A dozen late-season tornadoes touch down across Kansas
Tornadoes, mostly reported by storm chasers, touched down along 100 miles of Kansas farmland on Wednesday.
Tropical-fueled storms swept from the Southwest into the Plains on Sept. 30, leading to flash flooding in places like New Mexico and tornadoes in Kansas.
September ended with a flurry of severe weather across the central United States, including tornadoes, as moisture originating from the tropics fueled late-season storms.
At least a dozen tornadoes and additional funnel clouds were reported in Kansas on Wednesday, stretching 130 miles from Dodge City to Lincoln.
The twisters mostly occurred in rural areas and were documented by storm chasers, but some damage was reported near Susank, Kansas, when a barn was blown away by a tornado.
At one point, AccuWeather Meteorologist Tony Laubach filmed two tornadoes at the same time, likely a satellite tornado situation, near Olmitz, Kansas.
The storms, which also caused flooding, came unusually late in the season. Kansas's historical average number of tornadoes peaks in May, with only five tornadoes on average from September through October.
"The Kansas tornadoes were enhanced by Tropical Rainstorm Polo," AccuWeather Meteorologist Eddie Walker explained.
"There was added vorticity -- atmospheric spin -- and an influx of tropical moisture, which caused the cloud bases to be lower to the ground level. This makes it easier for tornadoes to occur," he added.
Several twin tornadoes were seen across central Kansas on Sept. 30. AccuWeather Meteorologist Tony Laubach captured the tornadoes as Polo’s leftover circulation crossed the region.
