Lightning over west Lawrence
The sky over Corpus Christi church in west Lawrence was illuminated Monday, June 15 by a severe thunderstorm. Enlarge video
WeatherCam
9:49 a.m. All watches and warnings for Douglas County and immediately adjacent counties have been canceled.
7:52 a.m. As of this morning, all weather watches that were in effect for Douglas County have expired or been canceled. The flash flood warning for Leavenworth, Wyandotte and Johnson counties remains in effect.
About 80 Westar Energy customers in Douglas County remain without power. The biggest clump of outages is in the area of 23rd Street and Naismith Drive.
According to the National Weather Service, there is a 20 percent chance of more, isolated severe weather this afternoon.
4:13 a.m. Westar Energy is reporting 113 customers without power in Douglas County. The areas most affected are near the intersections of 23rd and Naismith and 19th and Massachusetts.
2:50 a.m. A flash flood warning has been issued for Leavenworth and Wyandotte counties. The warning is set to expire at 8:00 a.m. Douglas and Franklin counties remain under a flash flood watch valid until 7:00 a.m.
2:44 a.m. Rainfall has picked up in Lawrence once again, but a flood watch is the only watch or warning in effect for Douglas County. Westar Energy is reporting 34 Douglas County residents without power.
1:01 a.m. Westar Energy has restored power to all but two customers in Douglas County.
12:05 a.m. The tornado watch for Douglas and surrounding counties has been canceled. A severe thunderstorm watch remains in effect for Wyandotte and Leavenworth counties. Westar Energy is reporting 121 customers without power in Douglas County.
10:41 p.m. The severe thunderstorm warnings for the area have been canceled.
The tornado watch for Douglas County and points south and west and the severe thunderstorm watch for areas north and east remain in effect — the tornado watch until midnight and the severe thunderstorm watch until 3 a.m.
About 103 customers in Douglas County are reported to be without power. There are sporadic outages around Douglas County, but the greatest concentration is in Lawrence near the intersection of 4th and Wisconsin.
10:31 p.m. Now 70 Westar Energy customers without power in Douglas County. If your power is out, call 1.800.LIGHT.KS to report your outage.
10:27 p.m. We've had reports of power flashes all around the city, 27th and Wakarusa, 26th and Alabama, and Westar Energy is reporting seven Westar customers in Douglas County without power.
The largest clump in Lawrence is northeast of Sixth and Iowa streets, but at least three customers in parts of the county are also without power.
10:12 p.m. A severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for the vast majority of southern Douglas County until 10:45 p.m.
The weather service reports the greatest threat is from damaging winds. The storm has produced winds in excess of 50 mph.
10:07 p.m. The National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for far northern Leavenworth County.
9:36 p.m. The National Weather Service has issued a new mesoscale discussion, which is basically a tool that the service uses to warn meteorologists and other interested parties about the current situation, indicating the threat for severe weather continues.
According to the weather service, the largest threat is from hail and strong, gusty winds. In particular, the area along and south of Interstate 70 is projected to be in the path.
9:07 p.m. A severe thunderstorm warning is now in effect for Osage County, southwest of Douglas County.
The watch has moved northeast from the area of Emporia and is expected to be extended into Douglas County.
8:20 p.m. Johnson, Wyandotte and Leavenworth counties are now under a severe thunderstorm watch until 3 a.m. The tornado watch for Douglas and counties south and west continues until at least midnight.
8:15 p.m. A storm that has produced baseball-sized hail has been reported a couple counties away and headed in this general direction, according to Douglas County emergency dispatchers.
There are two bands of storms in central Kansas, one on a roughly Manhattan to Emporia line and another on a Hutchinson to Wichita line. Both are moving in this general direction.
Stay logged onto LJWorld.com.
6:07 p.m. The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center has issued a tornado watch for Douglas County and points south and west until midnight tonight.
The watch, which is in effect until midnight, also included Jefferson, Shawnee and Franklin counties.
Keep logged onto LJWorld.com for all the latest severe weather information.
5:13 p.m. A mesoscale discussion has been issued for much of east and southeast Kansas, concerning the possibility of a tornado watch.
The National Weather Service expects to issue a tornado watch for Douglas County and other nearby counties in the next hour or two.
3:28 p.m. The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood watch for this evening, beginning at 7 p.m., until Tuesday morning.
A strong line of storms, potentially severe, is expected to move through the area and combined with high moisture content could lead to heavy rain.
According to the weather service, the heavy rain will combine with nearly saturated ground to produce the potential for rapid runoff and flash flooding. Some thunderstorms could produce rainfall rates of 1.5" to 2" per hour.
The watch covers Douglas and all surrounding counties, plus most of northeast Kansas.
7:56 a.m. About 7:55 Monday morning, a potentially strong storm was moving east toward Douglas County from Shawnee County.
Small hail and heavy rain is possible with the storm, but no severe weather watch has been issued.
7:43 a.m. A line of severe storms moved through northeast Kansas early Monday morning. The severe thunderstorm watch issued for nearby counties has expired.
11:58 p.m. A severe thunderstorm watch has been issued for Shawnee and Jefferson counties. The watch, issued at 11:45 p.m. by the National Weather Service, is set to expire at 7:00 a.m. Monday.
Check back with LJWorld.com for severe weather updates.
Comments
bearded_gnome 8 years, 11 months ago
okay, I know we had a good chance for t-storms here too. guess ours are going to milder. more gentlemanly storms that dance over douglas county. then they cross the border into the badlands of Jefferson county, and the music switches from Natalie Cole's "unforgetable" to "iron maden."
cabella 8 years, 11 months ago
LOLZ!
irnmadn88 8 years, 11 months ago
There ain't nothing wrong with shaking things up with a good Iron Maiden tune... :P
countrygirl 8 years, 11 months ago
Anybody heard what time round two is supposed to move in?
kusp8 8 years, 11 months ago
TOB, whenever Gary Lezak stars throwin around those types of numbers I generally believe him...unlike that other "weather reporter".
hujiko 8 years, 11 months ago
Tonganoxie
bearded_gnome 8 years, 11 months ago
TOB: Ol' Gary Lezak said someone is going to get 4 - 6 inches. Going to get the canoe out and do some floating.
Gary's the dude that always talks about "nude data," right?
yeah, py, fresh cherries. I won't let my wife see your post: if I did, she'd get down to your hacienda by any means!
Matt Elwell 8 years, 11 months ago
countrygirl (Anonymous) says… Anybody heard what time round two is supposed to move in?
Round 2 will be more in line of the 1-3 AM timeframe. Could be later depending on how the storms west progress. We'll have a live update at 8:00 PM on Channel 6 for those that have Sunflower Cable... We'll keep you updated online as well. These cells are moving extremely slow... like 10-15 mph slow.
Matt Elwell 6NEWS Chief Meteorologist
kusp8 8 years, 11 months ago
TOB, that's true, I generally ignore snow predictions. I've also been told that predicting snow is a b!otch.
riverdrifter 8 years, 11 months ago
Py, my neighbor here in BC has a tree full of those sour little cherries and nobody 'cept the squirrels & robins wants them. I'm still working on getting up to speed on Skew T - Log P analysis which is made from weather balloon data, but I'd say the cap is gone, right, Matt? http://www.rap.ucar.edu/weather/upper/top.gif
mae 8 years, 11 months ago
thanks matt, can you expand your forecast to tonganoxie?
btw, as a nursery guy, cherries aren't so great this year so far. blackberries are freakin' awesome!!!!
i don't know robin's cherry though :)
bearded_gnome 8 years, 11 months ago
yeah, TOB he gets that nude data but never shows it on the TV.
talking like this could be a big hail event tonight.
gnomedog isn't scared at all. so we've got at least 30-minutes of clearance.
password 8 years, 11 months ago
5:13 p.m. A mesoscale discussion has been issued for much of east and southeast Kansas, concerning the possibility of a tornado watch.
what is a mesoscale discussion and who are the ones discussing it?
Matt Elwell 8 years, 11 months ago
password... that is some 'inside baseball' terms that I don't use on air.... basically means that the Storm Prediction Center in Norman Oklahoma (generally speaking they are in charge of large scale watches like the tornado watch we are under in Douglas County.). They are look at the large-scale weather factors and filter that information to the NWS offices and media types about what the current condition of the atmosphere is. They are the meteorologists that issue the watches while the NWS offices issue warnings on the storms.
kusp8 8 years, 11 months ago
TOB, I agree with you on the hype. Boy who cried wolf?
Anyways...I was watching Good Morning America this morning, duh, and they said areas around Topeka and Kansas City, and yes, they mentioned both Topeka and KC on national news. Go figure... Nonetheless, TWC may be right this time.
bearded_gnome 8 years, 11 months ago
okay, gnomedog says there is serious weather coming now. he is beginning just this minute to get scared and clingy.
Matt Elwell 8 years, 11 months ago
TOB, I didn't see TWC (I don't watch very often) but the flooding concerns are at least in some part warrented. These storms are 1) slow moving, 2) moisture laiden and 3) moving already semi-saturated ground.
I don't know what they said, but I do know that with the amount of rain expected, the usual suspects are likely to be flooded with the heavy rain. Stranger Creek in LV county comes to mind as a bad place for flooding as well as Ousdahl in Lawrence....
bearded_gnome 8 years, 11 months ago
okay, we're moving to red alert: gnomedog is shaking for several minutes. just pushed his way under the desk I'm typing on.
as far as I know, he hasn't been on the phone to Osage county.
full of moisture, slow moving, passing over saturated ground. sounds like my first wife if you throw in sullen, angry and violent.
passionatelibra 8 years, 11 months ago
I hear rumbling outside but nothing major in my 'hood. One cat is asleep and the other is messing with him, trying to wake him up.
If stormy weather is coming through here they are usually glancing out the back balcony watching whatever it is that catches their interest during storms.
midwestmom 8 years, 11 months ago
for the drinking game....what happens if Katie is wearing a bike helmet & jeans?
I need a good laugh tonight..
kusp8 8 years, 11 months ago
I'm in Topeka, for some odd reason, and it's not really raining right now.
bearded_gnome 8 years, 11 months ago
Yo Matt/Jonathan!
was watching the 6news at 10p.m., was interrupted for a totally irrelevant alert from kansas city weather (they call it "pleasant hill"). no alert on your sunflower cable system from topeka nws for the warning we're under right now!
you guys need to fix your radio situation so you can get the Emergency Alert System activations from topeka nws!
also will note the audio from "pleasant hill" was really loud compared to the 6news audio.
you guys can get the techies in to fix things so douglas county cable subscribers only get interruptions for douglas county emergency alert system signals. and your LV county subscribers get for over there.
also, you can get the problem of not receiving the topeka signals fixed, probably rather simply.
Jonathan Kealing 8 years, 11 months ago
gnome- I noticed that as well and made a note. I'm going to ask about.
Jonathan Kealing Online editor
kusp8 8 years, 11 months ago
Just kidding, it's definitely now raining.
bearded_gnome 8 years, 11 months ago
I'm in Topeka, for some odd reason, and it's not really raining right now.
... so, you don't know why you're in topeka? did somebody kidnap you chuck?
or are you in training there to bring the "topeka" crime to lawrence?
Multi, I'm glad you're okay. nothing like a high wind to whip up the feathers?
riverdrifter 8 years, 11 months ago
My station recorded 0.98" @ BC but most of it came in 15 min. Lightning, good grief! 3 brief power outtages. Temp fell from ~81 to 60.5 in about 2 hrs. and is ALREADY headed back up as is the barometer. Next up: steambath...
kusp8 8 years, 11 months ago
gnome...haha, no I'm visiting some friends. Hopefully their topeka-ness doesn't rub off on me ;)
bearded_gnome 8 years, 11 months ago
yep, reread what I wrote.
kc/"pleasant hill 162.55mhz. they've recently added another nws station with a good local sig from there serving like Miami Co and east of the MO border.
topeka nws office is at that airport, but their signal (162.475) actually comes from tower down towards Admire, so their signal sucks big time in much of lawrence. topeka also has a station 162.425 covering areas like Ottawa; that signal is often better in lawrence but not intended for us and does not include DGco alerts. supposedly Pleasant hill is carrying alerts for DGco because of the weak signal problem in DGCo, but it seems they can't be relied upon.
yes, Topeka at Billard airport is supposed to cover us. now, where I live, there are typically three other nws stations stronger than topeka.
fantastic_hollaa 8 years, 11 months ago
Lightning over Daisy Hill tonight - http://www.flickr.com/photos/39475916...
bearded_gnome 8 years, 11 months ago
Oh Tob, we need to do an intervention: your wife won't let the snakes into the house! if you drink enough, you'll see them there anyway!
Chuck, you've created a word: "topekaness!"
ding ding ding!
now, can we get this into the urban dictionary?
something about a zebra-print jacket ...
riverdrifter 8 years, 11 months ago
R_I: To each their own indeed! This storm was a multi-tasker: G&T's in, brown liquor on way out. One more bit of data: Hi wind @ BC was a gust of 24 mph, but my station is buried in the middle of town & is quite sheltered from the max gusts.
bearded_gnome 8 years, 11 months ago
no word from The-original-bob, hope he's all right.
gnome, I was in Topeka, and heard over the radio there were funnel clouds in Chase Co where I was headed. I called a friend down there to make sure they were aware, and they read off a list of several funnels, town names that meant nothing to me. What was interesting was the delivery. It was like someone laying out their winning poker hand card by card. A definite indicator of a fun night ahead! I view driving into storms much like playing in a sprinkler as a small child. You squint just enough to not trip over the thing, watch which way the spray is going trying not to take a direct hit in the eyes, suck it up, act like the big kids and run like hell being careful not to slip in the extra wet areas.
oh wow Multi! kinda driving roulette.
RI: wet t-shirt contest? how'd you do in them?
bearded_gnome 8 years, 11 months ago
hey glad you're okay TOB!
yes, morning comes whether we want it to or not!
I awoke to find my computer bleeping at me: that set of storms that went through in the 2a.m. hour (scared gnomedog all over again) discombobulated my cable modem and router. no e-mail picked up since 2a.m.
but unplugging the router and modem, then plugging them in again made it all fine.
actually yesterday afternoon we had a very brief power outage in the afternoon, which oddly did not mess up modem/router.
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