05/22/07 REPORTS: KS

[Joshua Jones]

I too was at that storm. It was very beautiful. Randy Bowers, a friend of his, and my self where all there. We got to see the storm from beginning to end. Was it amazing or what? It was a pretty successful day. Those of you that where in Great Bend, I believe I saw most of you at one point or another... that is if you where at the Angus Inn.

Good Luck

Josh

 

[Willoughby Owen]

Sure was a good storm! heh. Our kiwi team had a total blast.

(click to enlarge)


Few more on the link on my sig.

 

[Mike Theiss]

Photos of tornado near Hill City Kansas here:

http://www.ultimatechase.com/Chase_Accounts/Kansas_Tornado_Chase_052207.htm

Mike Theiss
UltimateChase.com

 

[Andrew Pritchard]

Made a quick video of some clips of the Kansas tornado that most people saw yesterday... can be seen here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uV1V6lp7p1o

 

[Bill Doms]

My 2 cents worth and another PLEA to please get your a$$ out of the driving lane when you stop...sheesh.

Really nothing more to add but being the day events were covered so well, thought I would throw in a shot of the torn warned Hays cell from about 3 miles outside of town.

Full set of pics from the day:
http://www.mnwxchaser.com/07may22.html

 

[Linda Kitchen]

Kathy and I were also on the storm. We started out in Liberal and went up 283. We saw the storm from beginning to end. Our WX Worx was a great help. This year is the first time we have had radar in our car. What a beautiful storm.

 

[Kem Poyner]

glad to be back on!

What a day it was for me too! I will post pictures when I get home. Seen two tornados in Kansas also. After the action, We got a motel in Hayes. I knew there was storms coming to that area, but what the heck.
I was at the Comfort Inn in Hayes. You guessed it, sirens go off, fire trucks driving up and down the street broadcasting for the public to take shelter. It was one heck of a ride. Our motel lost a large portion of its roof! I prefer to be chasing the storm, not waiting for it to hit me.
One local witness said he saw a tornado hit our building. Personally, I think it was just a tremindous wind gust. Had to be at least 80 Mph. I thought the whole building was coming apart!
Was great to meet some chasers from the picnic up in Kansas that day!

Kem Poyner

 

[Charles Kuster]

We also chased the Hill City storm. I echo what everyone one else said: amazing structure and a nice tornado!

We actually started the day in Wakeeny and targeted Ness City. We saw the storm form when we were in Ness City and moved back north of Wakeeny. Due to slow storm motion we found a spot on a dirt road and just watched the beautiful supercell move in front of us and it was all capped off by the tornado!

After the tornado, we dropped south into Wakeeny and experienced some quarter size hail. I did hear about the Trego County tornado, but did not see anything, because we were in a bad place to see anything. Later, we drove to Hays behind the very electric storms. Congrats to everyone who was there!

 

[Dick McGowan]

Time was 21:47 looking west from Yocemento

Edit: I guess we were on the bypass, I swore we were on the Yocemento ramp.

21:49 looking west

22:20 east of Hays, off of I 70 and Toulon Road. Looking NW

 

[Brett Adair]

A few photos along HWY-283 and then the ones of the hail along I-70 as we looked for the underpass.

 

[Caleb Kimbrough]

Tornadojunkies full chase account here

 

[George Flickinger]

Trego county tornado

http://www.flickingerweather.com/052207.html

 

[Paul Stofer]

Eric Nguyen and I departed from his home in North Texas at 8AM for our target area around Hill City, Kansas. We went North on I35 until we reached Salina, KS around 1PM. We stopped in Salina and gathered data before making our way West on I70 towards WaKeeney. We stopped again and gathered more data in Hays and met up with Scott Currens, Brian Stertz and Eric Flescher. We conversed for a short while before departing. (It was nice to finally meet you guys!) We continued West until we reached Quinter, Kansas. At this time storms began firing just to our Southwest. The initial storm began to get seeded by another storm to its South so we chose to play the tail-end Charlie. We sat in Quinter and watched storm initiation. Amos Magliocco and Scott Eubanks met up with us while we observed the storm develop a solid updraft along with an intense rain core. The storm produced a couple of downbursts as it slowly moved to the Northeast at 5MPH. After it crossed I70 we retreated back East and then drove North on Saint Peter Rd towards Saint Peter, Kansas. At this time we were 18 miles SW of Hill City, Kansas. The storm began to produce a very impressive base underneath a incredible vault. The vault was absolutely amazing, and the whole storm was spinning. At 7:02PM the storm produced a developing tornado 2 miles north of Saint Peter, Kansas. We called 911 and reported the imminent tornado. Very quickly, the storm produced a beautiful backlit cone tornado at 7:12PM. The tornado shifted between a cone and a tube a couple of times, but only briefly had a fully condensed funnel all the way to the ground. We didn't observe any structure damage, but did see a dust / debris cloud underneath the funnel. After 10 minutes of being on the ground the tornado quickly roped out and we drove East on a wet, rocky, and sandy CR406 to get some more structure shots. The storm began to move due East and followed us at a whopping 10MPH. Amos began his long trek back to Texas while Scott, Eric and I drove through an intense lightning storm with thunder that sounded like mortar fire. After about an hour of shooting structure photos we began to lose daylight and called it a day. We traveled to Hays, Kansas to stay the night before we left for the Texas panhandle for tomorrows chase. While in Hays, another storm moved into town that quickly went Tornado warned. While at the hotel, the sirens sounded as the storm moved into town. We ran into Tony Laubach, Tim Samaras, and some others. The fire department raced up and down the highway advising people to take shelter over their PA system. When the storm arrived, the tornado threat was gone and the storm appeared to be outflow dominant. We observed quarter to golf ball sized hail along with estimated winds of 60MPH associated with its passage. Unfortunately the data logger did not gather data during the event. We uploaded our photos and video, and got some rest before departing for Canadian, Texas at 9AM. Today I realized how desperately I need to purchase a wide-angle lens...


CHASE PHOTOS
http://www.stormpursuit.com/pictures/chasevehicles/05220708.jpg (Amos and Scott)
http://www.stormpursuit.com/pictures/structure/05220706.jpg
http://www.stormpursuit.com/pictures/structure/05220709.jpg
http://www.stormpursuit.com/pictures/structure/05220717.jpg
http://www.stormpursuit.com/pictures/structure/05220716.jpg
http://www.stormpursuit.com/pictures/structure/05220718.jpg
http://www.stormpursuit.com/pictures/structure/05220719.jpg
http://www.stormpursuit.com/pictures/structure/05220702.jpg
http://www.stormpursuit.com/pictures/tornadic/05220715.jpg
http://www.stormpursuit.com/pictures/tornadic/05220705.jpg
http://www.stormpursuit.com/pictures/tornadic/05220710.jpg
http://www.stormpursuit.com/pictures/tornadic/05220704.jpg
http://www.stormpursuit.com/pictures/tornadic/05220713.jpg
http://www.stormpursuit.com/pictures/tornadic/05220714.jpg

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

The same supercell everyone saw.

Tornado warned storm moving into Hays. Field lit up by lights behind the Walmart.

I've yet to figure out what that is flying by in the video. I thought it was paper till I slowed it down.

Damage to Comfort Inn, just north of where I was parked at the Super 8.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASzV8Nhz2Lk
You tube clip of the high wind at Hays. The two semis lined up behind where I was really did a good job of blocking the wind. YouTube pinched the 16x9 aspect ratio to a 4x3, adding even more distortion to the normal compression to get it on there in the first place. The visual of the video sucks and doesn't show much. The best way to view it is to crank the volume way up. It's odd, when I watched it on my tv, I could clearly hear this car lightly honk its horn the moment it hits. I dont know why, but the timing said it was related. Don't know if the car swerved over or something and hit it or what. Maybe someone decided to stop and they got honked at, more likely. It was just timed odd. But, once I captured this with Premiere Pro in HDV I can't hear it. Not sure why that is, but still there's enough audio to hear the roar and crap hitting things. The sight south of me, past those semis, is what was spooky to see come up out of nowhere like that.


Full Account here: http://www.extremeinstability.com/07-5-22.htm

 

[Eric Flescher]

nice pics all of you

Nice photos. I will get mine aboard soon.
Meanwhile Caleb, I saw on your site the tornado cracker.
What a hoot!!!
It was nice too meet others in person on the chase.
:::

Tornadojunkies full chase account here