Huddled in my mom's car with a pool raft over my head, I couldn't help mistaking the sounds of severe wind for the roar of a freight train that I've been told all my life is the sound of a tornado. On May 21st, 2024, an EF-1 tornado touched down in Prairie Village, KS, less than two miles away from my house.
My house, with no basement.
Carlos Moreno/KCUR 89.3
Tornadoes are caused by atmospheric conditions most commonly created by thunderstorms, like variations in air temperature and moisture. The tornado experienced in my neighborhood was an EF-1, which normally has wind speeds around 86-110 mph. With the EF scale spanning from 0-5, this event was a relatively minor hazard, though damages were estimated to be around $50,000-$100,000 for even a small scale event.
Living in Kansas, part of an area of the country known as Tornado Alley due to the frequency of tornadoes in the area, severe storms weren't new to me. One year my back fence was destroyed by a tree branch, another time my car managed to avoid being hit by a tree by less than an inch. Still, this storm was the first instance of an actual tornado near where I lived.
The morning after the storm, I tried to drive around my neighborhood to see how much damage had been done. Part of my street was blocked by debris. A tree was balancing precariously on a power line. The house behind mine had a branch hit their roof with enough force to blow out the walls of their garage.
The sirens had never even gone off.
Storm systems can sometimes create isolated tornadoes that don't show up on radars. When this happens, sending out alerts isn't always possible until it's too late. Many Kansans are used to the reality of tornadoes and severe storms, with some even watching the weather from their porches, so the warning systems are often essential for making sure everyone has a safe indoor place to shelter from the storm.
Citations:
Hammill, R. (2025, September 10). Johnson County had 2 tornadoes touch down, so why didn’t any storm sirens go off? KCUR. https://www.kcur.org/news/2024-05-22/johnson-county-tornado-sirens-storm-shawnee-overland-park-cleanup
US Department of Commerce, N. (2018, August 15). About tornadoes. National Weather Service. https://www.weather.gov/ffc/torntext
US Department of Commerce, N. (2024, January 31). The Enhanced Fujita Scale (EF scale). National Weather Service. https://www.weather.gov/oun/efscale
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