As a part of my third HokieStorm Chase excursion last month, I had the incredible opportunity to witness the Dodge City cyclic supercell that dropped a highly disputed number of tornadoes. It was by far the most spectacular tornadic display from a single cell of my career as a meteorologist, so I thought I would look a bit deeper into the setup that made the storm possible.
Morning Environmental Analysis
A surface low was positioned along the OK/TX/CO/NM intersecting borders, expected to migrate north and east through the early afternoon hours on May 24th. Its associated stationary frontal boundary weaved its way NE through eastern CO and western KS, while a dryline extended SW through the TX panhandle. Two overnight MCS clusters continued east through central Oklahoma and Kansas, providing a slow moving outflow boundary along the KS/OK state line just after daybreak. Taking a look at the Dodge City, KS 12z sounding, most of the ingredients for an explosive atmosphere were already in place. Surface CAPE > 2000 J/kg; MUCAPE > 3000 J/kg; 0-6km shear ~ 30kts (expected to increase); Mid-level lapse rates 8-9*C/KM; and the beginning stages of backing winds at the surface really set the stage. A bit of daytime heating + the influence of a lifting mechanism and the atmosphere would be loaded.
Overall, the SPC was generally in agreement for their morning update. An explosive day, outlooking two main areas with an “Enhanced Risk” of severe weather. The first near the KS/NE/CO border where backing winds around the Low would be the greatest…and a second along the dryline bulge around the KS/OK border.
As expected, the daily surge East of the late spring dryline was aided by the lows migration NE through the early afternoon hours. Initiation began in the early afternoon hours, with the first storms of the day located mainly in the north outlooked area. Around 3pm, a cell popped up near Scott City Kansas, and remained discrete for quite sometime producing the first sustained supercell (and tor warnings) of the day in central KS. Stretching to the south, the cumulus field began building along the stationary front and outflow boundary in southern KS.
In the meantime, the environmental recovery struggles in north-central OK became evident, with CAPE and shear values much lower than most models thought they would be.

5:33pm Appleton, KS.
By 4 – 4:30pm CDT, the first sustained cumulus towers began building SW of Dodge City, finally breaking the weak CAP. Initially, the storms were multicell messes, with cell mergers the theme of the hour, but it didn’t take long for things to get organized. The first Tornado warning on the cell that became the “cell of the day” was issued at (TIME), when the storm was still multicellular in nature. The warning was issued due to a “spotter confirmed funnel cloud.” While I can’t be certain that a cell merger or boundary interaction didn’t produce said funnel, I believe this report was a bit pre-mature by an overanxious spotter (which happens more than people realize). Either way, I certainly don’t fault the National Weather Service DDC for issuing when they did. If nothing else, it increased lead-time for the dangerous situation that was about to unfold.
Above illustrates the progression through the initial supercell stage of the storm until the first tornado touchdown. First image depicts our view at 5:37pm CDT where the last two were taken right at 6pm CDT as the first Tornado touched down. 6 o’clock magic anyone?
The radar loop above shows the incredible evolution of this storm, beginning just prior to the first Tornado touchdown through the majority of the event. A few interesting things of note:
The initial tornado rotational signature formed in an area of little to no reflectivity values. This likely occurred because of a few reasons, but the most likely dealing with the positioning of the WSR-88D system itself. By attempting to look through a massive hail/rain core into main circulation center, data can be obscured or lost, especially at the lower levels. It also could have to do with the initial lack of a full condensation funnel at the surface in the early stages of the first tornado.
The evolution of the velocity couplets in this storm was incredible. Anywhere from 3 – 5 (or more) separate couplets can be seen, including an incredible split as the first occlusion process takes place. I also found the couplet “wobble” that took place just as the storm passed west of Dodge City very interesting. It was almost as if the storm was attempting to occlude for a second time, which could have caused the new wall cloud to sputter further east over the city. Certainly an appropriate name for the city.
A debris signature showed up numerous times in the Z, CC, and ZDR data. It is most evident when the first tornado’s condensation funnel continued to grow to near “wedge tornado” size to the SW of Dodge City; and again as it impacted the western portions of the city during its second cycle.
One of the most interesting parts of the event for me, was the warning progression throughout the event. On one storm, we were able to witness every “stage” of the new Impact Based Tornado Warning process.
Base Tor Warning -> Confirmed Tor Warning -> Considerable Tor Warning -> Tor Emergency
Having the opportunity to witness the event on the ground, comparing it to radar data, and seeing the impact based tags issued by NWS DDC; it really shows the benefits of the new impact based warning methodology which is becoming widely implemented and accepted across the NWS.
The results of the Dodge City damage assessment is presented above. The office concluded that three different tracks resulted from this storm.
1.) The initial touchdown which continued onto becoming an EF-3 wedge tornado that occluded just to the SW of Dodge City and ENE of Ensign, KS. Stayed pretty rural.
2.) A brief (EF-1) rope that formed and tracked through a few fields SW of Dodge City (Likely the one pictured above acting as the “Twin.”
3.) A third (EF-2) that formed during the occlusion process, and from our point of view, gained multi-vortex qualities as it began to impact the western suburbs of Dodge City.
4.) A fourth (EF-3) touchdown occurred just north of Dodge City, again, likely prior to the dissipation of the third Tornado described above.
Somehow, injuries remained minimal during this event and no recorded deaths resulted from this series of tornadoes. Luckily, the cyclic supercell heading right toward Dodge City somehow just skirted it’s western suburbs, but not without putting on one heck of a show for seemed like thousands of storm spotters/chasers. Some impressive video of the event from multiple sources is provided below.
Taylor Kanost (WFXR Roanoke, VA) Timelapse