By: Robb Lawson
March 23rd 2009 - Tornadoes, Wind & Fire
|
An intense early spring low pressure system moved out into the plains on Monday March 23rd bringing with it a wide variety of adverse weather. Southerly winds ahead of the deep surface low gusted at times to over 60 mph across much of Kansas. Along with overturning numerous semis across the area, these extremely strong winds also knocked down power poles. Many of the downed power lines caused grass fires which because of the low relative humidity and strong winds, rapidly spread. Last but not least, storms developed Monday afternoon along a dryline. These storms quickly became severe dropping a few short-lived tornadoes over extreme South Central Kansas.
|
Tornadoes
|
Radar image at around 445 pm, about 15 minutes before this storm produced a couple brief tornadoes |
Radar image showing storm relative velocity at 456 pm, near the time this storm produced a couple brief tornadoes. |
|
Photo of the storm that produced the tornadoes over Sumner and Cowley Counties. Photo taken by Craig Marie II. |
Photo of the storm that produced the tornadoes over Sumner and Cowley Counties. Photo taken by Craig Marie II. |
|
Photo capture from video taken by Todd Kluber near Geuda Springs |
Photo capture from video taken by Todd Kluber near Geuda Springs. |
Wind
Surface Map from around 1 pm on Monday March 23rd. Click above image to increase image size. |
Max wind gusts from Monday March 23rd. |
Fire
Infrared satellite image showing large grass fires over portions of Central Kansas. |
Infrared satellite image showing large grass fires over portions of Central Kansas. |
