May 17th-20th severe weather discussion

[CheeselandSkies]

I didn't realize until seeing the DAT that the nocturnal KS beast was actively producing an EF3 while I was on it north of US 54/400 between Cullison and Pratt shortly before 11 PM Sunday. The inflow was howling but the reflectivity signature looked messy from the merger and the velocity, while there was definite rotation, wasn't clear-cut "intense tornado in progress" like it had been back west of Haviland and again from Iuka to Plevna.

After I got sick of the pitch black dirt roads (which didn't take very long) and got back on 54/400 eastbound toward Pratt, the lightning didn't illuminate under the base much during the time I was recording. This is the best frame I found that gives some hint as to what was going on, toward the bottom center: