2/23/07 NOW: TX, OK, KS

[Jordan Hartley]

2nd tornado reported 6 miles S of Ensign reported by a spotter. Storm has decreased a little but it has been recycling every 15-20 minutes. Rotation is still strong and the area of concern looks to pass right through DDC.

 

[Shane Hale]

2nd tornado reported 6 miles S of Ensign reported by a spotter. Storm has decreased a little but it has been recycling every 15-20 minutes. Rotation is still strong and the area of concern looks to pass right through DDC.

I dont think it gets any clearer than that !!!

 

[Justin Bailey]

new meso has formed and intensified. the potential tornado looks like it will pass directly over DDC. the TVS is small but very intense. this could become pretty bad folks.

 

[Mark Farnik]

The circulation has reintensified and is passing directly over DDC now... I fear that a significant tornado may be striking Dodge City as we speak. I hope everyone has sought shelter and pray for those who haven't.

 

[Ben Krelik]

Here's an image from GRLevel2AE of the cell:

 

[Jordan Hartley]

I just heard Jay Prayter from the KAKE ch. 10 weatherplex (LOL) out of Wichita, KS say that this situation is not good for DDC and that the storm is in the "cone of silence". This is not good for DDC.

 

[Mike Umscheid]

real quick.. very nice looking storm that had larger scale rotation ever since coming out of OK panhandle... issued TOR finally when it got just northwest of Meade... then the TOR reports started coming in... the circulation was very tight level II 8-bit data for awhile over west-central Ford County... but as it approached DDC, the circulation became smaller and weaker with time... and the whole reflectivity volume lost it's good structure... even from Vance AFB 88D... pretty good fortune for those in Dodge City... now.. on to resumption of winter!

 

[Mark Farnik]

Good to hear from you, Mike. Glad you're ok and thank god it weakened before it got to Dodge City. Hopefully those two 'naders reported near Ensign didn't hit anything.

The storm near Great Bend looks to be really be getting its act together quickly. Wouldn't be suprised to see this one go tornado warned shortly.

 

[Mark Farnik]

Ok, now its back. Phew. Must have been a temporary outage. That would have been dangerous having the radar out of commission on a night like this.
I think both Wichita and Great Bend need to be on the lookout in the next half hour or so. These cells could go tornadic at any time.

 

[Chris Vagasky]

ICT Radar Message:

There are problems with the RDA Hardware. ETS have been contacted and are in route. Some lower slices may still be available. Restoration time will be after 0400z.

 

[Mark Farnik]

Then again, maybe not. Ok, this is really, really bad. I sincerely doubt there are many spotters out at 11:30 at night, in fact most everyone is asleep at this hour. This could be very bad for the Wichita metro if that cell decides to go tornadic.

 

[Mark Farnik]

I just thought of that... That's a Homer Simpson 'Doh!' moment for ya.

Shifting back to Oklahoma for a minute... looks like we've got a 'Tail End Charlie' in Harmon County in far southwestern OK. Went from nothing to 55 dbz in two radar scans about twenty miles west of Altus. That'll be one to watch for sure.

 

[Jordan Hartley]

Actually you would be surprised. I know for a fact the "KFDI Mobile Units" at 101.3 Fm are out there right now tracking the storm as we speak and this aint no one horse town its Friday Night and there are alot of people out and about on Fridays here in Wichita. But most people aint got a clue about the weather here anyways lol. I hate to put a damper on things but there is no wind where im at and im 18 miles se of the storm. I think it might be getting chocked out or something because it really isnt doing much except rain. Now if this thing starts to fall apart then we could start to get some wind reports but as far as anything tornadic with this cell I dont think this storm is inflow dominate anymore. Im going to take about a 2 hour nap. Easy to see where the front is now hoping we get a good derecho to come through town later yipee!!!

 

[Mark Farnik]

You're right, Jordan. The cell appears rather disorganized from Vance radar perspective. It looks like the storms in Kansas and northern Oklahoma are shifting to linear, outflow dominant mode. The previously potentially tornadic supercell southwest of Great Bend has morphed into a potent looking bow echo in the last three scans. I think for the most part the threat of significant tornadoes has come and gone, I think we're mostly looking at wind and hail reports the rest of the night, maybe some weaker tornadoes within kinks in the lines or imbedded supercells. I think the last discrete cells which have some relatively decent tornadic potential are the large supercell just south of Clinton, Oklahoma and the aforementioned 'tail end charlie' west of Altus. I think this is kind of the last hurrah for the night, and most of the severe potential should end in a few hours as the dryline punches in from the west.

 

[Justin Bailey]

looks like a cold pool developing across NW KS, which has made the cell approaching great falls outflow dominant. i expect this to congeal into a line with the line extending into the panhandle of texas. i still expect for there to be sups embedded in this line and discrete sups out ahead of it, but i would expect to see the wind threat increasing.