2003-05-04 KS/MO/OK outbreak

[Matt Gingery]

I remember this day like it was yesterday. I happened to live in Battlefield, Missouri and documented the entire event on my old 8mm Sharp camera. Loaded Gun set up. The F-3 Tornado destroyed my neighborhood (Laurel Farms) I managed to film the Multivortex to within a 100 yards, took cover and then came out to film the TOR roping out 2 blocks east of my house. Insane Outbreak. . .Below are some visible satellite pics of 18z and 21z

 

[Brian Stertz]

Yep remember this chase with my partner Rich Thies quite well. Got the F-4 as it moved into MO and nearly hit the town of Liberal. Dropped south and got the F-3 tornado moving just past Carl Junction...and then caught the waning mins. (roping out) of the Battlefield tornado Matt mentions. We were just a few mins. away from Pierce City after the tornado hit town and moved off. Was a crazy chase and it seemed to be so wild asthings progressed into SW Missouri from SE Kansas. I'll post some tornado pics from this one in a few days.

 

[Mike Smith]

My entire family lives in south Kansas City. So, about 1pm, I telephoned my parents, two brothers, and two sisters and told them that this was a very dangerous situation in the KC area and that I thought the odds were very high there was going to be a tornado in the area. I asked them and their children to stay close in touch with the weather as the afternoon progressed.

Of course, there was a major tornado in Wyandotte Co. and "north of the River" as people in south KC refer to it.

I thought the family would be very pleased with my concern and the accuracy of my forecast. Instead, I got a call from my Mom (about 11 miles from the tornado's path) who said, Dad and I were going to go to a movie this afternoon and we stayed home and nothing happened here!

Sigh.

It is sometimes amazing how our forecasts are perceived by those outside of the profession.

 

[Matt Hughes]

That day was as fast-paced as it gets. Lanny is right, the dryline was screaming. We got a late start out of Wichita and rolled into Girard as the tornado was quickly moving off to the Northeast.
We then jumped south to the next cell and watched the second long track tornado of the day develop near Columbus, KS.
After moving into Missouri we found ourselves in a bad position in the hills and in the core of the Pierce City storm. Debri was falling around us so we decided to back off. I also remember how tough it was to get home that night from Springfield to Wichita because many roads were closed as a result of all the tornadoes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aywaBb8hJR4

 

[Brian Stertz]

Here are a few photos of the F4 tornado crossing into Missouri from SE Kansas...to the sw and w of the town of Liberal MO (Barton Co.) It went through several classic stages before roping out and missing the town of Liberal. Meanwhile several miles to the northeast, the Stockton MO long tracked tornado had just been born...

Looking very much like the Bridge Creek OK F5 at this point...​

Tornado vortex constricts and remains very intense...sw of Liberal​

Tornado weakening west of Liberal (looking north)​

 

[Mike Peregrine]

This was quite a day. I remember going through the efforts of forecasting for an entire week before this event, and talking about it with other chasers in the chatroom.

On May 3rd, we saw one brief tornado near the river to the northwest of Platte City, MO early on, then moved south to intercept the larger storm as it moved over Gladstone/Carriage Hills subdivision. I spend a lot of time in the Carriage Hills neighborhood now, and it's amazing how well it recovered after being so completely destroyed by this storm. Interestingly, the embedded tornadoes along a bow echo that occurred here a couple years ago were also very close to this same neighborhood, which has also now been rebuilt.

As we followed the storm through Liberty, you can see the tornado roping out to the east of town in our video. We came upon several homes that had been completely destroyed, one of which happened to belong to a friend of our family. They were still trapped inside as we filmed it and the rescue crews were pulling up. I was able to show it to them later. They didn't have time to make it to their basement, but had happened to be in parts of the house that offered enough protection to survive.

One of the feelings I remember most from this day is the helplessness as a large tornado barelled through populated neighborhoods, and the debris that rained down around our car. We saw pieces of homes, insulation, roofs, etc. falling around us. I have a lot of friends in this part of town, so I also remember how nervous it made me feel. For such a major event, it's unbelievable how few were hurt or killed.

That's the first time I've seen the video posted by Andrew in KCK. Really something. This storm was infamous for the terrific video of the initial tornado obtained by Kiesling near the turnpike, and the fact that the same tornado later weaved its way through the parking lots between the newly constructed super raceway and shopping centers at Village West, on its way to reaching F4 status over Carriage Hills across the river.

The ingredients for supercells and tornadoes couldn't have been more perfect than they were that day across eastern Kansas and western Missouri.

Here's a link to some of the threads that day from the old ST group on Yahoo: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/stormtrack/messages/3611?viscount=-30&l=1

 

[B Jensen]

There was also a noteable tornado that started near Nevada, Missouri that eventually wiped out the town of Stockton, Missouri. It's been almost 7 years now, so I don't quite remember, but I think Stockton was taken out right after nightfall? From what I understand (I've been moved away for sometime) they are still rebuilding in the downtown areas. I think it was an extention of the Girard tornado, touching down shortly after it dissipated. All told thats probably one of the longest tornados the Ozarks has ever seen. Even longer if you consider all 3 one event.

I also take special note to this tornado, I was a senior in HS and was watching the radar on television (There wasn't high speed internet in the backwoods then ) and the meterologist from KY3 drawing the projected path with in a lines width of my residence. This is one of the events that shaped my desire to learn about weather.

 

[J. Sims]

Its been that long already! I remember seeing this on the news. I wish I could have chased that storm. Unfortunately I was 12!!

 

[Joey Ketcham]

There was also a noteable tornado that started near Nevada, Missouri that eventually wiped out the town of Stockton, Missouri. It's been almost 7 years now, so I don't quite remember, but I think Stockton was taken out right after nightfall? From what I understand (I've been moved away for sometime) they are still rebuilding in the downtown areas. I think it was an extention of the Girard tornado, touching down shortly after it dissipated. All told thats probably one of the longest tornados the Ozarks has ever seen. Even longer if you consider all 3 one event.

I also take special note to this tornado, I was a senior in HS and was watching the radar on television (There wasn't high speed internet in the backwoods then ) and the meterologist from KY3 drawing the projected path with in a lines width of my residence. This is one of the events that shaped my desire to learn about weather.

Yeah that tornado that hit Stockton was from the same supercell that spawned the F3/F4 tornado that went through Crawford County destroying pretty much all of Franklin, KS.

That tornado actually hit very close to home for me. I have lived in Crawford County my whole life and still do, several close friends were impacted by the tornado. My brother's in-laws lived in Franklin at the time and they took a direct hit by the tornado... and they were inside their house. I remember rolling into Franklin and seeing it destroyed and having to make that phone call to my brother and his wife telling them that Franklin was wiped off the face of the map and that her parents house took a direct hit.

I targeted near the Cherryvale/Parsons area and chased it all the way back to Crawford County, after Franklin got destroyed my priorities changed and my chasing ended there since it became more personal at that moment since I knew so many people who lived in the direct path of it.

It's hard to believe it's already been 7 years. If memory serves right, I think Lanny Dean got some great video of that tornado.

 

[Jason Bolt]

Pretty sure Jeff Piotrowski got some good video of the Franklin storm as well.

 

[Chris Wilburn]

I don't know it it's on You Tube or not, but Tim Marshall's video from that intersection in Franklin is amazing! This day makes me wish I started chasing a couple years earlier. I started chasing in 2004 partly due to this historic outbreak that was very close to home. The Girard, KS wedge video on You Tube is amazing as well.

I looked at the archvies and apparently a wedge tornado (800) yards wide in the database touched down about 7-8 miles south of my where I live in Miami. From what I know there is no pics or video of it, but it's in the database. I knew nothing during this time about chasing. I went to the town of Bluejacket SW of Miami and heard the tornado sirens going off and getting into some small hail. I head back north towards Miami. If I knew anything about chasing at the time I would have head south instead and may have seen the tornado. This was the same storm that went on to hit Pierce City, MO. Actually I think this storm merged with another one and hit Pierce City if I recall correctly.

Here is a google map link to the path the tornado apparently took south of Miami and just north of Fairland. If anybody saw this or has any details I would love to hear them!
http://www.tornadohistoryproject.com/index.php?yr=2003&mo=5&day=4&st=Oklahoma&fu=%25&co=Ottawa&l=auto&submit=Map&dtor=on&ddat=on&dsta=on&dfuj=on&dfat=on&dinj=on&dcou=on&format=basic&p=1&s=1

 

[Nathan Withrow]

I think I can take part in this post, lol! I remember this day very well because It was a part of my life. I lived in Girard, KS at the time that F4 came so close. I was standing outside in my backyard watching the rotation on that storm and the debris cloud. Did not see the tornado because of houses and trees in the way of my view, and off to the basement my family and I went. It was one amazing moment in my life.

 

[Greg McLaughlin]

I looked at the archvies and apparently a wedge tornado (800) yards wide in the database touched down about 7-8 miles south of my where I live in Miami. From what I know there is no pics or video of it, but it's in the database. I knew nothing during this time about chasing. I went to the town of Bluejacket SW of Miami and heard the tornado sirens going off and getting into some small hail. I head back north towards Miami. If I knew anything about chasing at the time I would have head south instead and may have seen the tornado. This was the same storm that went on to hit Pierce City, MO. Actually I think this storm merged with another one and hit Pierce City if I recall correctly.

Here is a google map link to the path the tornado apparently took south of Miami and just north of Fairland. If anybody saw this or has any details I would love to hear them!
http://www.tornadohistoryproject.co...&dfat=on&dinj=on&dcou=on&format=basic&p=1&s=1

I jumped on this storm when it was near Nowata and chased it across the northeast counties of OK into southwest MO.....losing the storm in Neosho due to a fuel stop. A supercell which behaved much like a left split raced north-northeast from the south and merged with the dominant supercell right as it crossed into MO. We never saw any indication the storm had produced a tornado south of Miami, however our view was obscured at times by the hook echo core as we had a hard time keeping up with the storm. As we gassed up in Neosho, MO we could see the wall cloud quickly organize to our east as the supercell raced away. The Pierce City tornado developed shortly after. It was an impressive storm, but was moving at nearly 40mph across difficult terrain which made for an arduous chase. I would love to have that day back.

 

[Lanny Dean]

I looked at the archvies and apparently a wedge tornado (800) yards wide in the database touched down about 7-8 miles south of my where I live in Miami. From what I know there is no pics or video of it, but it's in the database. I knew nothing during this time about chasing. I went to the town of Bluejacket SW of Miami and heard the tornado sirens going off and getting into some small hail. I head back north towards Miami. If I knew anything about chasing at the time I would have head south instead and may have seen the tornado. This was the same storm that went on to hit Pierce City, MO. Actually I think this storm merged with another one and hit Pierce City if I recall correctly.

Here is a google map link to the path the tornado apparently took south of Miami and just north of Fairland. If anybody saw this or has any details I would love to hear them!
http://www.tornadohistoryproject.co...&dfat=on&dinj=on&dcou=on&format=basic&p=1&s=1

I am not sure that that particular cell was the same one that hit Pierce City. After leaving the Franklin/Girard cell, Randy Hicks and I dove south and jumped on 44 so we could get video back to TWC via Tulsa. We certainly saw the cell in question but from our vantage point we saw nothing that would indicate a wedge tornado. Of course I would need to go back over the time frame and then look at the time stamp on my video to make sure it matched up. I am not saying that there was not a tornado, I am just saying that from our vantage point we did not see one and we were more than close enough to have seen one I would think.
I do remember seeing a decent lower base but at that point we were moving away from it and decided that we were on a time crunch anyways.

 

[Fred Dearborn]

I remember this day as it was yesterday.After seeing the forecasts models that morning,it was going to be a big day.This was actually the first F-4 I had ever recorded on video near Girard,Ks and continued to move with the storm into Mo..We ventured the next day into south central Mo to see the the damage path that had extended for over 100 miles.From Girard,Ks to Stockton,Mo and on through just south of Camdenton,Mo.It was crazy.