Saturday, April 29, 2006 Thunderstorm Dumped Large Amount of Rainfall Causing Street Flooding In Pittsburg, Kansas.

Departed Pittsburg, Kansas: N/A
Arrived Pittsburg, Kansas: N/A
Total Time On Road: N/A

Tornadoes: 00
Wall Clouds: 00
Supercells: 00
Hail: None
Flooding: 01

I didn't have to leave home for this flooding event. I took several photographs of flooded streets from the front porch of my residence. My CoCoRaHS precipitation recording station received 1.88" of rainfall between 5:10 P.M. and 6:08 P.M. on the evening of April 29, 2006. My recording station received a total twenty-four hour rainfall from 7:00 A.M. April 29, 2006 to 7:00 A.M. April 30, 2006, of 2.08". This amount of rainfall in this amount of time can cause extensive flooding, especially on poorly drained city streets. Flooding of this magnitude occurs a couple times a year in the neighborhood in which I live. Several people in four wheel drive vehicles were driving through the flooded streets, mainly just playing around. We haven't seen this much rainfall in this short of time, for quite an extended period. Only minor flooding of roadways occurred outside the city limits of Pittsburg, Kansas. This wasn't really much of a storm chase per se, but since I did get some decent photographs of the flooded streets in my neighborhood, I thought I would include them on my website.

Russel Parsons
Pittsburg, Kansas

Thursday, April 06, 2006 Tornado Warned Storms In Northeast Oklahoma, Southeast Kansas And Southwest Missouri.

Departed Pittsburg, Kansas: Unknown
Arrived Pittsburg, Kansas: Unknown
Total Time On Road: Unknown

Tornadoes: 00
Wall Clouds: 03
Supercells: 02
Hail: None
Rain: Heavy Rain

I knew today was going to be a very interesting chase day. The day started with a High Risk of severe thunderstorms in Northeast Kansas, and a Moderate Risk of severe thunderstorms in Eastern Kansas and Oklahoma. I decided to start my chase by driving towards my target area around Yates Center, Kansas.
I made my way to Thayer, Kansas, where I checked radar and other forecast data. I decided that instead of continuing to travel north, my best shot of intercepting severe weather today would be between Bartlesville, Oklahoma and Independence, Kansas. A supercell thunderstorm had developed in Osage County Oklahoma, and I headed south towards this storm.
This supercell thunderstorm was showing signs of rotation, which was detected by the Nexrad weather radar in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I started seeing this tornado warned supercell on the horizon, as I was driving westbound on Oklahoma highway 10 between Copan and Wann, Oklahoma. The rain free base and a small wall cloud was visible, as I viewed the supercell near Copan, Oklahoma.
I proceeded to travel north on U.S. 75 highway between Copan, Oklahoma and Caney, Kansas. I took several photographs of the rain free base of this storm from just north of Copan. I continued north until I got to Caney, Kansas, since I knew I wanted to stay to the east of this monster storm. Approximately two miles east of Caney, Kansas on U.S. 166 highway, I photographed another attempt at a wall cloud on this supercell. The storm then went through some changes, and the road network was not great in my current location.
I continued east on U.S. 166 highway through Coffeyville, Kansas. I went north on U.S. 169 highway, where I intercepted the rain free base of this supercell between Coffeyville and U.S. 160 highway. I traveled northeast along some back roads. The supercell picked up some speed, and I didn't catch up with it again until I got approximately four miles west of Parsons, Kansas on U.S. 400 highway. I saw the rain free base and a small wall cloud once again, but still no lower level rotation. I got to take some photographs of the wall cloud from a location of about two miles west of South Mound, Kansas.
It seemed that I missed out on the best supercell of the day, when tornado damage was reported near Chetopa, Kansas. Since I did not have radar data with me while I was chasing the storm I was on, I missed another supercell that moved out of Northeast Oklahoma and into Southern Labette County, Kansas. I tried to catch up with this storm, and I finally got to see a wall cloud with this second supercell, as I neared Asbury, Missouri. It was getting dark at this time, so after driving east to U.S 43 highway east of Asbury, Missouri, I decided to end this long chase day.
Today was probably one of the longer chases that I've taken part in for quite a few years. I chased in Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri, and I still didn't get to see a tornado. I saw quite a few smaller wall clouds and a couple of large supercell thunderstorms. I also got a few good photographs of the storms. I learned a lot today, and I hope to put my new knowledge to work during the rest of this severe weather season.

Russel Parsons
Pittsburg, Kansas