| After nightfall on the evening of May 23, 2008, numerous long-track supercell thunderstorms developed over south-central Kansas, rapidly becoming tornadic. One of these cells produced an ominously well-defined hook echo on radar, headed straight for the tornado ravaged town of Greensburg, Kansas, with another tornadic cell to the east near Medicine Lodge. While the Greensburg cell did initially produce a tornado that impacted Protection, Kansas, luckily that tornado lifted before the cell reached Greensburg and the meso moved over the previously stricken town producing only minor damage. Meanwhile the eastern cell (which had started west of Medicine Lodge) was headed north-northeast towards Pratt, Kansas. This cyclic cell produced a strong tornado which crossed highway 54 just to the east of Pratt, causing two fatalities. As the cell moved on, it turned towards the northeast, paralleling highway K61 towards Hutchinson, Kansas. As the cell approached the city, spotters frequently reported a large tornado on the ground. At this time, our chase team (Michael Laca, Jim Leonard, Ray Walker, Eric Baker, Max Hagen and Mike Ratliff) was headed east on highway 50, on an intercept path, that brought us into South Hutchinson a few minutes before midnight, just as the cell arrived. We observed a strong rotational couplet on radar and, as we stopped on the side of the highway, could see a large wall cloud illuminated by the frequent lightning. At this point, sirens began blaring ... |
