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Wednesday, June 17, 1992
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Daron J Bennett/KANSAN
(Above) Rodney Price, director of the KU Severe Storm Intercept Project, stands below a large formation of mammatus clouds. (Right) Rick Katztey, KU graduate, looks for signs of possible severe weather on a computer model of Kansas weather patterns.
Tornadoes storm Kansas
KU weather watchers track havoc-wreaking tornadoes
By Doug Hesse
Kansan Staff Photographer
What was considered a bad year for severe storms turned into a bumper crop of tornadoes.
Monday in north central Kansas the National Weather Service reported an estimated 20 tornadoes sighted.
The KU Weather Service was host to a crew from The Weather Channel, which came to the University of Kansas for storm footage, and to interview the KU Severe Storms Intercept Team. The team uses tape recorders to log information on storm formation, dew point and tornado activity. This information aids the team's research of severe storms.
Rodney Price, who heads the team, said it had been monitoring the storms with satellites and forecasting models, and team mem-
burs were prepared to gather field data. Andy Kula, Leawood senior, was one of 12 from KU who tracked the tornadoes in and around Beiloft. The team spotted three tornadoes Monday, the KU Weather Service said.
Radio reports help the team find tornadoes. Knowledge of severe storms is also important, said Joe Heim, Clarence, N.Y., graduate student in atmospheric sciences.
Once the storm is found, the team drives around it to approach it from a safe direction. Kula said. Escape routes always are mapped to avoid getting trapped by the tornado.
Kula, Heim and team member Jim Philips,
net mark Hewitt, a Beloit farmer, as they
spotted a tornado about four miles south of
Beloit. Hewitt later would learn that the shed
that stored his combines had been destroyed
by that tornado, costing him $500,000.
He said his combines were not insured. Hewitt and other farmers also were worried about their wheat crops, which were about ready to harvest but probably destroyed.
Hewitt said that this year he had about $3 million invested in wheat.
Crews from Oklahoma University, KU, Texas, and elsewhere in Kansas were intrigued by the storm's intensity and the length of its inflow.
Inflows are winds that fuel storms in the case, they were estimated at hurricane force. During Monday's storms, the inflow is strong and property damage, which is rule, Kula said.
The anvil cloud, which leads the storm,
stretched for about 200 miles. Phillips said.
The severe storms team was formed in 1990 out of the KU Weather Service and the meteorology department.
Driving on interstate 70 toward Salina, Rodney Price monitors weather channels for the latest news on thunderstorm and tornado warnings and watches in the area.
Daron J. Bennett/KANSAN
Doug Hesse/KANSAN
Elements of a tornado