A night that brought several tornado warnings to area counties, including a brief warning for Emporia, didn’t have any significant lingering impacts Thursday morning.
Wednesday night saw a pair of supercell thunderstorms congeal near the Morris-Dickinson county line and then push to the east-southeast. National Weather Service meteorologist Matt Wolters:
Early Wednesday, Wolters had said the wind profile wasn’t conducive to high-end severe weather activity, and that generally held true despite the tornado warning for southern Lyon County, including Emporia, Neosho Rapids and Olpe.
Besides the tornadic activity near Herington and some long-lasting severe thunderstorm warnings afterward, severe weather reports were virtually nonexistent for area counties. Rain came down hard at times:
*KVOE studios: 0.70 inches
*Emporia Municipal Airport: 0.01 inches
*Coronado Avenue: 0.95 inches
*9th and Lawrence: 0.63 inches
*10th and Weaver: 0.50 inches
*1100 block Constitution: 0.60 inches
*1 mile north of Allen: 0.10 inches
*Americus: 1.50 inches
*Cottonwood Falls: 0.50 inches
*Council Grove City Lake: 1.40 inches
*Neosho Rapids: 0.45 inches
*Thorndale: 0.50 inches
*200 block Lyon County Road 340: 0.21 inches
*700 block Lyon County Road 200: 1.31 inches
All flood alerts for the KVOE listening area, including a flood warning for Morris County and an urban and small stream flood advisory for south Lyon County including Emporia, Neosho Rapids and Olpe, have been canceled. Rivers at area gauges are elevated, but none are currently approaching flood stage.
Widespread power outages, a calling card of another severe weather episode Monday night into Tuesday, were not an issue to that degree Wednesday night. In fact, Evergy had small-scale outage numbers in Emporia and Cottonwood Falls, while 4 Rivers had one outage in Lyon County near the end of the storm activity. Flint Hills Rural Electric Cooperative had a handful of outages in and west of Council Grove.
Attention now turns to a marginal-to-slight severe weather risk, specifically involving hail, for areas just east of the Kansas Turnpike. Wolters expects afternoon activity along the same boundary that triggered the storms Wednesday night.
There is also currently a slight risk areawide Saturday, with all hazards possible.
Widespread heavy rain appears unlikely Thursday, but it may well be more widespread for the weekend. The National Weather Service Forecast Points online page still calls for 2 inches of rain this weekend for Emporia, and some parts of the KVOE listening area could see up to 3 inches.
We’l have updates on KVOE, KVOE.com and KVOE social media. If you have rain totals or storm reports, message the KVOE Bluestem Farm and Ranch Supply text line at 620-342-5863. If you have storm video, direct message Facebook@kvoenews.
3:15 pm Wednesday: Tornado watch in effect for Lyon and nearly all surrounding counties until 9 pm Wednesday
A tornado watch is now in effect for Lyon and most surrounding counties through the mid-to-late evening hours Wednesday.
The watch goes until 9 pm Wednesday and covers all but Greenwood County within the KVOE listening area. The watch reflects the potential for tornadic development with an enhanced severe weather risk covering the majority of the KVOE listening area from the northeastern tip of Chase County, all but the southern edge of Lyon County and all counties to the east, including the northern half of Coffey and all of Osage County.
The remainder of the area in a slight risk category at this time.
When it comes to the tornado threat, National Weather Service Meteorologist Matt Flanagan says confidence in development is “medium” at this time; however, the confidence in seeing low-level winds lead to circulation is high. As for the intensity of potential tornadoes, Flanagan says that is hard to quantify with certainty, but conditions are suitable to produce tornadoes ranging from EF1 to EF3 categories.
As for additional hazards, Flanagan says the storms could be capable of producing hail up to two inches in diameter and winds between 60 and 70 mph. According to Flanagan, the most likely time for storm development locally would come between 4 and 6 pm and he anticipates those storms could be realtively slow moving meaning prolonged activity in affected areas.
Stay with KVOE, KVOE.com and KVOE social media for more updates as they develop.
8:20 am Wednesday: Sticky conditions may lead to severe weather Wednesday
High temperatures didn’t quite reach the forecast projections Tuesday, so heat index readings weren’t quite as impressive as expected.
Emporia’s high temperature got to 88 degrees, off slightly from the 92 that was anticipated — meaning the peak heat index was 100 degrees instead of the 105 in the forecast.
Wednesday’s forecast has warmer conditions — a high of 93 — but also slightly drier conditions, although that still means a potential peak heat index of 101 by late afternoon.
Wednesday’s forecast also brings another potential round of severe weather to the area. National Weather Service meteorologist Matt Wolters is expecting another potential round of severe weather developing across the area by mid- to late afternoon, possibly affecting area counties into the mid-evening hours.
There is a slight to enhanced risk for severe weather involving area counties, with areas along and east of a line from Council Grove to Saffordville to Olpe to Burlington in the enhanced risk. All hazards are possible Wednesday.
Thursday has a marginal risk for the area, with hail and wind the main concerns areawide and a non-zero tornado risk just east of the Kansas Turnpike. Aside from Friday, there is a storm chance all the way through Monday, and Wolters says the weekend could see some heavy rainfall on top of ground that’s saturated or nearly saturated after rainfall the past week — including 1-3.50 inches of rain Monday night. The Weather Service Forecast Points information page indicates 2 inches or more are possible for Emporia this upcoming weekend.
Meanwhile, utility companies serving the KVOE listening area have largely completed their power restoration work after the damaging storms from Monday night, including 80 mph wind gusts in several locations. Evergy reports a handful of small-scale outages along Kansas Highway 31 in and near Harveyville, as well as a few outages on US Highway 56 near Burlingame and a handful of outages near Kansas Highway 58 east of Madison. 4 Rivers and Flint Hills Rural have cleared their outages from Monday night. There were about 3,000 total customers offline shortly after 12 am Tuesday as a direct result of storm activity.
Get updates on KVOE, KVOE.com and KVOE social media.
