This is one of the shots taken of tornadoes in Kansas Saturday night.
Severe weather rocked Kansas with numerous tornadoes, large hail, very heavy rain and dangerous lightning.
The storms formed late Saturday morning over western Kansas, with reports of tornadoes early, and then they moved east effecting virtually all of south central and central Kansas.
Although, there were brief touch downs in Reno County, there didn’t appear to be much damage, it least none that was initially reported. Tornado sirens were sounded in both Turon and Pretty Prairie at one point, then the storms sped to the northeast. Hutchinson was never in any real danger, although Willowbrook and Nickerson were in the path for awhile, as were other cities south and also southwest of Hutchinson.
Here are some of the other reports around the area as they were received at the National Weather Service offices in both Dodge City and Wichita. This of course is just a sampling of the storm reports.
Pratt County authorities report two and half inch hail just after 4:30 p-m, structure damage to a farmhouse in Saline County around 6:38 p-m. Just after that, funnel clouds and wall clouds were spotted in Kingman County.
Then came word of a brief touchdown of a tornado two miles north of Pretty Prairie just after 7 p-m. Just after 8 p-m, a cone shaped tornado was reported 4-miles northwest of Hesston, and a stove pipe tornado was on the ground 2-miles northwest of Goessel in McPherson County.
Then the report of a garage being damaged five miles north of Hesston in McPherson County. Meanwhile to the southwest, golf ball to tennis size hail was being reported with new storms developing in Kiowa County, 2-miles north, northwest of Greensburg, that occurring just after 8:30 p-m.
And in Sumner County, a 1 / 2 mile wide wedge tornado was reported 2-miles northwest of Milan, and shortly after that came word that there was damage to home and a barn being destroyed five miles south of Argonia, but no injuries were reported.
At around 9:40 p-m, a multi-vortex tornado was seen two miles south of Conway Springs in Sumner County, meanwhile, a large wedge tornado was spotted 6-miles northeast of Hudson in Stafford County, that from a storm chaser. Just after that, more reports of tornado sightings in Sumner County, leading to the report of a storm estimated to be between one quarter to a half miles wide, and the unconfirmed report of a house destroyed in that county.
Rice County officials reported a tornado three miles west of Lyons just after 10 p-m, and one and three quarter inch hail went through the skylight of a spotters home in Barber County. That occurring around 10:36 p-m.
The storms in Sumner County then moved into Sedgwick County causing damage at 63rd and Hydraulic, and threatening cities such as Clearwater and Haysville. There was also damage reported in the area of 47th Street South and Oliver in south Wichita, and also included damage to a hanger on the west side of McConnell Air Force Base, and damage to a mobile home park south of Oaklawn near Clifton. There was also reports of power lines down on South Broadway.
The storms in the Wichita area caused a weather emergency because of the fear of injuries with the large population in eastern Sedgwick County.
Later, a large wedge tornado was spotted 9-miles northeast of El Dorado in Butler County, and about that same time, a tornado was spotted, illuminated by lightning in Ellsworth County, and a tornado was also spotted near New Cambria in Saline County, that occurring around 11:20 p-m.
This is just a sampling of the reports that came in to officials, and there is probably much more damage around the region then reported here.
The massive storm system did churn up at least six tornadoes in rural western Kansas, including one north of Dodge City that was on the ground for about half an hour.
There was reports of outbuildings and an old schoolhouse being damaged. The tornado that caused that structural damage was reported seven miles south of Hanston in Hodgeman County.
Tornadoes also were reported near Sawyer in Pratt County, near Seward in Stafford County and near Timken and Rush Center in Rush County.
Tornadoes were also reported in Oklahoma and Nebraska as well, and as of 12:30 a-m, Sunday morning there were no reports of any tornado warnings in Kansas, although still at least one warning still in effect in Oklahoma.