Storm chaser shares memories of 2019 Linwood tornado

Yahoo

5 days ago

LINWOOD, Kan. – On May 28, 2019 a mile wide EF-4 tornado in Douglas and Leavenworth County, Kansas injured 18 people and the super cell produced another tornado causing damage all the way in Kearney Missouri.
Communities had to rebuild, but luckily no lives were lost. The storm turned out to be one of the most significant in history for the scientific community.
FOX4 Newsletters: Sign up for daily forecasts and Joe's Weather Blog in your inbox
In the six years since the devastating Linwood tornado we've heard from the survivors, who rode out the EF-4 in their homes.
'Had Jesus on my side, I lived through it,' Linwood resident Dennie Roberts, whose wife was killed in Kansas City's 2003 tornado, said.
FOX4 also spoke with thrill seekers who were sent flying in storm chasing tour vans.
'Immediately it just flipped us and we just bounced and rolled and banged like metal for what seemed like forever,' Jeff Lieberman said on the tornado's first anniversary.
That day as FOX4 meteorologists were watching the radar and FOX4 crews were first on the scene to the damage alerting first responders to the immediate need extreme meteorologist and storm chaser Reed Timmer and his team were also watching the super cell as it formed south of Lawrence, Kansas.
Timmer shared memories this week on .'
Joe's Blog: So, why has it been so gray lately (WED-5/28)
'It was wrapped in rain and we chased the storm for a little while it produced a brief tornado in the rain and we knew it was gearing up to produce a large one,' Timmer recalled. As the tornado formed Timmer was trying to pull off something he hadn't been able to do before on a storm of its magnitude. The problem was the tornado was rain wrapped.
'You almost have to get into the path of the tornado to be able to see it back in the inflow notch and that's a very dangerous place to be,' Timmer explained.Still they were able to launch a sensor called 'Dorothy' into the mile-wide twister recording wind speeds of 190 miles per hour, and thermodynamics like pressure fall, temperature and relative humidity.
But as the sensor and parachute climbed in the mesocyclone to heights of more than 27,000 feet there was just one problem after the tornado passed and clean up began, finding it. Thankfully, 'Dorothy' was located 30 miles away in Leavenworth, Kansas while pots from Free State growers were found 50 miles away in Smithville, Missouri.
Download the FOX4 News app on iPhone and Android
With that single sensor recovered its the first time they were ever able to get data recovered at 10 times per second. Timmer says hopefully data collected will help go along way in better understanding tornadoes and maybe one day even preventing them.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.