Wichita, Kansas

Weather Forecast Office

May 14th 2018 tornadoes...

Overview

Severe thunderstorms developed along and ahead of a quasi-stationary front that was draped across the area. One long-lived supercell produced a brief tornado northwest of Ark City before exiting into Oklahoma and becoming stationary. The supercell then moved north and produced multiple tornadoes as a large bow echo thunderstorm merged with the supercell in central Cowley County. This was quickly followed by several shorter-lived "Quasi-Linear Convective System" (QLCS) tornadoes north and east of Winfield.

Tornado just N/W of Arkansas City, KS at around 6:50pm today. Fantastic chase day ended with a gorgeous reward. Video to come. #kswx #tornado #SevereWeather #payoff #2018 @ReedTimmerAccu @StormChaseTV @DebsKR @BraydonMoreSo pic.twitter.com/ji3syGMbgL
— Tom Smetana (@twstdbro) May 15, 2018

TORNADO on the ground 5 miles NE of Arkansas City, KS. Von Castor is on it. Moving to the SE at 10 mph. #okwx #kswx 6:35 PM @NewsOn6 pic.twitter.com/O2ZuQrkfVI
— Lacey Swope (@LaceySwope) May 14, 2018

Wall cloud and a funnel east of Geuda Springs, KS. #KSwx @NWSWichita pic.twitter.com/DWo5Ir5qbW
— PSU Chase (@PSUStormChase) May 14, 2018

Tornadoes
Additional info

Tornadoes:

EF-Scale

Tornado 1 - NW of Ark City, KS
Cowley County

Date	5-14-2018
Time (Local)	640 PM CDT
EF Rating	EF-0
Est. Peak Winds	83 mph
Path Length	0.1 miles
Max Width	20 yards
Injuries/Deaths	0
Summary: The tornado was brief in open country damaging 4 power poles. The tornado was quite visible, and reported by many storm chasers and storm spotters on social media and broadcast media.

Tornado near Geuda Springs right now!! #kswx pic.twitter.com/HPmVNtn5jD
— Adrian Leyser (@TheNimbus) May 14, 2018

EF-Scale

Tornado 2 - near Maple City
Cowley County

Date	5-14-2018
Time (Local)	942 PM CDT
EF Rating	EF-2
Est. Peak Winds	118
Path Length	2.1 miles
Max Width	50 yards
Injuries/Deaths	0
Summary: The tornado moved nearly due north with an 8 minute duration. Most of the lifecycle was over open country while knocking down multiple heavy power poles and damage to trees.

EF-Scale

Tornado 3 - near Maple City
Cowley County

Date	5-14-2018
Time (Local)	946 PM CDT
EF Rating	EF-2
Est. Peak Winds	120
Path Length	0.9 miles
Max Width	75 yards
Injuries/Deaths	0
Summary: The tornado moved north and northwest rolling a single wide manufactured home and causing heavy damage to outbuildings and trees. Wooden electrical transmission lines were also downed.

EF-Scale

Tornado 4 - near US166 E of Maple City
Cowley County

Date	5-14-2018
Time (Local)	955 PM CDT
EF Rating	EF-1
Est. Peak Winds	107 mph
Path Length	3.3 miles
Max Width	50 yards
Injuries/Deaths	0
The tornado moved northeast then east, snapping and uprooting trees and also heavily damaging some outbuildings. A camper was flipped along 262nd Rd.

EF-Scale

Tornado 5 - 2.8 miles NE of Winfield
Cowley County

Date	5-14-2018
Time (Local)	953 PM CDT
EF Rating	EF-1
Est. Peak Winds	94 mph
Path Length	0.1 miles
Max Width	50 yards
Injuries/Deaths	0
Summary: The tornado was brief in mainly open country, uprooting some trees.

EF-Scale

Tornado 6 - SE of New Salem
Cowley County

Date	5-14-2018
Time (Local)	956 PM CDT
EF Rating	EF-1
Est. Peak Winds	98 mph
Path Length	2.5 miles
Max Width	50 yards
Injuries/Deaths	0
Summary: The tornado moved east then north across mainly open country, producing sporadic extensive tree damage.

EF-Scale

Tornado 7 - SW of Burden
COUNTY NAME

Date	5-14-2018
Time (Local)	1003 PM CDT
EF Rating	EF-1
Est. Peak Winds	107 mph
Path Length	1.3 miles
Max Width	50 yards
Injuries/Deaths	0
Summary: The tornado traveled northeast across mainly open country, producing sporadic extensive tree damage.

The Enhanced Fujita (EF) Scale classifies tornadoes into the following categories:

EF0 Weak 65-85 mph	EF1 Moderate 86-110 mph	EF2 Significant 111-135 mph	EF3 Severe 136-165 mph	EF4 Extreme 166-200 mph	EF5 Catastrophic 200+ mph

	This happened last night near Arkansas City, KS @KCTV5 @KCTV5Weather #mowx #kswx Thanks to Steve Morgan for the share. pic.twitter.com/ukWLYTbwdu — Brett Anthony (@BrettKCTV5) May 15, 2018	Half dollar size hail in Rock at 7:40pm @NWSWichita @JayPraterCBM #kswx pic.twitter.com/RMcZpn4ZTL — Cody Frye (@frenchfrye_95) May 15, 2018	Impressive evolution of motion on the SC KS supercell this evening. Southeast-Stationary-North... pic.twitter.com/kG7CNW3GN7 — Rob White (@svrwxtweets) May 15, 2018
Rainfall from this event			Radar loop of the supercell that caused most of the tornadoes. Note the unusual northerly change in direction toward the end of its lifecycle

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