Matt Withers

On the evening of May 8, 2003, Matt Withers was parked off of U.S. Highway 56 in southwestern Douglas County, listening to radio reports of a massive, milewide tornado moving through Osage County.

Withers was on storm-spotter duty for Douglas County Emergency Management.

“I was very nervous, mostly for my family,” Withers said as he recalled that day nearly five years ago. “That thing was huge down there, and I knew it was on course to hit Lawrence.”

When the tornado made it to Douglas County, it had decreased dramatically in size.

“I was expecting to see this big wedge, this big F-5 tornado,” Withers said. “When I first saw it, it was small and compact. It was racing to the northeast at 40 to 45 miles per hour.”

Withers followed what was later determined to be an F-2 tornado as it traveled through the county. He continuously reported its location to the Douglas County Emergency Operations Center. He reported its size, how fast it was moving and whether it was causing damage. Withers said he was about a mile from the tornado as he followed it.

Withers was on a road near Clinton Lake dam when the tornado struck Aberdeen South Apartments in southwestern Lawrence. He could see the debris in the air.

But Withers’ reports allowed Lawrence to have at least a 20-minute warning time before the tornado hit, emergency management records show.

“We were very fortunate that he was there and was able to see it, identify it and get the reports back to us. It doesn’t always happen that way,” said Teri Smith, director of Douglas County Emergency Management. Smith was assistant director at the time and was working in the operations center.

Withers, 30, who now lives in Ray County, Mo., said he has had an interest in tornadoes and severe weather since childhood. He struck up a friendship with former Emergency Management Director Paula Phillips after calling her one day and asking her questions. She sent him a pamphlet and provided him with tornado videos to watch. She also allowed him to visit the operations center in the Douglas County Judicial & Law Enforcement Center.

“It was really neat,” Withers said. “I used to listen to the spotters on my dad’s old scanner.”

Withers returned the favor in 1998 when he became a county storm spotter. He also chases storms on his own time. The first tornado he ever saw was in 1999 near Manhattan. A few days before the 2003 Lawrence tornado, Withers saw the tornado that tore through Wyandotte County and followed it well into Missouri.

Withers is at a loss to explain why tornadoes fascinate him.

“My mom says she was pregnant with me when she was with family down by Baldwin (City) and they had to take cover because of a tornado,” Withers said. “She thinks that’s what caused this.”