Thanks to all of you who replied to my question. I greatly appreciate it. If I can find more info on this in the future...I'd like to bring it to the forefront again. Joel
I came across this thread while searching for something else yesterday and, although it's a bit old now, I thought you might be interested in this.
From some quick research, I believe this is the F3 tornado that struck the northern suburbs of Wichita on 24 February 1935:
A tornado also caused significant (F4) damage to Columbus, Kansas on 30 March 1938:
There was also a fairly significant outbreak of at least four large, violent tornadoes in Oklahoma and Kansas on 4 May 1934, which was less than a week before one of the most significant dust storms of the Dust Bowl (May 9-10). I thought I had photos of some of them, but I can't seem to find them right now. If I can, I'll post later. It does appear from newspaper accounts that a number of tornadoes during this time period didn't have full condensation funnels despite being fairly large and intense. At least four F5s occurred during the 1930s as well - 22 May 1933 Tryon, NE; 26 April 1938 Oshkosh, NE; 10 June 1938 Clyde, TX; and 14 April 1939 Capron, OK - Kiowa, KS.
Some photos of the damage in and around Capron, OK. Main Street before and after:
Telephone office:
And unfortunately, a Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Harzman and their daughter were killed at this home that was completely swept away. They didn't have enough warning to reach the cellar (bottom left).
It does seem counterintuitive that there would be tornadoes and tornado outbreaks during the intensely dry conditions of the Dust Bowl, but if the other conditions are favorable enough then you don't necessarily need 65°+ dew points. Even modest moisture return, which still happened on occasion, may be enough to get storms firing.
