This severe weather season, use common sense: Storm Fury on the Plains classes held across the state

Wichita National Weather Service Meteorologist Chance Hayes presents information during a recent ‘Storm Fury on the Plains’ session. KDOT staff from the Southeast District Office attended this session for the general public, which took place at Independence.

By Priscilla Petersen, Public Affairs Manager, Southeast Kansas 

In advance of this year’s severe storm season, the National Weather Service of Wichita presented a series of seminars titled “Storm Fury on the Plains” in cities throughout the state. Open to the public, the Storm Fury seminars focused on building partnerships, improving communication and promoting greater trust between members of the public and the agency.

“Don’t be afraid to call us,” meteorologist Chance Hayes told the almost 40 people attending an early April session in Independence. Hayes encouraged continual public reporting of severe weather events, either by calling NWS directly or by sending Tweets with the hashtag #kswx. If it’s safe, he added, take a photo and share it in a Tweet. “We’re a team. It takes a full team effort to improve.”

During the year 2018, Hayes said, Kansas experienced: a total of 297 severe storms with high winds, hail and flooding; 20 tornadoes that touched down; a four-inch hailstone that fell in Barton County; and 87 mile-per-hour straight line winds in Rice County.

An EF-3 tornado moved through the city of Eureka last spring and damaged homes and buildings at the KDOT subarea office. 

He discussed all aspects of the EF-3 tornado that moved through the city of Eureka without warning last June 26. Hayes described the differences between what was showing up on NWS radar and the views shared by local spotters on the ground. He emphasized that radar can’t pick everything up as well as the human eye. “Let us know …” if the conditions you see are different from those on the radar, he said. “Your eyes are just as important as the radar.”

Hayes also discussed storm spotting basics, describing inflow and outflow regions and types of storms. He gave an overview of storm features such as squall lines, shelf clouds and supercells. If it’s looking stormy, he told the group, “always check your surroundings” and weigh the potential risks before traveling. Study the cloud formations and the smartphone weather radar. “Observe the storm,” he said, and consider whether to take a break and let the storm pass instead of driving into it. Hayes also encouraged the group to download free weather radar applications to their phones. “Use it to stay safe,” he cautioned.

Touching briefly on flood safety tips, Hayes said water flowing at four miles-per-hour can exert a force comparable to an EF-2 tornado. In the event of severe weather, he stressed that people should be prepared, act quickly and seek shelter. He suggested that those staying at local storm shelters keep whistles handy so that relatives and friends could find each other in crowded conditions. “Use common sense,” Hayes concluded.