A crowd of over 150 people experienced a real storm fury in Salina Monday evening. National Weather Service Meteorologists Chance Hayes and Robb Lawson were in town to present the “Storm Fury On The Plains 2019” spring severe weather safety and spotter class.
Hayes handled the main part of the presentation. He used multi-media to teach the basics of thunderstorm development, storm structure, the features to look for, and where to find them. What, when and how to report information as well as basic severe weather safety were also covered.
Hayes shared some Kansas severe weather statistics fro 2018. They include:
- 297 Reports of Severe Wind, Hail, Flooding
- 20 Tornadoes. Kansas averages 18.82 tornadoes a year.
The strongest tornado, a damaging EF3, touched down in Greenwood County on June 26th. The strongest straight-line wind, was recorded at 87 miles-per-hour in Rice County on July 29th. The largest hailstone, measured at 4 inches, fell in Barton County on May 1st.
The “Storm Fury on the Plains 2019” event in Salina was the first one of the year in Kansas. It will be presented again at several communities around the area.
At the end of the presentation Monday night Hayes announced there will be a special advanced spotter class offered at several locations this year, including in Salina. The Salina session will be April 9th.
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