LJWorld.com / Area avoids damage from storms again

Archive for Thursday, August 26, 2004

August 26, 2004

A rainbow arcs above the Lawrence Visitor Center, 402 N. Second St., after heavy rains. Wednesday night's storm added more rain to already soggy conditions, and brought funnel clouds to Osage and Franklin counties.

More severe weather roared through the Lawrence area Wednesday evening, pelting the city and surrounding areas with hail, heavy rain, high winds and the threat of tornadoes.

And for the second time this week, northeast Kansas apparently escaped without major damage as funnels kept to rural areas.

As the first of two storm cells pelted Lawrence with nickel-sized hail about 7 p.m., southwestern Douglas County was placed under a tornado warning. About 30 minutes earlier, a tornado and several funnels had been spotted just west of the Douglas County line, near Overbrook in Osage County.

Storm clouds and lightning linger as a thunderstorm passes over a house along U.S. Highway 59 near Pleasant Grove. A funnel cloud was spotted during the storm Wednesday evening near Overbrook, about seven miles southwest of this location. Several funnel clouds also were reported in Franklin County, but none touched down.

The threat was enough to cut short Wednesday night's Douglas County Commission meeting. Commissioners adjourned at 6:43 p.m., hoping that the dozen people in attendance -- many of them residents of the rural area south of Lawrence, in the projected storm path -- could beat the storm home, if desired.

"It's another storm, and you need to respect it like all the others," said Dale Guder, who left the county courthouse to return to his home of 27 years in Berg Acres, about a mile south of the Wakarusa River. "Kansas is known for them. You can't take a chance."

Another storm hit Franklin County about 8 p.m., and a tornado warning was issued there. Heavy rain fell and several funnels were spotted, but none touched down, according to the National Weather Service in Topeka. There were no reports of damage, Franklin County Sheriff's dispatchers said.

A rainbow arcs its way across the sky east of Lawrence following Wednesday's storm.

No tornadoes were spotted in Douglas County, said Paula Phillips, director of Douglas County Emergency Management.

County storm spotters were called out about 6:30 p.m., however, after severe thunderstorms developed to the west and northwest of Douglas County. Spotters initially were told to watch the northwest because of a particularly strong storm in that area, Phillips said.

A pedestrian makes her way through the heavy rains during Wednesday's at 7th and Mass. Streets.

"That one pretty quickly moved into Jefferson County and we switched (spotters) to the southwest to watch there," Phillips said.

High winds were reported in Douglas County, though, along North 1800 Road northwest of Lawrence, commonly called the Farmers Turnpike. A spotter estimated the winds at 60 mph.

The storm dropped 0.89 inches of rain in downtown Lawrence. Another 0.61 inches fell at Lawrence Municipal Airport, where the city's official measurement is taken, said 6News meteorologist Matt Sayers. A series of storms Monday night dropped as much as 3 inches in Lawrence; another 1.2 inches fell Tuesday morning.

Wednesday's storm moved out of the area by 7:30 p.m., when the Douglas County tornado warning expired, but the county remained under a thunderstorm watch until 10 p.m.

Summer weather was to return today, forecasters said. It should be dry, with a high temperature of 95 degrees, Sayers said.

Staff writer Mark Fagan contributed to this report.