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My bride and I were in Kansas this week end for my grandson's first birthday. Turns out not to be a great time for midwestern weather. After checking the weather on the local / regional station, we decided to leave late Saturday afternoon for home. There were two "little red spots" on the report, near Lyons KS, but nothing threatening. We said our good byes and headed out. About 10 miles south of Salina, we start to see rain, dark clouds and lots of folks driving while looking concerned and talking on cell phones! We had a radio station on and they started telling us that there was a " Large wedge tornado" on the ground near Lyons, about 6 miles south west of us and traveling at 35 MPH on a North easterly path. I didn't know what a wedge was, but it sounded bad and a bit of mental calculation got me real focused! That sucker was pretty close and getting closer. We got off at the first exit, I splashed in some gas while the wife asked for the nearest shelter at the store. The lady didn't know where there was a shelter, but assured us if we hurried on North we would be OK, My son was on the phone giving us the weather off the Internet and he was pretty sure we should get out of Dodge, or Salina actually. The guy getting gas next to me had no idea there was a problem! We flew back onto I-135 north and we were 2 minutes from I-70 west when the radio says that the tornado is now in Smolan, about 3 miles away! I figured it was about 1 mile away, but there was no where to go now but north! We made it to I -70 turned west and were out of the storm path according to the radio and my son. We never saw the dang thing because of the rain! Lessons learned: 1, weather information interpretation skills for colorado, don't work well in KS! 2. " Up to date" means seven minute delays! I might have made a different decision about running north if I had known that:eek: 3: Little red dots can turn into tornados in way less than 55 minutes. 4: Not everyone in KS is a lot of help in a tornado warning! 5: I will never again laugh at the KS folks when they freak out about a snow storm!
I was never so glad to see a mountain with a snow storm on it in all my life.
Still grandson's BD was worth it! We watched the weather at the hotel later that night, and it was pretty scary to see just how close we really were.
Prayers of thanks for keeping a fool safe and for those who suffered in these storms.

It looks like we had a bit in common this weekend. Our youngest grandchild also a boy also turned one on Sat.

The rest of the story you got us beat hands down. Glad that things worked out for you.

We have twice been on the road and very near major storms. Once the police had the road blocked off and directed us on another path... huge twister went though were we would have been.

Second time we were just out front of some really black clouds, found out later that a tornado hit the town we had just been in about 10 minutes later.

I think I might invest in a car weather radio. We have one at home but it has issues so perhaps another one for home is also in order.

Again glad you are safe!

Ed

Yes there were 97 tornado's in Kansas last night. We escaped without any damage, but just four houses north of us had a tree's uprooted. A lot of tree damage in our area. It was hard to got out of our neighborhood, then when we tried to get back in we had to show our ID to prove we lived we lived in the area. We lost power about 9:30 last night until around 6:00 this morning.

Can any of the trees be turned into lumber? Hate to waste those trees that the storms downed. Just as well use them for something else since they can't provide a shade anymore.

We watched the big one go through Wichita later on tv, That was unreal. What part of Wichita are you in?

[quote="reible"]It looks like we had a bit in common this weekend. Our youngest grandchild also a boy also turned one on Sat.

Cool, Ronen was 1 on the 15th, a tax day baby. My oldest son, who we were visiting has several ways to get the info. He says his IPad is about as reliable as a radio. He also told me that Serrus Radio is good in the car. It is a lot more expensive, but more reliable. We never lost normal AM radio, but I was never sure we were getting info for the area we were in. I have a hand crank emergency radio here at home, but it doesn't work real well. Reception can be spotty here, especially in the evening. MAybe we could come up with a way to use the Mark V for emergencies.

swampgator wrote:Can any of the trees be turned into lumber? Hate to waste those trees that the storms downed. Just as well use them for something else since they can't provide a shade anymore.

Every pile of trees I see I wonder,"What could be made out of that"

dlbristol wrote:We watched the big one go through Wichita later on tv, That was unreal. What part of Wichita are you in?

We live on the southeast side of Wichita. We took our son to school this morning, and the way we went out, they had it blocked off when we came back, so we had to take another route. There is not much structure damage around us just a lot of tree damage. It is strange how it does it. We did not even get a limb broke, and 4 house down it uprooted trees. Our 14yr old was getting ready to take a bath before it happen, and had his Bible with him. I ask what he was going to do with it in the bath. He said "I am going to pray that it misses us" I guess it worked.

Glad you are safe and suffered no damage. Your son has the right idea! i was doing a bit of praying myself.