06-15-2009 REPORTS: CO, KS, NE, OK

[Will Wilkens]

I was on the same storm that rolled into Kinsley. Parked about 3 miles west of town and watched a gorgeous wall cloud going through many phases of shapes and gyrations. As the wall was nearly overhead I watched very strong rotation and several funnels going through genesis and dissipation cycles. Tried to repostion eastward closer to town several times and saw incredible rotation directly overhead with intense inflow scud, and more funnels. Then I came across the same gustnado-looking thing that Skip and Mike mentions and couldn't verify whether it was acually a tornado or not even though I saw the same rotation in the base just above the ground circulation, and several rotating vortices kicking up the dust on the ground. After reviewing my video over and over in time-lapsed it appears that the base circulation and ground dust are in unison, but it definitely needs more analysis. I will post that video soon and see what everyone thinks.

I eventually pushed on into Kinsley, following behind Skip, and making the same wrong turn he did while the tornado sirens began blaring (hey Skip I saw you guys cut off that Sheriff truck and he almost nailed you). I ended up getting cored with only a couple of minor dents in my hood. Since I didn't know where the tor was on the ground, and for my own safety and to minimize damage I hunkered down behind a brick building on the downwind side and that seemed to buffer me from the wind and help deflect most of the hailstones. After the brunt of the storm passed I pressed south back towards Greensburg to watch another TW cell that had formed south of Dodge City, which didn't stay TW for very long.

Here are some pics of the Kinsley storm:

This is the same tornado-looking circulation that everyone else saw....

 

[Dustin Wilcox]

IMO it was a solid tornado SSW of Kinsley as well, and I think the video I have (at least IMO) verifies that, esp. when timelapsed I have video and pictures here, including a Full size cottonwood tree missing me by merely a few feet... http://www.severechase.com/6.15.09.html

here is a short version of part that I feel verifies the tornado theory...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPmGPIOWBKo Again the full version is viewable on the link above

 

[Jesse Risley]

According to the NWS, this was indeed a tornado that we witnessed in Kinsley.

Received this email from the DDC WCM:

"A damage survey was done on the area and it will be posted to our web site as a weather story, hopefully in the next few days. There was at least $500,000 in damages from the storm south of Kinsley which appeared to be a tornado combined with a damaging RFD and perhaps even damaging inflow winds. A vortex track was clearly evident in some of the damage/debris."

 

[Scott Weberpal]

I uploaded a couple videos from just SE of Kinsley when I was in destructive RFD winds, likely right on the edge of the developing tornado. The first video shows power flashes, and a grain bin getting destroyed from about 1/4 mile away. The second video shows a developing dust plume, probably RFD, as well as the damage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZZ83ZfVg8Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ibv_wUzr0UY

 

[Will Wilkens]

Nice! I got video of the dust plume and the multi-vortex ground circulation, and associated cone and rotating base above it, and later with me riding out the RFD winds in the downtown area with powerflashes in the distance. I'm hurying up getting it edited so I can post.....

 

[edward oneal]

Here is short video of a little spin up I was under west of Kinsley and at the end you can see the area that produced the tornado south of Kinsley. .http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgV2sU4zu9E

 

[Will Wilkens]

Here is my video of the same spin up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJlEzInD1h4&feature=channel_page

 

[Will Wilkens]

Here is my video of the Kinsley storm as I am riding out the core:

(at 2:50 Brandon Ivey and crew passes me followed by Skip.... I follow Skip into the wrong turn....)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_FfSKcv03Q&feature=channel_page

 

[Will Wilkens]

Another video clip of this storm as it is winding up just west of Kinsley:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMrg...ube.com/user/SWSWX&feature=player_profilepage

 

[Adam Lucio]

Ok slow poke me has finally finished everything for this day.

Check it out for my perspective of the Kinsley tornado as well as everything a chase has to offer. Probably my favorite chase of the season.

Mammatus over Pratt once the day was over.

Video still of the tornado SW of Kinsley with condensation/connecting dust visible, this was shortly before the nub funnel lowered that was captured on many video cameras, including mine.

 

[David Hoadley]

Adam, couldn't open your second photo ("video still"). Can you do something about that --will also look for it on your web site later, when that is updated. Fantastic mammatus photo (straight from Oz)!

 

[Adam Lucio]

Weird about that photo/still because they both come from the same hosting area. I couldnt see it either until I logged on to ST. Ill try again here.

 

[Will Wilkens]

I'm wondering how long this circulation remained intact before it became its beast version near Macksville, or was it cycling small cones up and down out of the cloud. While I was riding out the RFD in Kinsley I saw several powerflashes in the direction south of town. Later after traveling south on US183 south of the one-lane river crossing I discovered a row of power poles that were downed which appear to be what Gene saw when he was in that area. Playing back my video I've timed the power flashes somewhere between 5:30 to 6pm (still pinpointing exact time) and I think that correlates with the timing of everyone's reports of when we saw all these ground circulations and the time it would have taken for it to move through that area.

 

[Dick McGowan]

I'm not sure there was a tornado near Kinsley, as we could feel the cool outflow from the gustnadoes shortly after it passed in front of us. We would have missed the multi-vortex tornado and large cone near Belpre and Macksville had we not turned around on highway 183 south of Kinsley...which seemed to have a one lane road with a stoplight we didn't want to wait for. We punched the core east, instead, on Highway 50, witnessing several powerflashes in front of us and numerous N/S/E windshifts, which made things a little hectic. Thankfully, we could see light at the end of the tunnel and to our south the show began.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8UHXvaqMQE&feature=channel

Reed Timmer and crew had a better view: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dMGVhDs5RQ

 

[David Hoadley]

Will's comment about "cycling small cones up and down" was interesting, since my own detailed analysis of the storm WSW-SE of Kinsley suggests the same thing (am persuaded along with others that it was tornadic). Although chaser accounts vary, adding my own observation and known times at different locations does suggest at least two different touchdowns that did not appear to track the same path.

I believe the first one (and personally observed/taped) was about 3-4 miles WSW of Kinsley and almost a mile south of US50 at about 5:25PM CDT. A possible second touchdown could have been the one Thieszen reported at 5:35PM, apparently just north of the one-lane bridge on US183 (strong WSW winds south of the bridge). I was surrounded in dust at that time, driving south of Kinsley, but do have a hastily written note that DDC warned of a radar-tornado 2 miles S of town at 5:31PM. Allowing for approximating distances of less than half a mile, this location was due east of the first (?) touchdown under a meso that seems to have been moving ESE.

If isolated touchdowns, miles apart, can be documented by photography or damage with similar storms, what do events like these do to the whole database for tornado reports? Does each such event under a developing meso *without* (1) a clearly evident, continuous radar hook or (2) a continuous path count as one more "report"?