We’re on our way toward peak tornado season and already in the heart of intense outbreak season. Weeks like April 8-14 remind us why. It started out “slow,” with just a few tornadoes or rumors of tornadoes. But, that would not last as a major low-pressure system moved into the Plains.
Monday, April 9, the anniversary of the Woodward disaster in 1947, brought a few isolated tornadoes to that same part of Oklahoma. A southwest flow thanks to an upper-level trough on the West Coast continued through the rest of the week. By Friday the 13th, activity became widespread with several tornadoes touching down again in Oklahoma, including around Norman.
The much-touted tornado outbreak arrived on April 14 as a strong upper-level low pushed out into the Plains. Kansas was particularly hard hit with several long-track tornado producing supercells crossing the state. One strong EF-3 impacted parts of Wichita, fortunately causing no fatalities. But, as the week closed, tornadoes returned to Woodward, where the six lives lost in the outbreak occurred around midnight.
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The twister quickly popped up near sunset and rapidly turned violent.