Saturday appeared, at least initially,
marginal for tornadic supercells across eastern Kansas. I targeted the Emporia area and spent a couple hours sitting in a park waiting for convective initiation. Luckily, I had a view of initiation as I sat under the tree enjoying the nice southerly breezes. Once it was clear things had
broken, I trailed the initial storms to the north of
Emporia. At this point, the two storms that had formed appeared to be struggling a bit -- nothing impressive. However, northwest of Osage City, the southern cell became
dominant and a lot more menacing. I ran into several closed road well south of the Topeka area, but eventually routed up that way to intercept the beautiful supercell along US-75 immediately south of Topeka's southern burbs. I watched as the supercell put on quite the upside down wedding cake show. It produced a number of funnels, and
apparent touchdown, at this time just west of Pauline. I snapped pics for what seemed like 30 minutes at this location before routing around the southeast side of Topeka. It reminded me -- once again -- to never chase in a city or its suburbs. I was met with slow drivers going 15 in 55 mph zones, red lights, local yahoos in the beds of pick up trucks with beers watching the storm, road closures, and, naturally, trees everywhere. I would continue to get glimpses of the two wall clouds with attendant funnels and possible tornadoes (it was difficult to see the horizon) as I traversed this area. Eventually the southeast meso took over and produced a
confirmed tornado southeast of Topeka. I followed the
storm using a number of back roads (paved and, let's just say, not so paved) well north of the
Lawrence area. This area reminded me of chasing in north Georgia -- hills, trees, curvy roads. It was tough and a bit frustrating. However, I'd eventually get to a good clearing that would permit views of this amazing beast. Called it a night north of Kansas City and was thoroughly satisfied -- after all, I'm a structure freak! Make sure you check out the gif lapses.
Check back later for a time lapse movie.
Incipient tcu of the Topeka storm -- just northwest of Emporia.
Mammatus formed quite quickly as the storm matured.
Starts to get a lot more organized northwest of Osage City.
South of Topeka along US 75.
Driving north along SW Topeka Blvd near Forbes Field -- looking north toward Topeka. Man, did Topeka get lucky!
Somewhere well north of Lawrence, I think.
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