Kingman, KS — Travis Farncombe — Highways & Hailstones

Published on May 19, 2012

May 19 was a surprising chase day. I was out with Roger and Silver Lining Tours, and despite the SPC’s slight risk that extended from Iowa to Texas, we were not optimistic about the day’s prospects. In particular, large temperature/dewpoint spreads meant that storms would likely be quite high based with limited tornado potential. Nevertheless, we targeted an area between Pratt and Wichita, hoping a few high-based supercells.

We arrived in Kingman County as storms went up, but on radar they were ragged and unimpressive. In addition, as expected, they were extremely high based. Any hope we had that a little extra moisture may have showed up to increase tornado potential was quickly diminishing, and we were discouraged because it appeared the plains’ tornado ‘drought’ would continue.

We were keeping pace with the storm when out the van to the right a column of dust went spiralling upward to meet a small, blunt cone funnel. Tornado! We were surprised to say the least, and thrilled, and over the next hour we watched as several more tornadoes developed from our unimpressive, high-based storm!

Following several serpentine, rope tornadoes that may have been landspouts, we noticed a more formidable tornado off in the distance. We raced southward toward the tornado, capturing photos and videos as it tore through a wind farm near Rago.

Travis Farncombe

I am the founder Highways & Hailstones. I live with my family in Toronto, Ontario - about 2000 miles from Oklahoma City and the heart of Tornado Alley. Every spring and summer, I travel down there, to the American Midwest, to witness the most awe-inspiring weather on the planet.

The first time I chased was ten years ago; I signed up as a guest with a storm chase tour company, and joined that group for a week on the plains. I saw my first tornado on that trip. It was a silhouette on a dark Kansas night, betrayed by strobes of lightning flickering in the distance. While the rest of the tour guides and group scanned the storm to the south, a lingering flash drew my glance to the north, and there, unmistakable, was a backlit cone. It was serendipity. I yelled cone tornado!, and a storm chaser was born.

After chasing for a few years as a guest with Silver Lining Tours, I gradually began to spread my wings and chase on my own, having learned enough from Roger Hill and other veterans to chase safely and responsibly. I became a guide with SLT in 2015. Now, I am a certified spotter and chase locally in Southern Ontario, as well as down in Tornado Alley. I am always meeting new people, always learning, and always humbled by the power of nature.

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