Special Weather Statement For Woodson County Kansas

Special Weather Statement
Woodson (Kansas)
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
358 PM CDT SUN SEP 30 2007
WOODSON-
358 PM CDT SUN SEP 30 2007
...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WICHITA HAS ISSUED A SIGNIFICANT
WEATHER ALERT FOR WOODSON COUNTY...
AT 353 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A
STRONG THUNDERSTORM NEAR TORONTO...OR 12 MILES SOUTHWEST OF YATES
CENTER...AND MOVING EAST AT 45 MPH.
WINDS TO 50 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM.
BE PREPARED TO TAKE SHELTER IN THE EVENT THESE STORMS INTENSIFY AND
BECOME SEVERE, OR A WARNING IS ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER
SERVICE.

Special Weather Statement For ELK, MONTGOMERY, WILSON Counties

Special Weather Statement
Elk (Kansas)
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
408 PM CDT SUN SEP 30 2007
ELK-MONTGOMERY-WILSON-
408 PM CDT SUN SEP 30 2007
...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WICHITA HAS ISSUED A SIGNIFICANT
WEATHER ALERT FOR ELK...MONTGOMERY AND WILSON COUNTIES...
AT 402 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A
STRONG THUNDERSTORM 7 MILES NORTH OF ELK CITY...OR 13 MILES SOUTHWEST
OF FREDONIA...AND MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH.
DIME SIZE HAIL...AND WINDS TO 50 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM.
BE PREPARED TO TAKE SHELTER IN THE EVENT THESE STORMS INTENSIFY AND
BECOME SEVERE, OR A WARNING IS ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER
SERVICE.

Severe Thunderstorm Warning-Jonson County, Kansas

Severe Thunderstorm Warning
Johnson (Kansas)
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KANSAS CITY/PLEASANT HILL MO
409 PM CDT SUN SEP 30 2007
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PLEASANT HILL HAS ISSUED A
* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
JOHNSON COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL KANSAS
* UNTIL 445 PM CDT
* AT 405 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING DAMAGING WINDS IN
EXCESS OF 60 MPH...AS WELL AS SOME SMALL HAIL. THIS STORM WAS
LOCATED NEAR EDGERTON...AND RACING NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH.
* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
GARDNER BY 415 PM CDT.
OLATHE BY 420 PM CDT.
LENEXA BY 430 PM CDT.
OVERLAND PARK...LEAWOOD AND COUNTRYSIDE BY 435 PM CDT.
PRAIRIE VILLAGE...MISSION HILLS...FAIRWAY AND WESTWOOD BY 440 PM
CDT.
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM...PREPARE IMMEDIATELY FOR
DAMAGING WINDS. PEOPLE OUTSIDE SHOULD MOVE TO A SHELTER...PREFERABLY
INSIDE A STRONG BUILDING AND AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

A Story About The Storm That Destroyed Bonnie's Home Town

 

www.weather.gov

National Weather Service Forecast Office Norman, OK Local News Home Organization Search   Historical Weather   Main Page  Weather Events   Event Summaries  5/25-26/1955   Event Summary   Event Tornadoes   Oklahoma Tornadoes   Blackwell Tornadoes   Storm Electricity   Blackwell Memorial   Endnotes    You are at: NWS » NWS SRH » NWS Norman » Weather Event Summaries » May 25, 1955 Blackwell Tornado The Blackwell Tornado of 25 May 1955 May 25, 2005 marked the 50th anniversary of the Blackwell tornado, the 11th deadliest tornado in the recorded history of Oklahoma. The following text is a brief weather summary of the events that occurred on May 25, 1955. The day started stormy on Wednesday, May 25, 1955. Between 8:30 and 9:00 A.M., a thunderstorm produced damaging winds in Kay County where eyewitnesses estimated winds of 70-80 mph near Braman, Oklahoma. Unfortunately, this was a small taste of what the day would bring for some residents of north central Oklahoma. These morning storms moved out of the area and weakened, but additional storms developed in the afternoon and produced a significant tornado outbreak across the Texas panhandle into Oklahoma and Kansas. The first significant tornado of the day, rated F4, developed northwest of Wellington TX and moved into western Oklahoma killing two people southwest of Cheyenne, OK. Over the next few hours, a number of tornadoes were reported over Oklahoma: near Mayfield, Kingfisher, Camargo, and Deer Creek as storms moved north-northeast across the state. At about 6:50 pm, radar detected a new storm developing very close to Oklahoma City moving north. The storm moved north and produced the initial tornado touched down about 8 miles west of Marland around 9:00 pm. It caused some light damage as it moved almost due north into Kay County. The tornado passed to the east and northeast of Tonkawa and destroyed a few homes while the storm also produced baseball-sized hail in Tonkawa. The tornado continued north and moved through the east side of Blackwell causing complete destruction in much of the east side of town. Nineteen people were killed in Blackwell as well as one person to the northeast of Blackwell. The tornado passed east of Braman, then turned to the north-northwest and dissipated to the southeast of South Haven, Kansas as shown in tornado track map for north central Oklahoma and south central Kansas. As this storm passed to the east of Braman, another tornado developed about 4 miles north of Peckham that moved into Kansas and eventually killed 80 people in and near Udall, KS. Both the Blackwell tornado and Udall, KS tornado were rated F5, although the Udall tornado produced minimal damage in Oklahoma. The tornado struck Blackwell at 9:27 pm and destroyed the east side of town. Approximately 80 blocks in town were damaged or destroyed. The Blackwell Journal-Tribune newspaper conducted a building-by-building survey across the east side of town listing approximately 85 homes and buildings as "damaged, but occupied", about 70 homes and buildings as having "extensive damage, but repairable", and about 190 homes and buildings as "completely destroyed." The information from this extensive building-by-building survey was smoothed and used to create the damage intensity map of the tornado as it moved through Blackwell. The width of "complete destruction" was likely much more extensive at the southern limits of the city as there would be little to block the force of the wind. Almost everything between "D" Street and "F" Street was completely destroyed, and over half of the fatalities in the city of Blackwell were within a block of "E" Street. Two of Blackwell's major industries (the Hazel Atlas Glass plant and the Acme Foundry) were destroyed and another was extensively damaged. The Riverside Osteopathic Hospital on East College Street suffered extensive damage and "doctors there labored for hours under candle light and flashlight and didn't quit until they were certain that all patients were in position to be moved to another hospital," according to the Blackwell Journal-Tribune.[1]  A large number of police officers were already in the area that evening attending a meeting of the Northern Oklahoma Southern Kansas Peace Officers Association that evening. To make matters worse, heavy rain that continued after the tornado hampered rescue work that evening and caused the Chickaskia River to flow out of its banks into some low sections of towns the following day. And four other tornadoes were reported in Kay and Grant Counties on the evening of May 27, just two days after the Blackwell disaster. Fortunately, this time these weak tornadoes stayed to the north of Blackwell and caused no injuries. When the warnings were sounded about this storm, "it was not necessary to tell people twice to get to a cellar" according to the newspaper account.[1]  One eyewitness in Blackwell had an interesting visual observation of the tornado. Floyd Montgomery lived nine blocks west of the main path of the tornado and submitted his account to Weatherwise magazine in June 1956. Mr. Montgomery describes as he looked to the east from the door of his storm cellar as the tornado moved through Blackwell. He described a "fire up near the top of the funnel looked like a child's Fourth of July pin wheel. The light was so intense I had to look away." He describes the light as the "same color as an electric arc welder but much brighter, and it seemed to be turning to the right like a beacon lamp on a light house." NWS Forecast Office National Weather Center 120 David L. Boren Blvd. Suite 2400 Norman, OK 73072 Tel: (405) 325-3816 Ask Questions/Webmaster Page last modified: June 13, 2006 Disclaimer Privacy Policy Credits About Us Glossary Career Opportunities NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE: for Safety, for Work, for Fun - FOR LIFE

Short Story-A Tribute To Storm Chasers And Spotters

The Sun, The Rain, The Palm Tree And The Storm Chaser

Up Close And Personal

Heat fills the air as haze covers the expanse of the Tuesday afternoon, summer time, Southwestern Florida sky. Over time, a growing row of heaping cotton ball like cloud formations line up along the distant horizon. Not tolong after this, the sun winds up being completely overtaken by a thickcloud canopy. Once the clouds begin covering it over like a heavy blanket,the smoggy sky is no longer visible either.

Eventually the heat gives way to a cool refreshing breeze that getsstronger with each passing moment. Spits of rain fill the air as the cloudsdarken even more. The more the clouds would build, the harder the windwould blow.

The gathering storm stands as a backdrop to someone waiting poised in the foreground. A brown haired man, wearing a white buttoned up, short sleved shirt and dark blue jeans, with an average build, stands next to a white full size traveling van. He wants to enjoy the sight, but the weather grows too unsafe to stand out in the midst of the action.

"Just a few snapshots, and then I will head inside", The man says tohimself. "Wow! This is better than I thought!" He says out loud as thesky gets swollowed up in a dark shroud of deep blackness. "No time to jotin the notebook, got to get to safety!" he states out loud as the stormgrows larger.

Once inside his house, the man continues watching the sky, waiting with batedbreath for something more to happen. Then in comes the storm like a fraittrain, causing both the pine and palm trees in his backyard to double overto the right. "There she is, the seabreeze boundary formation I've beenwaiting for to arrive!" He says aloud to the world, all the while stillwatching out the window with his brown eyes fixed on the storm brewingoutside.

Then, without warning, the storm stawker comes alive in him as hereaches for his trusty digital camera. "Two more pics, that's all I need!"He thought to himself. Then, as he grabs his last swig of iced tea, he seesa familiar sight.

To his wonder, he spots a long and twisted ropelike image dangling overhis backyard like a carrot hanging suspended in front of a rabbit. "Oh Wow!A Tornado!" He shouted while perched in his livingroom chair. He grabs hisvideo camera this time and heads back outside his house. "It's better to snag moving photography for this instead of taking still pics!" He tells himself.

Just as he begins filming this latest subject, it disappears asfast as it arrives. He wishes it could stay longer, but he knows that the neighbors wouldn't feel the same. "What a strange dilemma!" He thought to himself.

The silence, that fills the air after the storm's passage, is broken up bythe sound of kids crying loudly. He turns his head to the sounds and witnesses a blond haired woman wearing a yellow sun-suit walking around surveying what the storm did to her home. Hee sees the same distruction that this tornado brought forth to them.

Upon seeing this situation at hand, he goes to the sobbing woman tooffer his support. She turns and sees he has a video camera in his lefthand. She gets rather upset and yells at him to leave them alone. "What are you! One of those nutty storm chasers? If you are, then I want you away from me! You people are monsters! You prey off of other people's sufferings!" She exclaimes loudlly.

Our Storm Chaser friend defends his position by stating, "Ma'am, I won't lie to you, In spite of all this, I still enjoy being a storm chaser. I've been through these myself, and I know what they can do. My goal is to educate people on what happens when tornados hit." He states calmly.

In spite of his attempts to comfort her, she didn't want to listen. All she wanted to do was sob. She hangs herhead and walks away from him. After this, he walks back inside his house toupload his catch of the day to his handy laptop.

Storm Chaser Becomes Hurricane Stawker For A Day

The summer storms are long over and boardom has settled in upon ourstorm chaser pal like a heavy mist over the land. Hope seems all but lostuntil one day this same gentleman hears about something that awakens him deep inside his soul. He writes in his journal, "There's a large hurricanenearby, and I'm going Hurricane Hunting with the NHC!" He goes onto write,"Yes, the long hot summer is over and now it's time to focus on what the fall has for us!" He states with much excitement.

Finally, that day arrives! He hops onboard a large jumbo airplane, amilitary style bomber craft. The ride starts out being smooth like silk."Is this the life or what?" He says as he and crew enter the monster fromthe deep. "Whoo-Hoo!" He exclaims.

He, along with the NHC crew, fly up and down through the storm. Theymove around and from side to side through the monster cyclone. After awhile, the ride winds up becoming turbulant and bumpy as they move deeperinto the storm's center.

He states on his video recording, "We're hitting large updrafts as weapproach the hurricane's narrow eye-wall area. Now we are flying through thestorm's calm eye. What an incredible stadium look to this eye-wall structure! There's a part of me that's wishing I could push it away from Florida's mainland, and yet I wish this storm would hit our area hard at the same time. Even if the storm never hits land, I'll at least have the memory of the event forever in my mind."

Winter's Pain With Hidden Bliss

Now that summer's long gone, and the temps are much more bearable, theweather will be less active right? Wrong! Our storm chaser friend has beenscanning the weather service forecast data for more possible action. "A storm chaser's work is never done, even if you're sitting in your home office with the windows open and a nice breeze blowing in off the Gulf of Mexico." He states.

While scanning the weather information, he spots something that catches his attention. "Woo! Looks as if North Florida will be seeing some convective action in the next day or so. If I start early, I can be there in time." He says with great assurance.

After carrying out his scanning duties, hedecides to begin the doting task of packing. He grabs plastic storagecontainers that are filled with video discs and places them in the back seatof his van. Then it's off to the closet to pack some essentials. Once the travel bag had been closed up, now it was time to gather up things like thedigital camera, movie camera, laptop computer, portable GPS tracker, Doppler radar scope and weather scanner. "Looks like we have a date with destiny!" He thought.

After a bit of time on his traveling journey, our storm chaser fellow is beginning to take notice of the surrounding area. He thinks to himself, "It's early evening in mid February, and The sun is slowly setting behind a thin cap of high clouds. The air is unusually warm and moist as well." After noticing this, he pullsover to the side of the road to jot notes in his log.

He writes, "Rising deep level moisture, Giving way to uppper level cold top layers, Marked by high Cirrus, with lower strato-cumulus undercasting. Southwesterly low level wind, with reports of upper level Northwesterly winds from approaching cold front. Southeasterly shear at mid levels... Looks like all conditions are just right for quite a severe weather situation."

After writing in his journal, he starts off to the main location ofgreatest concern. Upon arriving to where the Storm Prediction Center indicates the heart of convection, he decides to stop off somewhere for dinner. "I'll take another look at the map data once I get inside the diner." He says to himself.

A tiny, dimly lit eating area sits quietly on the street corner close to the main highway. This nearly empty diner's interior was bathed in shades of tans and browns. The only people there, other than a young teenage waiter, were afamily of six. A Mother, Father and four children. This family remindedhim of the families he's grown up with while living in the Mid West.

This young waiter brings our storm chaser friend a menu. While he's taking the order down, he stares glumly as he watches this storm chaser looking constantly at his radar scanner. Meanwhile, our storm chaser friend winds up reminiscing about a past long ago left behind as he carries out his tasks. "Nothing showing up yet, but it will be soon.. After all, the heavier cloud bank is now rolling in from the northwest." He thought.

As the waiter is taking his order, a loud, blaring sound could be heardfrom somewhere in the back of the diner. The young fellow quickly grabs hisnotepad and leaves the dining area. At this point, our storm chaser friendis jotting down more notes in his log. "Is that a NOAA radio I hear? Yes,because the NWS is speaking something! Also, the signal going off, it came from a NOAA weather alert radio!"

The waiter returns with some water and iced tea on his carrying tray. "Sir, we are under a Tornado Watch until 1:00 a.m. local time." Said the waiter frantically.

Our Storm Chaser buddy states the following, "I just saw that on my NWS tracker. I'm a storm chaser, storm spotter and meteorologist, and new this wascoming. I've been following these storms, especially tornados, for quite a long time now. It looks like trouble, so I'd stay up on the weather if I were you." The conversation abruptly ends when the waiter looks at him with a blank stair, and then walks off to check on his meal.

A Chance Incounter

While he, that is our storm chaser pal, awaits the arrival of his meal, he sits watching this young family of six. He's also thinking about how his inspiration to follow after storms came from a lecture he'd heard in school as a child. He jots in his journal, "I'm sitting here in this diner, and while I wait for dinner to arrive, I'm looking at this beautiful family sitting across the room from me. They seem to be so wrapped up in their own little world, that I don't think they know about the bad weather to come. Perhaps I should warn them!"

Before the waiter brings along the meal, our storm chaser friend decides to go over and introduce himself. "Hello there!" He states with a friendly voice.

This fine family stops their conversation to return the salutation. "Why hello to you too! Are you from around here?"

Well, I'm from the Tampa Bay area, but I'm originally from Saint Louis, Missouri. My name is Andrew and I am a storm chaser and spotter."

They chat for a time until Andrew's meal arrives. He walks away, but not without sheding a tear. He thinks, "Oh, that poor fellow! I wonder if he still thinks about his family?"

After having a wonderful, but filling dinner, our storm chaser buddy isoff to chase the skies of north Florida. "Let's see what we can find! Ithink we'll find much because much will happen!"

After darkness settles in for the night, Andrew steps into his van and scans the portable Doppler for precipitation echos. Sure enough, hefinds them. The bad news is they've been gathering up in an area that issouth of his current location.

He then says to himself, "I've gotta step on it so I can get to thosestorms before they pass me by!" "Maybe there will be a large tornado that Ican study this time. No, but I just hope it stays away from towns along theway." He says.

Just in front of him, in a baby blue SUV, rides the family that had been in the diner with him. They were seemingly heading in the same direction as himself. He thinks that to be rather interesting. Oh, but of course, he keeps thinking about that fellow that spoke at his Saint Louis grade school, wondering all the while how this fellow is holding up these days.

Hitting The Jackpot!

While this is taking place, he's listening to his NOAA radio scanner forupdates. He's driving south, in the hopes of staying ahead of theapproaching squall line. Instead, he discovers that the line is moving faster than he is.

Before he knows it, splotches of water start forming on his windshield. As time went along, the rain began to get heavier. Then, out of the blue, aflash of pink lightning splits the darkness of the night sky. "Wow! Lookslike the storm's on it's way!" He thought.

He pulls over to the side of the road to check his Doppler radar scope. Looking down, he sees a large and growing mass of deepening convection. He pulls out his notebook and begins jotting down more information.

He writes, "Deepening storm cell just to the southwest of my current location...Looking at Doppler radar and seeing supercell growth with a growing spiral like circulation. That cell is certain to have a tornado at it's southern portion for sure!"

At this point, he steps on the gas and heads southwest to meat up withthe approaching storm. As he does, the rain gets heavier. Small pellits ofhail begin pelting the van, creating a tinging sound as they hit. Moreflashes of bright lightning begin to happen in more frequent spirts, bustingthrough the night like darts of fiery white light.

Beyond the lightning, and all the rain, something rare pops up in thesky justin front of him. His brown eyes darken as he watches this strangesight. "Oh boy! It's a Wall Cloud! We're in business now!" He exclaimes.

It seems like, but for just a moment, that things were calming down atad. He knows though, this is just the beginning of things to come. "It's only a matter of time before a tornado touches down!" He thought.

He stops the van and steps out to begin his surveying of the situation. Then suddenly, he begins noticing several things. First, he takes note of the utter calmness around himself. Secondly, his eyes were fixated on how the lightning had changed from a cloud-to-ground form, to a "streaking within the clouds" pattern. Then last, but not least, he begins feeling super heated air rising up around himself. He jumps backward from it, knowing what that means, and what would happennext.

Sure enough, there formed in front of him, a spiraling dustcloud. Thistime, instead of reaching for his notebook, he grabs his video camera. While he's filming this, a swirling gust of wind pushes him against his van. Unphased by this minor setback, he continues filming this vortex as it slowlygathers strength.

He stands by and watches as the funnel gets larger. As it does, smallerfunnels break away from the larger structure. Then it begins movingnortheast inside the squall line, which has otherwise thinned out in otherlocations.

Tracking this was rather easy for him. Just another typical supercellstorm. He travels northeast, following the tornado as it tears up the ground beneeth it. "The travel time of this tornado was nearly 5 minutes! Wow!" He thought. While following this massive storm, he calls in to report to the NWS what was happening.

After a while, he lost track of it. This was due to it's jumping overthe roadway and reforming away from his present location. He'd have to runafter it and try to catch up with it on foot, which would be animpossibility. All he could do at this point is take what he had and headhome.

The Lesson From The Journey

The next morning, he awakens to learn that ten souls were lost in thevery tornado he had been chasing. The words shoot from his four speaker audio system stereo like daggers stabbing him in his heart. Tears wind up running down his face as the announcer speaks.

He thinks to himself, "I am a storm chaser, but I'm not a heartlessmonster like my nextdoor neighbor thinks I am. I just want to help educatefolks, not hurt them. I do more than chase storms anyways! Besides, I'm doing this for the man that spoke at my school. Well, we've got to do what we've got to do, no matterwhat!"

After arriving back home later on that day, he uploads all the pics andvideo shots to his laptop. He crops, records and saves all the footage,carefully preserving every detail. All the while thinking about those tensouls that parished in the storm, the family from the diner and the fellow that spoke before his grade school science class.

So, as he always does, he dedicates his DVD to those that were lost tothe very tornado he chased after. All the while hoping that other lives would be saved in the future.

OKC Weather/Approaching Storm

It is 7:30 AM and we have an approaching storm which runs almost the length of Oklahoma.

I awoke to thunder and soon saw lightening. It was right at daybreak. Shortly after that, appeared a beautiful rainbow to my NW. I grabbed the camera and got some shots of it. I tried capturing the eagle flying across the rainbow but my camera speed was to slow and there were trees in the backdrop. Soon the sun shone brightly and the rainbow faded into a black sky. The sun is now gone and the sky has begun to lighten.

The thunderstorms are moving NE at 20 mph bringing a cooler front with strong North winds behind it. At 8:10 AM, we received a report of a severe thunderstorm warning. Radar indicated the storm was moving NE through Noble county at 20 mph. It contains penny size hail and 65 mph winds. Another report: This one is for Kingfisher county which is the county to my West. It also contains hail but only 50 mph winds. My area is still cloudy with no rain but the storm is still approaching. The temperature is 74 degrees with 71% humidity.

NWS Festival Coming plus Weather 100 Years Ago

NWS Norman News

2007 National Weather Festival (9/1/2007 2:00 pm CDT) The Norman Chamber of Commerce's Weather Committee will host the 3rd Annual National Weather Festival from 9 am to 1 pm CDT on Saturday, October 20, 2007 at the National Weather Center, 120 David L. Boren Blvd., in Norman, Oklahoma. The free public event will feature tours, children's activities, a storm chaser car show, displays by local businesses, weather-related seminars, Science on a Sphere, and hourly weather balloon launches. More information is available here.

Oklahoma will celebrate its 100th anniversary of statehood on November 16, 2007. In anticipation of the upcoming anniversary, the National Weather Service is looking back at the significant impact weather has played in the state's first 100 years. From devastating tornadoes to crippling ice storms, from drought and the dust bowl years to floods, Oklahoma's weather is always changing, and always a topic of conversation. Join us as we look back at 100 years of Oklahoma's fascinating weather.

NWS Norman would like to thank the Oklahoma Climatological Survey for their data and assistance in compiling this historical data. We would also like to express our appreciation to the Oklahoma Historical Society for the use of their facilities and historical records. For more information about the Oklahoma Centennial celebration, visit the Oklahoma Centennial web site.


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Oklahoma Weather Conditions 100 Years Ago for


September 24, 1907

Late September was a dry period across Oklahoma and the Indian territories, and September 24th was no exception. No rain was reported across the region. Afternoon highs once again climbed into the 90s at most locations.



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Oklahoma Weather History during the Past 100 Years for


September 24

In 1992, a total of 16 tornadoes occurred during the entire month of September. This was the largest number of tornadoes occurring during the month of September in the latter half of the 20th century.