Jeff Lawson
EF3
Shane, we sat and filmed the "main" Conway Springs tornado for quite some time (this one), and once we repositioned to dirt roads east of KS 49 and north of Hwy. 160, we saw a nice cone to our north. We assumed this was just a continuation of the previous tornado, as it looked to be in the general area it should have been. Note that there was a very well-defined satellite tornado to the east of the the cone tornado at this time, so perhaps that's what you saw?
Honestly, the storm seemed to be spitting out tornadoes left and right by that time, and given the occassional multi-vortex nature of the Conway Springs tornado and all the associated satellites, it was getting hard to figure out which tornado was which - especially with light fading.
Eric, Scott, and I went out to do a damage survey on Sunday, and although we spent most of our time working on the Argonia wedge, we stopped south of Conway Springs to view the damage there. We didn't continue east to look for more damage, so I can't say how far east the damage track continued. We DID run into Wichita's WCM near Argonia, though, and he had already done the Conway Springs survey (he said he considered upping the rating to F4, but since the homes worst damaged were "modular" in construction, he went with F3), and his map showed three different tracks around Conway Springs - whether those were actually three different tornadoes, I don't know.
Oddly enough, if you use the coordinates provided in ICT's PNS regarding the damage assesment, the "first" Conway Springs tornado moved NE, whereas the "second" tornado moved SE. Yet, the end point of the first tornado is within a half mile of the second. The "third" tornado moved due E, starting about a mile or so NE of the end point of the second tornado. On Scott Curren's video, the "first" tornado sits over one area for awhile, and actually scoots back and forth from one side of the image to the other (it's kind of funny, actually), so it's possible the tornado's overall motion was just weird enough that it could zig zag in a way that suggests three distinct tornado paths. Also, I'm inclined to think the "third" tornado may be the satellite, as it's damage track would be about where one would expect given its location in relation to the main tornado at the time. Although, I wouldn't think a satellite tornado would move due east - I would expect it to wrap around the parent circulation to the N or NW. Maybe it wasn't a satellite tornado after all, but another bona fide tornado? Given the storm's overall behavior, it wouldn't surprise me.
Honestly, the storm seemed to be spitting out tornadoes left and right by that time, and given the occassional multi-vortex nature of the Conway Springs tornado and all the associated satellites, it was getting hard to figure out which tornado was which - especially with light fading.
Eric, Scott, and I went out to do a damage survey on Sunday, and although we spent most of our time working on the Argonia wedge, we stopped south of Conway Springs to view the damage there. We didn't continue east to look for more damage, so I can't say how far east the damage track continued. We DID run into Wichita's WCM near Argonia, though, and he had already done the Conway Springs survey (he said he considered upping the rating to F4, but since the homes worst damaged were "modular" in construction, he went with F3), and his map showed three different tracks around Conway Springs - whether those were actually three different tornadoes, I don't know.
Oddly enough, if you use the coordinates provided in ICT's PNS regarding the damage assesment, the "first" Conway Springs tornado moved NE, whereas the "second" tornado moved SE. Yet, the end point of the first tornado is within a half mile of the second. The "third" tornado moved due E, starting about a mile or so NE of the end point of the second tornado. On Scott Curren's video, the "first" tornado sits over one area for awhile, and actually scoots back and forth from one side of the image to the other (it's kind of funny, actually), so it's possible the tornado's overall motion was just weird enough that it could zig zag in a way that suggests three distinct tornado paths. Also, I'm inclined to think the "third" tornado may be the satellite, as it's damage track would be about where one would expect given its location in relation to the main tornado at the time. Although, I wouldn't think a satellite tornado would move due east - I would expect it to wrap around the parent circulation to the N or NW. Maybe it wasn't a satellite tornado after all, but another bona fide tornado? Given the storm's overall behavior, it wouldn't surprise me.
