Another Day Another Storm Chase!

Just got back from another storm chase this afternoon. We spent yesterday zooming across Kansas trying to catch up with the storms that were moving between 60 and 80mph. I caught a brief glimpse of a tornado as it dropped west of Wichita perhaps near Pratt, but it disappeared before I could stop the car and get a photo.

As we continued to track the storms, and there was a line of them that stretched across the state, we passed what I first thought was tornado damage. Trees down and a row of telephone poles snapped in half. Some emergency service folks were stopped where they had cleared the 2 lane road. We saw a small barn destroyed as well. From what I can tell, it seems that it was actually straight line wind damage according to reports on the SPC’s web site. Gusts up to 100mph were recorded and that could certainly break a telephone pole.

Meanwhile as we headed toward a new storm further south that we had been tracking on our Mobile Threat Net radar, we realized it was moving so fast it would intercept up before we could get into position to safely watch it. I reversed course when we spotted a wall cloud descending from the storm as it approached us and headed east out of harm’s way.

The system proved too fast for us and caught up to us along US 54 eastbound into Wichita. Straight line winds from rear flank gust front made driving really dicey. The precipitation was very dense, but thanks to a freshly Rain-xed window we managed to stay on the road.

Spent the night in Wichita and dried out while having dinner that the Outback. Topped the evening off with a frozen custard from Freddie’s. If you have never had one, you have missed a great ice cream treat!