April 21st 2001, Rush Center, Kansas Tornado

My first tornado of the year for 2001! However, I must say that as I sit and write this report I'm listening to damage reports from KWCH Channel 12 and my heart goes out to the people of Hoisington who have lost their homes or loved ones. The mesocyclone and the Rush Center Tornado shown below eventually caused the F4 damage at Hoisington, Kansas.

I left Lakewood, Colorado at 11:00 am with Dodge City as my target. I was hoping whatever storms fired up would be late in the day. My neighbor Tim Samaras volunteered to be my nowcaster. As I dropped south toward Garden City I could see the initial convection starting to go up. I turned SE out of Garden City toward Dodge City and it was becoming obvious that this storm was going to be a large single cell. The initial convection quickly became a supercell and looked like an atomic blast at one point. I was torn between taking pictures and driving torward the core of the storm.

The above pictures were taken between 6:35 PM and 7:00 PM on US Highway 50 looking north toward Jetmore, Kansas. After bypassing Dodge City I headed North on Highway 283 toward Jetmore. I purchased gas at Jetmore and received a call from Tim Samaras that a tornado warning had been issued by the NWS. I turned at Jetmore east bound toward Sanford on highway 156. At Sanford I headed north to about 5 miles south of Rush Center. I could see a rotating wall cloud and various quickly dissipating funnels. At 8:05 PM a quick tornado formed and touched the ground. Any continued rotation became rain wrapped at this point.

I called the NWS at Goodland to confirm the brief touchdown. I didn't have the Wichita NWS number. At this point I decided to backtrack to Sanford and head east and then head NE out of Larned toward Great Bend. I wanted to stay away from the core reported to be producing golfball size hail. I arrived in Great Bend and decided to find a motel room for the night. I was headed for Hoisington but decided the storm was to severe to be chasing in the dark. My Motel receipt says 9:10 PM. On Channel 12 they're saying that Hoisington was hit by a possible F4 tornado at 9:17 PM.

With a moderate risk on Sunday the 22nd I headed north from Great Bend for Red Cloud, Nebraska. While skirting the town of Hoisington (off US 281) I ran across this tornado damage about 1 mile southwest of Hoisington. Again my prayers to the people of Hoisington.