Severe Weather

[MrsK]

Anything I should know about in central KS? I'm trying to get errands done with K1 and it's suddenly POURING with no sign of sun. Nothing on the radio about it. I'm supposed to take the kiddos to the zoo Saturday.

[SuzySunshine]

Yeh, great! We are leaving Portland today, going to Boise then through Vail/Denver and arriving in KC late Sunday in my brand new car. GRRR!! Fabulous!!

[MrsK]

Just gave up on grocery shopping and came home. There is already a river in our back yard. Hope this eases up so I can get to the store today.

[SoonerTexan]

Just a T-Storm in Kansas right now.

As for Saturday, as of now you may want to plan on the zoo another day:

...THERE IS A MDT RISK OF SVR TSTMS ACROSS CENTRAL OK AND ERN KS... ...THERE IS A SLGT RISK OF SVR TSTMS SURROUNDING THE MDT RISK AREA AND EXTENDING ACROSS THE SRN/CENTRAL PLAINS INTO THE UPPER MS VALLEY... ...POTENTIAL EXISTS FOR A SIGNIFICANT OUTBREAK OF TORNADOES AND VERY LARGE HAIL ACROSS PARTS OF OK/KS INTO SERN NEB/NWRN MO/SWRN IA...

ACROSS THE MODERATE RISK AREA BY LATE AFTERNOON AND THE SURROUNDING SLIGHT RISK. STRENGTHENING DEEP LAYER WIND FIELDS...VEERING WITH HEIGHT...WILL RESULT IN STRONG EFFECTIVE BULK SHEAR /EXCEEDING 50 KT/ AND ORIENTED ACROSS THE DRY LINE. THIS COMBINED WITH INCREASING LOW LEVEL HODOGRAPH CURVATURE WILL SUPPORT TORNADIC SUPERCELLS AND THE POTENTIAL FOR VERY LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. THESE FACTORS COMBINED WITH FAST STORM MOTIONS SUGGEST THE POTENTIAL FOR LONG-TRACKED...STRONG TORNADOES OCCURRING FROM THE AFTERNOON THROUGH THE EVENING /INCLUDING AFTER DARK/.

It could change in the next day or two, but I'd want to be at home and close to a TV on Saturday in OKC and Central KS. It looks like it is the typical spring setup
of a dryline/front/strong wind shear. That usually equals strong, potentially tornadic supercells that pop up in the mid-afternoon (probably between noon-6pm).

If you are going to do the zoo, go in the morning and try and be home be noon. If it happens, the storms will pop up and become dangerous very quickly, possibly in just a matter of minutes.

The best way to keep an eye on the weather is to go to weather.gov and type in Wichita. Then read the Hazardous Weather Outlooks/Short Term Forecasts/Tornado Warnings etc. They'll give you detailed info about what to expect and what is currently going on.

[MrsK]

Rats! DrK is on call and it's the annual "family fun day" at the zoo from noon-4PM. I was hoping to either go to that or the Mennonite relief craft sale at the fair grounds in the next county. Neither seem like good options. I'm going to have a couple stir crazy boys on my hands this weekend.

[SoonerTexan]

It could change really easily, though! I'll check again tomorrow

[scrub-jay]

Be safe!

We had tornado sirens going off here yesterday.

Yea...on my commute home (10 minutes) w/dd in the car. Fun times... :0

[ladymoreta]

I'll be holding another playdate in the storm shelter, it sounds like! Man, I'm going to miss living in an area where Gary England covers the weather.

[MrsK]

Ugh! Just heard the forecast on the radio. DrK is on call and I'm alone with the toddler and infant. It's going to be a long day.

[SoonerTexan]

Well it did change... Now there is a high outlook centered over OKC up into Kansas. You don't see those often. Be careful tomorrow.

[ladymoreta]

Poop.

[MrsK]

Our bedroom is in our basement. The kids rarely go down there so it's a treat (and they trash it when they are there). I'm thinking we'll have a naptime/late afternoon slumber party in mommy's room after lunch tomorrow. Just rented Puss in Boots. I'll gather up some toddler snacks and move the DVD player and diaper supplies to the basement tonight. The kids will think mom's gone nuts.

Anything else I should do in case of a tornado?

[ladymoreta]

Just make sure you have a little food and water and everyone has shoes and a jacket handy. Oh yeah, and a flashlight and battery operated radio with spare batteries. I think those are the main things in my tornado kit. I need to go check it an make sure we haven't raided it since the last storm...

[ides]

Oh no! Supposed to be flying out of okc tomorrow afternoon. Sounds like we will be stranded. Boo.

[oceanchild]

Yea...on my commute home (10 minutes) w/dd in the car. Fun times... :0

I was stuck in a long committee meeting. Also fun.

I had never heard a tornado siren before I moved here, and we had like 5 of them within the first week of our arrival. I was convinced I was going to die.