Storm Chaser Tales

Oklahoma Storm Chaser Talks About Kansas Tornado Outbreak

My friend and fellow news junkie, Chris Caldwell, spent last night chasing the Kansas tornado outbreak.

For those of you not in this neck of the woods, the western part of Kansas was lit up with tornado warnings most of the day Friday, May 23 and well into the early morning hours.

Caldwell, who chases storms for KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City, talks about what he witnessed.

"I left Ponca City, Okla., around 2 p.m. and headed for Alva," said Caldwell.

"As I arrived I made a call to the station and they pushed me on west to Buffalo. I had just arrived there when they called and had me push on over to Beaver County in the Oklahoma Panhandle. A storm was moving northeast and was reported having a rotating wall cloud. I could see the wall cloud from quite a ways out and as I got closer I started seeing two funnels dipping out of it and I noticed two seperate areas with rotation and the storm cycled up and down and eventually pushed into Clark County in southwest, Kansas.

"I saw the first tornado this cell produced just north of Englewood, Kan. which is just across the Oklahoma border in Clark County. It was on the ground for less than a minute. The second tornado was northwest of Ashland, Kan., and it was down several times for a total of about eight minutes.

"The third tornado was several miles farther north of the first in Ashland that I saw. It was down for about two minutes and the fourth tornado was one mile west of Greensburg, Kan. and I'm unsure the total time it was on the ground since it was dark by this time and seeing it was very difficult between the lighting flashes."

For those who might not know Greensburg was destroyed by a large tornado last year and many residents remain housed in FEMA trailers.

"Greensburg, residents were watching the skies very close once again," he said. "I witnessed a tornado there just one mile west of town. No video or pictures since it was nightime and I wasn't able to get it on tape between the lightning strikes. There were also reports of two other tornadoes near Greensburg.