MONDAY'S DEADLY TORNADO OUTBREAK

Written by: Brian Neudorff

There were 31 reports of tornadoes through the states of Oklahoma and Kansas on Monday. These tornadoes killed at least 5 and injured nearly 60 others in Kansas and Oklahoma. Some of these tornadoes impacted communities in and around Wichita and Topeka, Kan., and Oklahoma City, Okla. It hit Oklahoma City during their rush-hour. I was following these storms for most of the evening on Monday through Twitter and online video stream from television stations in Oklahoma City.


The radar data that came out of these storms were impressive and like the storm above that occurred in north-central Oklahoma near the Kansas border. That is your "classic" hook echo. What gives a storm that look is the rotation of the storm and location of up and down drafts in the storm. Where you see no rain or the inner part of the hook is where the updraft is so no rain. The tornado can occur in the knob or hook part.

Cherokee, Okla., had a report of hail measuring 4.25 inches on Monday afternoon, shattering numerous windows in buildings. There was also a wind gust of 100 mph reported south of Wichita, Kan.

A tornado destroyed a truck stop just east of the city along I-40, and forced officials to close the highway in both directions, leaving traffic at a standstill for miles. More than 40 homes were destroyed and at least 108 were damaged.

Interstate 35 was also closed for a time on the Oklahoma-Kansas border due to overturned trucks that blocked the roadway.

Another storm system will form and move in a very similar manner later tonight. This will produce another round of severe weather for the same locations. Good news it won't be as violent or an outbreak of tornadoes but some of these places that were hit could see an isolated tornado or 2.