Last Christmas, You Gave Me a... Tornado Warning? Dec. 15, 2021 Eastern KS Storms

Happy December folks! 

I was chatting with my fellow weather nerd and chase partner Mira the other day about what to write for my next Atmospheres column, and had settled on an appreciation post about the hardest-working meteorologist in Alabama (and probably the country), James Spann, but I've had a different idea for now. Mr. "Respect the Polygon" Spann can wait.

I recently attended Manhattan's Festival of Lights celebration and had a great time among all the holiday revelers. Kids lost their collective minds when Santa showed up to "flip the switch" on thousands of lights strung around Blue Earth Plaza here in the city. The centerpiece is a 60-foot, fully illuminated Christmas tree that performs a light show synced to holiday tunes on a local radio frequency. It's pretty darn pretty when everything's lit up.

This year's tree is, as I wrote for the newspaper, a bit "shorter and stouter" than last year's. That's intentional -- organizers of the Festival of Lights wanted to avoid it toppling over like it did on Dec. 15, 2021. 

Some recent unseasonably warm days have given me a similar sensation to last December. The 15th was quite warm and windy. The National Weather Service Topeka office noted a record-high temperature of 73 degrees at noon; the temp record was tied momentarily at 10am, at 70 degrees. It was around 70 in Manhattan and humid. It felt like an early April day.

I was out trying to do some storm spotting around 2:30pm. I had been in my house much of the day and felt the need to get outside, plus my "human barometer" senses were buzzing -- that is, I could feel incoming weather. So, I hopped in the car and found a nice high spot near a golf course community on the west edge of town. The wind wasn't too severe yet, but the large line of thunderstorms was approaching more quickly than appeared.

It was a big windbag of a storm. High wind warnings were in effect in parts of the state, with gusts over 80 mph recorded near my hometown of Garden City. Semis were blown over, dust storm warnings were issued, and small outbuildings were knocked down. The quasi-linear convective system (QLCS) was making a mess as it swept eastward across Kansas.

By the time it got to me, I was blasted in the face by 70-mph dust. I retreated to my car to find a different position. As I settled into my car, my phone rang. It was my editor, asking me to call the Festival of Lights organizers and ask about the tree, as it had reportedly been pushed over by high winds. I said "sure, you got it," and then called Belinda Snyder, the main organizer. I was asking her about the tree, which had been toppled by the gusts, and I had her on speaker so I was able to note the time. 3pm.

That was when the Emergency Alert System (EAS) tone sounded on my phone over the call. It indicated a tornado warning for Riley County. A minute or two later, my K-State text alerts notified me of a tornado warning that included campus. I stared at it for a second like, "what the heck?" before returning to my call. I remember asking Snyder if she also saw the alert, which she did. I told her, "Let me call you back" and hung up. Time to reposition.

I moved to a different hilltop closer to some buildings for shelter. There's a financial office tucked against a hill next to the golf course neighborhood that provided an excellent break from the wind and a good escape route back to my house. I parked the car and ran to the top of the hill. I steadied my phone and recorded the incoming storm. 

I saw some rotating clouds within the QLCS as it approached, however it was broad and short-lived. My storm chasing buddy and Kansas Mesonet manager Chip Redmond said he saw a wall cloud over Tuttle Creek Lake, but no tornado was ever sighted. Tornado warnings can be issued for rotation spotted within lines of thunderstorms. A 94-mph gust was measured in Grandview Junction, just down the road from Manhattan on I-70. Further west on the Interstate, the town of Russell saw a 100-mph gust. Intense rain driven by high winds followed and caused issues for drivers in Manhattan, including me as I tried to get home to write something up.

Filing a story quickly didn't do much good though -- power was knocked out for much of the central part of town, including the newspaper office, for a good portion of that evening. Since we don't have a backup generator for our massive printing presses, our next day's print edition was delayed. Power was out to several hundred customers in Manhattan and a couple hundred thousand across the state. Then reports of fires came in, caused by arcing power lines, and the air in town got hazy. 

Roofs, power lines, trees and street signs suffered the most damage in Manhattan. In other parts of the state, the mess was more severe. Wildfires ignited in Ellis and Russell counties, destroying several homes and killing many head of cattle. Power outages were widespread as other counties reported damage to infrastructure. It was enough to make Gov. Laura Kelly file a disaster declaration. 

Here's my story on the storm from that day. I called it a "rare" December tornado warning, but I didn't provide any update on exactly how rare it is. I'll do some checking and get back to y'all on that.

Time to get out and do some Christmas shopping. As I write this it's 40 degrees and sunny with a light breeze. That's the kind of December I prefer.

Until next time!