05/23/08 DISC: KS/NE/WY/CO/OK

[Tony Lyza]

[FONT=lucida sans typewriter, lucida console, courier]The NWS office in Goodland has rated the Quinter area wedge an EF4, the first in their CWA since 1990.[/FONT][FONT=lucida sans typewriter, lucida console, courier]

[FONT=lucida sans typewriter, lucida console, courier]..FRIDAY AFTERNOON TORNADO RATED EF4

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CONDUCTED A STORM DAMAGE ASSESSMENT
ACROSS GOVE AND SHERIDAN COUNTIES FOR THE TORNADOES THAT OCCURRED
FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING.

ONE TORNADO PRODUCED SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE ABOUT 3 MILES SOUTHWEST
OF QUINTER KANSAS. THREE HOMES WERE COMPLETELY DESTROYED...AND
TWO VEHICLES WERE MOVED APPROXIMATELY 200 YARDS. THE TORNADO PRODUCED
TWO INJURIES...BUT NO FATALITIES. BASED ON THIS DAMAGE...THE TORNADO
WAS ASSIGNED A RATING OF EF4 ON THE ENHANCED FUJITA SCALE. EF4
TORNADOES PRODUCE WIND SPEEDS UP TO 200 MPH.

THIS IS THE FIRST EF4 TORNADO RATED IN THE TRI-STATE AREA SINCE
JUNE 15 1990 WHEN A TORNADO MOVED ACROSS CENTRAL HITCHCOCK AND
NORTHERN RED WILLOW COUNTIES IN NEBRASKA.

HERE IS LIST OF THE TORNADOES THAT OCCURRED ACROSS NORTHWEST KANSAS
AND EXTREME EASTERN COLORADO FRIDAY...

TORNADO 1...RATED EF4...LARGE WEDGE TORNADO DEVELOPED 8 MILES
SOUTHWEST OF QUINTER AND DISSIPATED 4 MILES NORTHWEST OF
QUINTER...TORNADO WAS ON GROUND FOR 10 MILES...THREE HOMES WERE
COMPLETELY DESTROYED AND OTHER HOMES SUFFERED MODERATE DAMAGE...TWO
VEHICLES WERE THROWN ABOUT 200 YARDS. TORNADO CROSSED INTERSTATE
70 AROUND MILE MARKER 102 AND DESTROYED A VEHICLE...RESULTING IN ONE
INJURY [/FONT]

[/FONT]

 

[Brian Stertz]

Trying to locate any tornado damage assessments or public info statements on the nighttime killer tornado from E. Pratt Co. into NW Kingman and Reno Counties (KS). The damage on US 54 looked consistent with a very strong tornado (EF-3 ish) near Cairo (Pratt Co.) when we drove by the damage path yesterday. The hook on this supercell was tremendous... and we eventually caught the supercell and a tornado as things began to wind down south of Hutchinson.

 

[Kevin Statler2]

Yeah,it was rated EF3

 

[David Yoho]

Did anyone get video or a picture of that particular tornado in Pratt Co.?

 

[Tony Lyza]

Does anyone know about the damage in NW Pratt or W Stafford Counties? The cell there that had passed over Greensburg featured a debris knob and 198kt of gate-to-gate shear at one point in that region.

 

[Shawna Davies]

Jon Davies and I looked at the damage from the Cairo area on Monday including the car that was thrown into the field. It was extremely sad to see. Brandon Ivey got video of the tornado, seen on The Storm Report site. Jon has written a short article on the tornado on his blog.

http://davieswx.blogspot.com/

Shawna Helt

 

[Mike Umscheid]

May 23rd Presentation at High Plains Conference

It is believed that around 70 tornadoes occurred from the western KS/northwest OK outbreak from 21z to 06z or so on the 23rd -- 68 of those in Kansas, which is probably a nationwide state record. I am putting together material to present on this outbreak for the High Plains Conference Sept 4-5 which will be held in Hays. You can read the abstract here. 55 tornadoes were entered into StormData from just the DDC office alone on the 23rd. The WCM Jeff Hutton used any and all resources including of course damage surveys encompassing 1400 miles to arrive at this final number. It took every bit of the two month window to arrive at the final number for StormData. I am attempting to match each tornado with its parent supercell. I have arrived at around 15 supercells which made up this significant cluster outbreak -- 13 of those tornado producing and 4 of them producing 9 or more tornadoes. The Clark-Kiowa-Stafford county supercell spawned 15 tornadoes, which was the most prolific producer.

I'd love to use pictures in my presentation, and if you posted a summary in the Reports thread with images and grant usage in my presentation, send me a quick PM or reply on this thread and I'll just use those. Otherwise, you can send ~800px photos to Mike.Umscheid "at" noaa.gov. If you send me images, please include time and location! Thanks!

More information on the High Plains Conference Sept 4-5 in Hays can be found here!