Storms 10/04/2016

Is second season starting early?  A cold front and dry line combo moved into the Wichita area with high winds, hail, and an area of rotation that quickly became rainwrapped in the dark and caused some fear that a tornado had touched down north of Wichita.  High winds caused damage to Maize, Bel Aire, and Valley Center areas and at one point left 8,000 without power.

Sunrise in Valley Center

Storms off to the west in Kingman Co.

Non rotating SCUD or scary looking clouds

inflow feeding the storm

The storm hitting Maize with high winds.  Look for the face in the clouds and the hand reaching out.

Finally

So we started off with the driest year on record.  As of April 8th, 2014 we passed a year in the middle of the dust bowl for being the driest start.

Then yesterday storms started to fire east of Wichita almost like a bad joke.  Luckily the dry line/front combo drifted back to the west firing storms and allowing us to finally get a little rain (around 0.25 of an inch).  I went out a couple times yesterday to watch.  When the rotation started showing up on radar, we (I took my oldest on her inaugural chase), out to central Butler county.  When we started hearing about flooding west of Leon we stopped and watched this strange wildly rotating scud under a cloud.  It showed rotation very briefly before attaching to the storm and becoming a wall cloud.  There was very weak rotation and a couple brief, very high funnels that tore themselves apart as they formed.

Daughter's first storm pic out in the field

We stayed until dark and headed back.  I nice storm was over Wichita and we finally got some much needed rain.  Unfortunately, today promises a little harsher environment for some possible large storms (hail, wind, and maybe a tornado) after dark.

Severe Thunderstorm Warning August 9, 2011

This Storm Tracker is going to bed, pics tomorrow.