We decided to get closer to the center of the storm so we drove to the bend in 181, and
headed west on a small paved road. The road started due west then made a sharp turn to the
south and continued heading south getting us closer to the center. Here a large funnel was forming at the
very center of the storm. Debris began to swirl at the base of the funnel and started to
connect the funnel to the ground. It was now a full tornado and growing in
strength rapidly. As it intensified another funnel broke off from
this one and started strong ground disturbance. The second tornado had many small vortices
clearly visible. These tornadoes look like a merry-go-round with six or eight mini
tornadoes circling the main center of the tornado. Little did we know this storm would put
down multiple tornadoes over the next 30 minutes as we followed it.
Tornado Kiowa County Kansas Part 1
Tornado Kiowa County Kansas Part 2
As the new tornado strengthened it started to pull the larger cone tornado towards
itself, and then they both joined into one large tornado. The tornado was mostly cone shaped at this point, but
would go through several shape changes over the course of its life. From the cone shape it
slowly changed into a larger wider
tornado. Pic 2 The power of
the tornado grew as the funnel widened
at the base. At this point it reached it's widest size. It seemed monstrous in
width engulfing a wide area. From this enormous wide based tornado it shifted to a tigher column funnel. At one point
it looked like the storm would die out and the tornado event was ending. This tornado was
roping out, but then the storm picked
up intensity and another tornado formed. Pic43 The storm roped out and
reformed new tornadoes at least 4 times as we followed it. Seldom do you get the chance to
follow a storm that puts down multiple tornadoes in a row and have it follow a road at the
same time.
Pic 44 It looked very tight and
strong as it ripped up the terrain next to the road. We were less than two miles from it
at this point. Pic 48Pic 49Pic 50Pic 51. It looked fierce and dangerous as we came
closer to it. Pic55 It
roped out again only to reform a new tornado. It was about this time we noticed that the
storms newest tornado might be heading
towards a farm. We were still about a mile from the tornado, debris began to hit the
car and fly by our windshield. We strained our eyes to see if a home was in danger of
being hit, but we could not tell. Right about this time it hit the Douglas farmhouse, but we
did not know it at the time. A piece of debris can be seen in this picture comingat us. Probably
something from the Douglas farm. When we replayed our video we noticed significant debris
flying by our car and floating in the air above and around us that we didn't notice while
filming the event. In Pic74 it
just passed through the house and leveled it.
Although we did not know it yet, just before the tornado crossed the road it destroyed
the Douglas farmhouse leaving nothing of the house standing with debris spread all over.
You could not tell there was a house here because no walls were left standing as the house
took a direct hit.
Debris from the house had pelted our car as we drove up. We tried to identify one
object coming down from the sky, it appeared to be a spool of ribbon now unrolled but
still attached to the holder. Boards were lying around in the fields, large pieces of
plywood thrown around and the road was blocked with trees, debris and power lines. We
quickly went from chasers to Search and Rescue assuming someone may have been injured.
Remember at this point we didn't know if there had been a house here, but with all the
debris it appeared there must have been. The only evidence of a house was the debris;
there wasn’t any structure standing that was a house. Another chaser was there so we
asked him if he would help search to see if there were any victims, but he and his friend
had no time and said they had to go.
