms organize and track eastward across much of Kansas.”
It wasn’t enough to classify as an outbreak, but it was nonetheless impressive how many different states reported tornadoes on Wednesday.
Every state surrounding Kansas – and the Sunflower State as well – reported at least one tornado yesterday. A total of 16 tornadoes were reported in 8 states: Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, Illinois and Wyoming.
The lone Kansas tornado was reported 22 miles north of Liberal in Seward County. That’s a rural part of the state near Satanta and Sublette.
Other than some roofs being blown off of a hay barn and some pole sheds by strong thunderstorm wind gusts, I haven’t been able to find damage reports linked to those storms.
Despite ominous warnings that severe weather and tornadoes were possible Tuesday, Wichita was spared.
Given some reactions directed my way, I have decided to share with you some thoughts I posted on my personal blog.
In hindsight, the words seem particularly appropriate given the tornadoes reported in more than a half-dozen states last night.
Three tornadoes were reported in Kansas from Tuesday night’s storms, according to the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla.
One of them touched down briefly only a few miles northwest of Greensburg, which was decimated by an EF5 tornado two years ago. No damage was reported with Tuesday night’s tornado.
Earlier in the evening, two tornadoes were reported in southeast Kansas – one about 5 miles south of Fort Scott, and the other 8 miles southeast of Humboldt. No damage has been reported from those tornadoes.
There were more than 30 reports of hail around Kansas from the thunderstorms that formed, SPC records show.
The National Weather Service has issued a tornado watch until 10 p.m. today for 23 counties in southern Kansas, including the Wichita metropolitan area.
Counties included in the watch are Allen, Barber, Butler, Chautauqua, Comanche, Cowley, Edwards, Elk, Greenwood, Harper, Harvey, Kingman, Kiowa, Labette, Montgomery, Neosho, Pratt, Reno, Sedgwick, Stafford, Sumner, Wilson and Woodson.