Severe Weather Outbreak of May 8th May 8th was actually the last of four consecutive days of severe weather across Northeast Kansas. A strong cold front front separated a cool dry air mass in the western high plains, from a warm moist air mass that had been in position for several days over the central plains. On the morning of the 8th, the front stretched through central Nebraska and Kansas. The front pushed east through the afternoon and evening hours. The lift provided by the front was accompanied bysurface heating to make conditions favorable for severe weather in northeast Kansas.
The thunderstorms started to develop in central Kansas around 3 pm. The storms moved rapidly to the northeast producing large hail, strong damaging winds, and even a few tornados. When all was said and done, 19 counties had been warned for, 16 severe thunderstorm warnings and 3 tornado warnings. All 19 warnings were verified with an average lead time of 23 minutes. Forty one reports of severe weather came in less than 3 hours, from 3:28 pm through 6:20 pm. Four brief tornados managed to touch down from Perry Lake to east-northeast of the Winchester area. The storm survey indicated that the tornados fell between the F0 and F1 categories on the Fujita scale. Storm Damage from May 8th storms in Jefferson County
Radar images from the May 8th storms
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