A Close Call in Tornado Alley

[Berzerker]

Cool dry winds coming down off the Rockies combining with warm moist air from the Gulf makes for interesting weather. Today north central Kansas was right where these two fronts collide and the result was severe thunderstorms and tornados south of the Manhattan home of Kansas St.

But here in Topeka we were just outside the worst activity until... well... a line of storms moving north fast hit us and I'm still not sure what happened. The line bowed (like an arc) in a west-north-east direction on radar just before hitting our area so I still think it was just a straight line wind around 60 +mph but it hit us like a wave and was over within 5 seconds. The power was out only in our couple of sq miles so it was real local. In fact, the repair guys fixed the damage within 100 yds.

But our neighbors just to the south ~100 yds got hit pretty hard by something. They're thinking it was a tornado but it was over so fast. If it was it barely touched down, just long enough to decorate our tree line with the roof of their wood shed. The rest of it smacked their truck denting the hood before hitting their propane tank. Attached to their pick up was a fair sized horse trailer that was moved about 6 feet, and the large metal doors to their modern barn were literally blown off the tracks.

[Berzerker]

Oh ya, a neighbor about 1/2 mile due north of us said he saw the winds blowing one way then the opposite, which indicates an overhead funnel. But he didn't see it, just the effect at ground level.

[SlowwHand]

Yeah that was no straight line wind. This is a secondary season. Not as much as Apr-June, but can get hairy.

[mrmitchell]

A person driving on the interstate in AR got killed earlier today when a tornado went through a lumber yard and the highway, flipping her car.

Right now here in Camden it's just real windy and rainy. The news of the fatality is awful but the chances for a tornado down here are pretty low. Nevertheless earlier the entire state was on a tornado or storm warning...

[Dinner]

For all the talk about earthquakes in California they tend to be tiny. In almost 30 years of living in California I can count the really memorable earthquakes on one hand. None of those resulted in any significant damage to property in my area. On the other hand other parts of the country seem to get hurricanes and tornados on a yearly basis. I'll keep my odd little shaker and you folks can keep your weird weather.

[Berzerker]

We were about 5 miles from the Whittier quake

[Japher]

you area is crap@!

[DanS]

Originally posted by Oerdin
For all the talk about earthquakes in California they tend to be tiny. In almost 30 years of living in California I can count the really memorable earthquakes on one hand. None of those resulted in any significant damage to property in my area. On the other hand other parts of the country seem to get hurricanes and tornados on a yearly basis. I'll keep my odd little shaker and you folks can keep your weird weather.

Hurricanes are much more destructive as an aggregate than tornadoes.

[Zkribbler]

One hurricane carries more energy than the entire nuclear arsenals of the US and Russia.

But glad to hear you're okay.

[Berzerker]

Hurricanes are much more destructive as an aggregate than tornadoes.

But they dont sneak up on you like a thief in the night.

Such is life on the plains, one day we have tornados, the next we get snow Yup, its snowing. Now its just a matter of when the New Madrid fault rips apart

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Berzerker
Now its just a matter of when the New Madrid fault rips apart

For those who don't know: The New Madrid Fault was the site of the strongest earthquake in US history. It was felt as far away as Florida and ...was it Minnesota?