More hail, tornadoes
By MIKE CORN
Weather weary.
That's what northwest Kansas residents have become.
But even as reports of softball-size hail covering the ground in Graham County starts trickling in, that word nearly is overshadowed by news that this will be a record-setting year as far as tornadoes go.
And the tornado outbreak May 23 -- the start of a Memorial Day weekend that was dominated by severe weather -- alone will set many a record, in jaw-dropping fashion.
In the 27-county forecasting area served by the Dodge City National Weather Service, the number of tornadoes on that fateful Friday have increased from what initially was expected to be found.
Instead, warning coordination meteorologist Jeff Hutton has determined at least 50 tornadoes touched down that day.
That means at least 60 tornadoes touched down that day, what with seven confirmed in the area served by the Goodland weather bureau and three others in the Wichita region.
In a normal year, based on records since 1950, Kansas -- in its entirety -- will have an average of 57 tornadoes a year. There were 137 tornadoes in Kansas last year, itself a new record.
But May 23 doesn't have a lock on tornadoes.
They've also been reported on multiple other days and are in the forecast again today, in an area stretching north and east of Ellis and Rush counties.
Severe storms swept through a small stretch of northwest Kansas on Tuesday evening, dumping hail the size of softballs in parts of Graham County.
Baseball-size hail was reported as well, and area wheat fields are paying the price.
Farmer Corey Johnson this morning was waiting on crop insurance adjusters to take a look at fields of wheat north of Bogue.
In Bogue, he said, there was some hail the size of golf balls.
"There was some flat hail," he said, "kind of like an Oreo cookie."
But he didn't see any the size of baseballs or softballs, even though those reports were filed with the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla.
He didn't venture south of town where the hail was reported, simply because a couple of the wheat fields he has there already had been fairly well wiped out.
"There's been a lot of hail damage around the Graham County area," he said.
"It was hard to tell what was damaged this time or the last 10 times," one resident observed.
It's the news about the sheer number of tornadoes that is taking the weather community by storm.
Initially, said Larry Ruthi, the meteorologist in charge at the Dodge City NWS, it was thought 36 tornadoes had formed May 23.
But as Hutton and other meteorologists surveyed the area, they found multiple tornadoes touched down in some areas.
"That's why the damage survey takes so long," Ruthi said this morning.
Hutton and his crew have traveled the area to take a look at areas of damage, or where there were radar indications of a tornado.
The 50 tornadoes in a single night is record-setting.
"It was an unbelievable event," Ruthi said. "I did not expect that many tornadoes. I guess you never expect to set a record.
And for Ruthi, who has spent nearly 30 years with the National Weather Service, it's unparalleled.
"Not in my experience, to have this many in one area at one time," he said.
In fact, he said 53 tornadoes -- for the entire year -- is the record for the Dodge City forecast area.
That record will be shattered this year.
The forecast is calling for the possibility of more storms tonight, some of which might include tornadoes.
But will it won't compare to May 23.
The storms are expected to fire up north of an approaching front that will include Rush and Ellis counties, spreading north and east.
After this latest round of weather passes through, Ruthi said Kansas might be in for something a little more normal.
"Next week, we might get into a summertime regime," he said.