Tornado Activity in Western, KS???? (Wichita, Hays: new home, live, safety)

[itsMeFred]

Tornado warnings are extremely common. Some weeks in May and June we'll have warnings every evening. The clouds will boil and churn, a few funnels might even touch down, but statistically speaking, they're usually in pastures and fields because that's mostly what we have around here...

Benkelman, NE (just a few miles north and east of Sainty) had a tornado that came through a couple of years ago. It demolished outbuildings, a barn or two, and half of a house. But no one was hurt. Generally speaking though, a tornado cell doesn't cause damage so much by the funnel cloud as by the hail that comes with it.
And tornado warnings tend to be fairly wide-reaching because tornados are so unpredicatable. But, because their path tends to be pretty small, and our part of the world is so open and uncrowded, the likelihood of actually getting hit by the funnel is pretty small.

BTW, I've lived most of my life in northern Nebraska, or the Dakotas and I happen to think our winters down here are really mild! lol

Solid Zone 5, if you're a gardner.

Erin

[TinaMcG]

Originally Posted by itsMeFred

Tornado warnings are extremely common. Some weeks in May and June we'll have warnings every evening. The clouds will boil and churn, a few funnels might even touch down, but statistically speaking, they're usually in pastures and fields because that's mostly what we have around here...

BTW, I've lived most of my life in northern Nebraska, or the Dakotas and I happen to think our winters down here are really mild! lol

Solid Zone 5, if you're a gardner.

Erin

Wow, that's a lot of warnings! We are in south Johnson County and have been here for two years, and I think we had three warnings last year, in early May, possibly in early June and in mid-September when the dregs of Hurricane Ike came through here. I can't remember the year before, but it couldn't have been more than a few. I have to admit, they never freaked me out when we lived in Chicago, but they bother me A LOT in Kansas. So I felt a lot better when our State Farm agent told me the vast majority of tornadoes will only produce minor property damage, and the ones that demolish homes are extremely rare here.

[jscottyray]

Originally Posted by itsMeFred

Tornado warnings are extremely common. Some weeks in May and June we'll have warnings every evening. The clouds will boil and churn, a few funnels might even touch down, but statistically speaking, they're usually in pastures and fields because that's mostly what we have around here...

Benkelman, NE (just a few miles north and east of Sainty) had a tornado that came through a couple of years ago. It demolished outbuildings, a barn or two, and half of a house. But no one was hurt. Generally speaking though, a tornado cell doesn't cause damage so much by the funnel cloud as by the hail that comes with it.
And tornado warnings tend to be fairly wide-reaching because tornados are so unpredicatable. But, because their path tends to be pretty small, and our part of the world is so open and uncrowded, the likelihood of actually getting hit by the funnel is pretty small.

BTW, I've lived most of my life in northern Nebraska, or the Dakotas and I happen to think our winters down here are really mild! lol

Solid Zone 5, if you're a gardner.

Erin

Thanks so much for your reply.
We spent 5 yrs in No Dak, worked at Minot AFB, lived in Mohall and Westhope.


Scotty

[athfo]

Originally Posted by itsMeFred

Tornado warnings are extremely common. Some weeks in May and June we'll have warnings every evening. The clouds will boil and churn, a few funnels might even touch down, but statistically speaking, they're usually in pastures and fields because that's mostly what we have around here...

Benkelman, NE (just a few miles north and east of Sainty) had a tornado that came through a couple of years ago. It demolished outbuildings, a barn or two, and half of a house. But no one was hurt. Generally speaking though, a tornado cell doesn't cause damage so much by the funnel cloud as by the hail that comes with it.
And tornado warnings tend to be fairly wide-reaching because tornados are so unpredicatable. But, because their path tends to be pretty small, and our part of the world is so open and uncrowded, the likelihood of actually getting hit by the funnel is pretty small.

BTW, I've lived most of my life in northern Nebraska, or the Dakotas and I happen to think our winters down here are really mild! lol

Solid Zone 5, if you're a gardner.

Erin

It is actually rare if a county (or section of a county, as is the standard now) receives a tornado warning every evening for weeks straight. Of course, during the spring and summer months, it is quite common to have severe weather outbreaks throughout the state - and the regularity may extend to each evening. But tornadoes in the same small area every evening? No... Tornado watches (conditions being favorable for tornado development), perhaps, but not tornado warnings (the imminent threat of a tornado).

Don't be afraid of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes if you move to the Great Plains. A large percentage of the population has not and will never actually witness a tornado in-person.

[itsMeFred]

Originally Posted by athfo

It is actually rare if a county (or section of a county, as is the standard now) receives a tornado warning every evening for weeks straight. Of course, during the spring and summer months, it is quite common to have severe weather outbreaks throughout the state - and the regularity may extend to each evening. But tornadoes in the same small area every evening? No... Tornado watches (conditions being favorable for tornado development), perhaps, but not tornado warnings (the imminent threat of a tornado).

Don't be afraid of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes if you move to the Great Plains. A large percentage of the population has not and will never actually witness a tornado in-person.

Warnings aren't just for "imminent threat of a tornado."
From you wiki link:

A tornado warning is issued when:

• A tornado is reported on the ground or is indicated by algorithm analysis on a weather radar output
• A waterspout is headed into landfall
• A funnel cloud is reported in the sky

It is also sometimes issued when, depending on the circumstances:

• A thunderstorm with a threshold strong, tight rotation signature is indicated by Doppler capable weather radar, or
• A rotating wall cloud is reported (in context of all other available information).

And I think you misunderstood my comment.
I said some weeks, ie, there are a weeks where we'll have a warning every night. Not that we have a warning every night for weeks on end.

[athfo]

Originally Posted by itsMeFred

Warnings aren't just for "imminent threat of a tornado."

But those are the criteria for the imminent threat of a tornado, and thus the criteria for issuing a tornado warning.

It can be issued after either a tornado or funnel cloud has already been spotted, or if there are radar indications that a tornado may be possible.

Anyway, you're right - there are some weeks where severe weather breaks out every night it seems. My point is that tornado warnings do not happen as frequently as you suggest, but as you said, I think we might be misunderstanding each other. Regardless, people needn't be afraid of the weather when they move to Kansas.

[itsMeFred]

Originally Posted by athfo

But those are the criteria for the imminent threat of a tornado, and thus the criteria for issuing a tornado warning.

Ah, I misunderstood. You said imminent "threat" and I read it as imminent "tornado."
This, for example:

A thunderstorm with a threshold strong, tight rotation signature is indicated by Doppler capable weather radar,

doesn't always mean a tornado is imminent...

For that matter, we had a warning issued last summer based on nothing more than the fact that Goodland called my husband (storm spotter) who reported that we had rotation literally over our house and they issued a warning for our area. It never did do anything in our area.
Two counties north, on the other hand, did see touch downs...

Ie, the threat was indeed there.

Regardless, people needn't be afraid of the weather when they move to Kansas.

I agree. I'd much rather have prairie weather than hurricanes, or earthquakes, or a couple feet of lake-effect snow!

[jscottyray]

Originally Posted by athfo

It is actually rare if a county (or section of a county, as is the standard now) receives a tornado warning every evening for weeks straight. Of course, during the spring and summer months, it is quite common to have severe weather outbreaks throughout the state - and the regularity may extend to each evening. But tornadoes in the same small area every evening? No... Tornado watches (conditions being favorable for tornado development), perhaps, but not tornado warnings (the imminent threat of a tornado).

Don't be afraid of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes if you move to the Great Plains. A large percentage of the population has not and will never actually witness a tornado in-person.

I appreciate your info very much. We've kind of made up out mind, Kansas is where we'll end up.
We both grew up in Ky where tornado warnings, on occasion, were not uncommon during spring/summer. I guess fearful because one associates Kansas with tornadoes...Thanks Alot Wizard of Oz! hehehehehehe
The cost of living is most reasonable and we'll have 4 seasons. We're in Alaska (central interior), where we have winter for 8 months, just finsihing our 6th winter. Though we like it here we're ready for a change. We spent 4 yrs in No Dak and liked that but would like to be a little south of there for retirement time.

Thanks,

Scotty

[cp1969]

I have lived in Kansas my entire life and I have yet to see my first funnel cloud, let alone a tornado.

[jscottyray]

Originally Posted by cp1969

I have lived in Kansas my entire life and I have yet to see my first funnel cloud, let alone a tornado.

How long has that been...if I may ask.
I spoke with a perosn today in St Francis today, said he's been there 51 yrs and has observed (1) tornado...the odds are in my favor for safety.