The first tornado rated EF-5 since the 2013 Moore Tornado occurred in North Dakota in June. The 12 year EF-5 "drought" (longest in recorded tornado climatology) has ended.  The tornado's path is in purple. The full story of the rating and the tornado is here . Here's a photo of the damaged train used in the rating. Note the scouring (lighter brown in field on this side of the derailed cars) which only occurs with stronger tornadoes.  The North Dakota EF-5's path is quite similar to the 2007 EF-5 Greensburg (KS) Tornado's path. A map of the latter is below. It is an interesting coincidence the Greensburg Tornado crossed the Union Pacific's "Golden State Route" on the north side of town and blew over railcars parked on a siding.  FYI: The above is a coincidence, not a characteristic of EF-5's. 

On May 25, 2022, I published Part I of a reexamination of the data surrounding the horrific F-5 tornadoes that struck Blackwell, OK and Udall, KS that evening.    One hundred two people died in those two small towns.  Because they occurred in darkness in the pre-warning era, people literally died in their beds after being told by television weathercasts, "all advisories have been lifted."   I recommend reading Part 1 (click there blue link) before reading on.  Now, I would like to present the second part of what I have learned about that historic event:  Truck thrown 1/4-mile out of Udall. Most of the truck was  stripped away from the steel chassis.  I enjoy applied meteorological research and, when possible, advancing our science.  My computer screen while working on a tornado project So, to learn more about that horrific night in May, 1955, I examined the following "new" data.  Radar photography from the evening of 5-25-55 from th...

Bumped to the top on the 67th anniversary of the Blackwell-Udall Tornadoes. Please see note at the bottom.  May 4, 2007, looking north: The Greensburg Tornado is exiting the  city while the Trousdale Tornado touches down to the east. In my book, Warnings: The True Story of How Science Tamed the Weather ,  I discussed the unusual similarities between the 1955, F-5 intensity, Udall, Kansas, Tornado and the 2007, EF-5 intensity, Greensburg Tornado. The former tornado killed 82 and the latter 11. Among the similarities were the radar echoes, as shown in this figure from the book. The Udall Supercell was also responsible for the F-5 Blackwell, OK tornado that occurred an hour earlier killing 20.  Above is an illustration from Warnings.  It is a superimposure of the Tinker AFB (TIK) radar on May 25, 1955 (black pen) and the Dodge City (DDC) NWS radar for May 4, 2007. The Udall supercell runs off the top of the tracing because it moves outside the range of th...

Because of the tornado risk in Texas and Oklahoma, I'm not going to write much about the horrible Greensburg Tornado.  I do wish to point you to an article about that tornado and meteorologist is produced, Kendall Smith (no relation). She was a ten year-old living in the town and the tornado inspired her future career - like most other meteorologists. It really is amazing how many meteorologists got interested in weather that way (in my case, the F-5 Ruskin Heights Tornado when I was five). 

Larry Schwarm Today is the 14th anniversary of the Greensburg Tornado. The F-5 storm was 1.7 miles wide and, as it moved north, it was nearly perfectly aligned with the 1.7 mile wide town. Ninety-five percent of the buildings of the town -- 961 businesses and homes -- were damaged or destroyed. The total destruction of block after block was stunning. But there was very good news: the tornado warning system saved 96% of the people who would have been killed if the tornado had struck without warning. It was the capstone in the development of the U.S. tornado warning system and the work of dozens of scientists .  The town has made a comeback as the "world's greenest community." You can see the history of the tornado along with the replacement to its quirky "world's largest hand-dug well" if you visit the town. Greensburg Tornado Museum - KSTravel I highly recommend the museum and salute the residents of the town on their recovery. ADDITION: I saw this for the ...

Based on a Facebook posting from a mutual friend,  Meteorologist Les Lemon has passed away. He had been unwell for several years. On May 20, I wrote the piece below on the anniversary of the Ruskin Heights Tornado (RHT). It went on to state: Les documented the "Lemon Method" for diagnosing the supercell thunderstorms most likely to create the worst tornadoes and large hail. He, along with Don Burgess, was at the other end of the phone when I was discovering and reporting on one of the first known (June '73) "low precipitation supercells" and Les and Don incorporated that knowledge into their future research. More on his research career, here . But, Les's biggest achievement was getting the "NEXRAD Doppler Radar Network" off the ground. America's, then-poor radar network was literally  falling apart. While the contract for new, Doppler (wind measuring) radars had been let, the procurement process was falling apart just like the rad...

Original Greensburg museum - Photo by: Janice Borgstrom Massucci Today is the sixth anniversary of the devastating Greensburg tornado. The story has a relatively happy ending because the death toll was quite low for that type of F-5 tornado and the town has had a marvelous "green" revival. AccuWeather has a great story here . Greensburg has a magnificent new museum that I highly recommend. Above is a photo of the tornado siren that continued to wail until it was destroyed by the tornado. Here is what the museum looks like from the outside. If you are in southern Kansas, go visit Greensburg. You'll encounter a really cool small town with great, great people. They'll appreciate your business and the opportunity to meet you. 

My friend, talented photographer Jaime Green, helped USA Today  produce this feature about Greensburg and its "green" recovery from the 2007 tornado. You can view it here .

Here are four stories that I believe are worth bringing to you. Moving the  federal animal disease research lab for the Department of Homeland Security from New York to Kansas. There are pros and cons about the move as the article states. If the building is sufficiently hardened (the current building in NY is not), then I'm fine with the move. I am struck by the fact the federal government has spent between $30,000,000 and $40,000,000 on site selection alone. I don't even know how that is possible! What a waste of our dollars.  In 2012, Kansas will be #1 in new wind power construction . I wish I thought that was a good thing.  The new tornado and "world's largest hand-dug well" museum in Greensburg is coming along nicely. Unfortunately, they do not expect to have it finished by May 4, which is the fifth anniversary of the devastating F-5 tornado. Hopefully, it will be done by the Memorial Day weekend. 

...on two milestones in its recovery and regrowth after the devastating 2007 tornado. New Business According to today's Wichita Eagle, HIB-Systems of Meissenheim, Germany will open a 10,000 sq. ft. plant by the 5th anniversary of the tornado in May. The plant will create 27 new jobs. Historical Museum and Library The Kiowa Co. Historical Museum and County Library will open in the new Commons Building.  More from the Dodge City Globe .  The reopening will be this afternoon. Greensburg has become a gem of a small town. If you are in southern Kansas, I encourage you to pay them a visit. You'll be impressed.

Construction begins today on the new museum in Greensburg for their attraction, "the world's largest hand-dug well." Only the new museum will feature information about the tornado that destroyed the original. Details from the Dodge City Daily Globe.  Congratulations, Greensburg!!

...from the F-5 tornado that destroyed the town in May, 2007. Ground was broken yesterday for the new state-of-the-art theatre. The Wichita Eagle  has details .

In 1958, El Dorado, Kansas, was hit by a major tornado. Thirteen were killed. The tornado took an unusual, for a Kansas F-4 intensity tornado, southeast path. People from Greensburg were among the first to respond to El Dorado's crisis. In 2007, Greensburg had its own F-5 tornado. El Dorado promptly sent its municipal utility crews to Greensburg as a way of repaying them for their work in 1958. "El Dorado Times" photo To commemorate the bond between the two cities, El Dorado dedicated a plaque that they have added to their city's tornado memorial. I was asked to be the guest speaker. "El Dorado Times" photo I told the large crowd that there was something that the two cities had in common besides the tornadoes themselves and that was Doppler radar. In 1957, the Weather Bureau put an experimental Doppler radar in at Wichita's Mid-Continent Airport. That radar made the very first-ever detection and measurement of the El Dorado tornado, thus pro...

Anyone who has read this blog for a while knows I'm a huge fan of Greensburg, Kansas. After the town was - literally - destroyed by a giant F-5 tornado May 4, 2007, they have done a marvelous job of rebuilding. Now, Greensburg is helping other towns hit so hard by tornadoes this year. Way to go, Greensburg!

Things didn't work out quite the way I had hoped on several levels... The Weather The storms I was predicting didn't materialize as I predicted. There was one storm in our target area that looked promising. We (blue symbol) thought we would be able to intercept it north of Dodge City. We got to the target area but the storm fell apart rather than intensifying. The other storms started falling apart. So, we decided to make the best of it. The Attractions McD's is really pushing their new frozen strawberry lemonades. And, we stopped to look at one of Kansas' quirky roadside attractions. Had dinner in Greensburg and toured the amazing town before heading back to Wichita. Even though I was tired when I got home at midnight, I wanted to get this posted since it was delayed. Well, wouldn't you know...  Google's Blogger system was down. So, sorry for the delay. We'll try it again this spring and, hopefully, I'll do a better job of for...

Here is a story about people moving to Greensburg -- and what a great experience the new arrivals are enjoying.

At this time four years ago, I had left KWCH TV where I had done a last-minute refresher on our latest storm tracking software with a terrible feeling that something horrible was going to happen. Merril Teller, the chief meteorologist at KWCH, had just finished broadcasting the first tornado watch of the evening which had been issued for northwest Oklahoma and western Kansas.  Kathleen and I were just sitting down to dinner and I told her that there were likely going to be 'bad' (meaning especially violent) tornadoes this evening. By about 8pm, the nightmare had begun -- thunderstorms were exploding south of Greensburg. At 9:53, the F-5 intensity, 1.7 mile wide tornado moved across the town. Nine precious lives were lost in Greensburg, two more with later tornadoes to the northeast. But there was a silver lining in this very dark cloud. More than 200 lives were saved by the warnings. The Kansas "can do" spirit (that, to me, is symbolized by making a swing out ...