Severe storm preps for naught

By

News

May 11, 2010 - 12:00 AM

Monday evening’s storm, to no one’s regret, failed to live up to its billing when it dashed through Iola and Allen County.
Throughout the day forecasters predicted severe weather in south central and southeast Kansas, including a chance for “an outbreak of severe tornadoes.”
That did occur in the Oklahoma City area, where five people were killed and more than 60 were injured. Another round of thunderstorms, with much less likelihood of tornadoes, is forecast for tonight and again on Wednesday.
A line of storm cells, which marched across Kansas Monday, struck Iola at 7:30 p.m. and produced a few minutes of heavy rain and winds topping out at 55 miles per hour. Within five minutes rainfall began to abate and quit altogether before 8 o’clock.
The pending weather event made it a long day for Pam Beasley, Allen County Emergency Management director. She was in her office at the county’s Critical Response Center, 410 N. State, early in the day and spent 12 hours monitoring the storm system and warnings from the National Weather Service.
By early evening, a checkerboard of severe thunderstorms dotted a computer-generated map of south central Kansas and rotation in cells was detected. The storm was moving rapidly toward eastern Kansas and Allen County, with indications that advance notice of its severity wasn’t exaggerated.
John Smith, a volunteer weather watcher, tracked the storm on a computer screen.
As the storm line moved into Butler County, he noted that a hump on the leading edge, rotating into a pocket just below, “doesn’t look good. That’s the best place for a funnel to drop out.” A little later the hump started to flatten and the pocket filled. “That’s good news,” Smith said.
At 6:30, the line of storms, which looked so formidable minutes earlier, started to fall apart, but still retained enough substance to prompt the National Weather Service to issue severe thunderstorm warnings for Allen and surrounding counties.
The change in the storm’s character wasn’t completely unexpected.
The weather service “told me in the afternoon that the storm was supposed to be worse than they thought it was going to be,” Beasley said, although it was within an hour of striking Allen County before significant change occurred.
When it arrived in Woodson County, emergency responders told Beasley by radio that the county was being hit by heavy rain and strong winds, and that some storm-related damage was being reported.
Soon thereafter the storm lashed Iola with wind-driven rain for barely five minutes.

HAD THE STORM been as strong as first feared, Beasley and others at the Emergency Operations Center were prepared.
High-tech equipment, including wide-ranging radio service that permits Beasley to communicate directly with emergency responders in neighboring counties and the National Weather Service in Wichita, is at hand. At the click of a mouse she can track storms in real time.
“This is so much better than anything we’ve had in the past,” Beasley said.
Ralph Romig agreed.
Romig has a long history of emergency service work in law enforcement and weather response and is in his third season directing members of the Iola Radio Club as weather spotters. No spotters were dispatched Monday night.As many as 10 trained spotters would be stationed throughout Allen County if needed.
Beasley said during a storm such as last night’s, “people should watch out for themselves and be alert. They should take cover, in a basement or shelter, or in the center of a home away from windows when there are high winds or a tornado has been reported.”
Many Allen Countians are signed on to the Red Alert system, which gives warnings directly from the National Weather Service by telephone. Signup may be done by calling Beasley’s office, 365-1477, or through Allen County or Iola Web sites, allencounty.org and cityofiola.com.

Related
March 2, 2022
October 11, 2021
March 6, 2012
March 11, 2010