Tour Director's Field Report

Today looked like a very possible tornado day in eastern Kansas, good shear, a tight dryline were all in place but we were seriously lacking deep moisture.  The forecast was for storms to develop in my home stomping grounds of southeastern Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma.  Which brings me to the point of answering a question I am so often asked - why do you chase storms?  The obvious answer is because I love what I do.  But, the more in-depth answer was brought out in me today.  My initial target area was Independence, Kansas, where I am originally from and where my maternal family, including my mother, still live.  When I began chasing storms, I did so initially with the desire to help my community, and the communities around me by providing live weather reports to warning meteorologist.  Still to this day, when chasing at "home," either in Independence, Kansas or where I spent most of my childhood in Pryor, Oklahoma, I get a little more anxious than usual due to my family living in those areas - today was one of those days.

As the afternoon developed, so did some isolated supercells in northern Oklahoma and reports started coming of tornadoes hitting areas near Stillwater.  This was kind of a confusing day in that respect because we were stuck in Kansas with a hoard of other storm chasers who also played Kansas and none of us could get into Oklahoma with enough time to spare of available daylight to lead any type of decent chase event.  However, there was still some hope left in southeastern Kansas, even though by late evening I was sure that we were going to be out after dark working every angle possible to pull a tornado out of the day.

As luck would have it a tornado warning was issued for an intensifying supercell that we were watching just after dark near Fredonia, KS.  We monitored the storm closely during lightning for illumination.  A wall-cloud was clearly present with a deep bowl shape lowering and there were a possible funnels that could have touched down, but unless they form a well-defined tornado its nearly impossible after dark to confirm any circulation on the ground.