18 May and 21 May 2005 storm photos in central Kansas
All photos copyright Jon Davies (click on
thumbnails for larger images)
18 May 2005: A "landspout" look-alike?
On May 18, a storm developed just NW of Wichita around 7:30 pm. This
smoke plume near Maize had me thinking I was looking at a weak "landspout" along
the rain-free SW flank. But as the the plume curled upward and a small cloud
condensed out above it, I could soon see it was nothing more than a small local fire
producing smoke.
The storm base, however, soon began to take on a circular shape and I could
see the beginnings of a possible supercell. But that was ruined by rain approaching
from another cell to the WSW as the sun was setting. The blue and magenta colors at
sunset to my SSW were pretty to watch.
21 May 2005: Another "landspout" look-alike,
hail, and a good lightning show:
On May 21, other storms developed in central KS. Jim Reed and I
intercepted this high-based cell near Chase KS in Rice County around 8:00 pm. The
thin rain shaft in the first photo above looked a little like a "landspout", and
later on, a farm couple drove by asking us about seeing a "funnel". But it
was clear that this was only rain followed by a striking sunset.
This storm cranked things up a notch around 9:00 pm as it passed over Lyons, producing golfball and larger size hail (> 2" diameter). See this blurry photo of Jim Reed and hail as we parked under a gas station awning for protection. This was the largest hail that fell in the U. S. on May 21.
Heading back to Wichita around 10:00 pm, we were treated to an exciting
lightning display to our north from a second storm that developed over Rice County before
all storms shut down for the evening courtesy of a strong mid-level capping inversion.
The moon behind us illuminated the storm and surrounding countryside as we watched.
Given the general lack of severe storms in the Central Plains over the past few days, I feel very fortunate to have had some interesting weather to photograph and enjoy.
- Jon Davies 5/22/05
