16 Kingman KS 11 May 2002

Date: 11 May 2002

Location: Kingman County, KS near the town of Kingman

Summary: Left Shammrock, TX early that morning from a bust chase the previous day in the Panhandle. I arrived in Dodge City, KS around 1100 and decided to park east of town. A dryline was expected to setup from near Dighton to Meade and storms were supposed to form around 1400. A Tornado Watch was issued that afternoon, exactly when I do not know. Dodge City NOAA Radio said nothing about it. As a matter of fact, they mentioned nothing about it until after the 1st Severe Thunderstorm Warning had been expired and they mentioned "A tornado watch is still in effect until 9pm CDT." I got the info from all places, The Weather Channel, which also is not exactly the greatest source of info for chasing. But since I could not get out on AT&T Wireless to get info from my laptop, my hands were tied. Storms began to fire and I played the patience game and stayed put for some time. They were developing into a long line along the dry line from near Omaha, NE through CEN and SW KS. Tornadoes where being spotted on the ground near Salina as the storms were forming near Dodge City. At first things where I was were not looking very promising. The bases were very linear and were rather high. The dew pts where I was were roughly 54deg. I decided I would head E on HWY 50. Dodge City NOAA Radio was not really telling me a whole lot of anything. Since the information was so vague, I was beginning to think that things were going to be a bust as far as severe weather. I drove E for some time in moderate precipitation. To the S and SE of my location I could see through the rain curtains that there was a rain free base and numerous lowerings, so I continued with the storm I was on. I received a couple of calls from my friend Lou in Michigan telling me that things were happening up N of me according to TWC, but nothing in my area. As I was entering Kinsey, KS I noticed to my south what had appeared to be a wall cloud. I headed south to investigate. It quickly dissipated. So I headed back north and jumped back on HWY 50 and headed E to stay with my rain free base. The scud formations were interesting as many of them would take on wall cloud shaped appearances for a few minutes and then quickly dissipate. After arriving in Abbyville, KS I headed S on HWY 14 to get into the clear, rain free area for some better visibility. As I approached the Kingman County line I vaguely could pick up Wichita NOAA radio. All I heard was "Tornado Warning", & "Kingman County." I had crossed into Kingman county moments later. I knew exactly where the storm was, I was looking at it out my passenger side window. A few minutes later I began to pick up NOAA radio pretty clear and it was due W coming to me. They also reported that baseball size hail was possible with this storm. I thought "Oh Joy, where is 'Lou the core puncher' for this one?" Hail began to hit my Jeep, although it was far from baseball size, not that I am complaining. It was actually only marble size. After I came to HWY 54 I stopped and watch the storm for a few moments to get an idea of its direction of movement. The dew points must have shot up 15 degrees!! My windows immediately fogged over. There were strong SE low level winds feeding this storm. A mesocyclone was very evident in looking at the cloud features. I moved W about 1 mile to a position where I had full visibility of the entire storm. Within minutes a wall cloud formed to the WNW and was sucking up air from below the storm. I was in perfect position. I observed the wall cloud for what seemed like an eternity. Chasers were coming from all directions now. After a time the wall cloud started to become occluded in rain and then reappeared for a brief time before dissipating. After driving through Kingman a clear slot developed to my north ( I believe that this was the storm on the previous mentioned storms NE flank and was a part of a new meso). I watched this for about 10 minutes. A cone shaped funnel quickly formed for about a minute and then dissipated about a mile or 2 to my north.

Storms begin to take shape E of Dodge City, KS