Mount Hope-Halstead Tornado
A tornado touched down near Mount Hope, KS at or shortly before 5:00 p.m. on May 6th. The tornado quickly wedged out, caused some damage and continued on a NNE to NE track. It passed over US-50 and quickly began to dissipate a few minutes later. What made this chase particularly neat was the fairly vibrant rainbow that remained on the horizon for most of the tornado’s life cycle. (From the video above – 0:51 tornado comes into clear view, 2:36 tornado crosses US-50, 6:02 tornado is beginning to rope out)
The story starts with a general target in the Wichita, KS area. I was fairly confident that some significant severe thunderstorms would fire somewhere in that area. I actually drifted a bit north to other convection, before finally noticing a discrete supercell forming west of Wichita. I circled back and got there just in time for the tornado. Below are a few photos from the storm.
Panoramic view of the explosive supercell thunderstorm. If you look closely, you can see a rainbow and the tornado in the distance.
Tornado in progress near Mount Hope, KS.
The tornado continues, although gradually weakening, near Halstead, KS.
The tornado is finally roping out, just to the north of Halstead, KS.
