The Last Major Great Plains Tornado Outbreak: April 14, 2012

April 13, 2012: the 1730 UTC Day 2 convective outlook issued by the Storm Prediction Center upgraded from Moderate Risk to an exceedingly rare Day-2 “High Risk” -only the second such in the SPC’s history-as concerns for a major Great Plains tornado outbreak loomed.
By morning on the 14th, a warm front had begun gradually lifting northward from the southern Plains, transporting an abundance of moist air into the region from the Gulf of Mexico. The front eventually stalled over south-central Nebraska and southern Iowa, and would serve as a focus for severe thunderstorm activity, and numerous tornadoes.
By midafternoon, the atmospheric environment farther south over Kansas and Oklahoma had become extremely volatile, as the states baked in mid-70 to 80 degree temperatures and 70-degree dewpoints east of a sharp dryline positioned over the western portions of the Plains. This feature would serve as the western boundary and second storm initiating mechanism for what would indeed become another classic Great Plains tornado outbreak.
By the end of the day, over 150 tornadoes had been reported, with the majority occurring across central Kansas. Several significant tornadoes occurred, including a long-tracked EF-4 tornado that began near Lyons and (thankfully!) lifted just southwest of Salina. Later in the evening, an EF-3 tornado caused extensive damage to areas just outside of Wichita, including the communities of Haysville, Oaklawn, and El Dorado, as well as McConnell Airforce Base (which is all-too familiar with violent tornadoes; see also April 26, 1991). Farther west, the town of Woodward, Oklahoma, was struck by a long-tracked EF-3 tornado just after midnight. Sadly, this tornado was responsible for six fatalities and twenty-nine injuries.
This video features the prolific supercell that spawned numerous tornadoes across north-central Oklahoma into south-central Kansas, near the towns of Ingersoll, Cherokee, and Manchester, OK, and Bluff City, KS. This is the same storm responsible for considerable damage in south Wichita and McConnell AFB later in the evening.
Copyright 2012 David Demko & Heidi Farrar
Weatherbeat.net
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For more information, see:
Convective Outlooks: www.spc.noaa.gov/cgi-bin-spc/getacrange.pl?date0=20120413&date1=20120414
www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/reports/120414_rpts.html
Storm Reports:
www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/reports/120414_rpts.html
Forecast Office write-ups:
NWS Wichita: www.weather.gov/ict/april14th
NWS Norman: www.weather.gov/oun/events-20120414
Wikipedia entry: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado_outbreak_of_April_13%E2%80%9316,_2012