Tornadoes Strike Northeast Kansas June 11th 2008 - NWS Topeka, KS

Tornadoes Strike Northeast Kansas

June 11th, 2008

The night of June 11th, 2008, two long lived supercell thunderstorms produced tornadoes across Northeast Kansas. The communities of Chapman, Manhattan, and Soldier were hit hardest by the tornadoes, with extensive damage occuring along the paths of the storms as they made their way across the area. The links above will lead to pages about each specific city and the damage along the tornadoes path for that area. Below are a few other items that summarize the event across the area:

Below is a split radar image, depicting both radar reflectivity (left) and velocity (right). On the velocity product, green indicates motion towards the radar, while the reds indicate motion away from the radar. Look for the tight 'couplet' of red and green that develops just west of Chapman, then moves northeast through Manhattan. The storm reorganizes, and the couplet redevelops in Pottawatomie county and moves northeast until dissipating near Wetmore. Look for the hook feature in the reflectivity associated with the couplet. Also notice the burst of white after the storm moves through Chapman - likely due to debris in the storm after the tornado hit the city.

The National Weather Service in Topeka would like to thank area emergency management, law enforcement, public safety officials, and especially the citizens of northeast Kansas for all of their help in surveying the damage from these storms. Our thoughts are with all of those impacted by this devastating event.