Web posted
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
More wind, storms expected
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Photo by Alex Gambill
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By FOSS FARRAR
Traveler Staff Writer
reporter@arkcity.net
Winds gusted to over 70-miles-per-hour at Strother Field on Tuesday night blowing off the top of the roof of the Workforce Center adjacent to the terminal building, authorities said.
The National Weather Service issued a hazardous weather outlook for Cowley County about 10 a.m. this morning. The outlook is for today and tonight.
Widely scattered severe thunderstorms are possible across central Kansas, the NWS said. "Ample shear and instability will favor supercells, with the potential for very large hail, damaging winds and a few tornadoes," the NWS said.
High winds also knocked out power to hundreds of Westar Energy customers in the Arkansas City area. Late this morning, Westar reported 105 outages among 8,885 customers served.
Last night's storm also brought one-half inch of rain to the Ark City area, said Bob Frazee, emergency management coordinator for the city.
It started around 9 p.m., let up, then started again.
Frazee said 70 mile-per-hour winds were reported at Geuda Springs at 9:02 p.m. "I recorded 68-mile-per-hour gusts at 9:07 p.m. at City Hall," he said.
Pea-sized hail also was reported in the area.
Winds gusted to 112 miles an hour, according to reports from a General Electric weather station at Strother Field, he said. The official weather station at the field reported 71-mile-per-hour winds.
The amount of damage to the roof at the Workforce Center has not yet been assessed, said Missy Anthony, secretary to Strother Field manager Shawn McGrew.
Offices in the center were closed today, she said. "As much damage as everyone has, we're not sure when anybody can get up to repair it."
Much of the top part of the roof blew onto a parking lot just north of the center. The debris was roped off this morning.
The storm also damaged a gas line leading into the Workforce Center. The gas company had shut off service to the building, she said.
Above: Parts of the roof of the Cowley Workforce Center at Strother Field was blown off by the strong winds from the storm Tuesday night.
Tornado outbreak predicted for Kansas Thursday
By THE ASSOCAITED PRESS
WICHITA (AP) _ The National Weather Service is giving advance warning of a possible tornado outbreak in the Great Plains on Thursday with conditions similar to a deadly day in 1974 when 39 tornadoes touched down.
Computer forecasting models for Thursday resemble those on June 8, 1974, when more than three dozen tornadoes touched down in the southern Plains and killed 22 people, including six in Emporia.
"I think this event warrants more advance warning," said Robb Lawson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Wichita.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Storm Prediction Center has been warning for days of the outbreak.
Some forecasters are predicting the tornadoes could hit a corridor stretching from northern Oklahoma to central Iowa, said Mike Smith, chief executive officer of WeatherData Inc., a subsidiary of AccuWeather.
"Certainly Wichita, Topeka, Emporia, Salina, Chanute ... essentially the eastern half of Kansas should really be paying attention on Thursday," Smith said.
Smith said temperature and humidity patterns for Thursday are similar to the 1974 outbreak, with a wave of energy in the upper atmosphere projected to be in exactly the same position.
With so much humidity in place, storms on Thursday could form and quickly become strong, forecasters said.
"If you take April dynamics and June thermodynamics, you have a potentially disastrous combination," Smith said.
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