Crews with the National Weather Service will visit several towns Tuesday to survey damage from Monday night's severe storms.
The NWS plans to visit Olathe, Leawood, Oak Grove, Smithville and Carrollton. Survey crews will assess if the damage was caused by a tornado or straight-line winds.
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Both severe modes have the capabilities of producing significant damage so they take note of the direction of debris, how trees come to rest and how materials, of a home, for example, weathered the storm.
Straight-line winds burst down from the base of a thunderstorm and spread out along the surface. They could reach 100 mph while toppling objects in the same direction. Because the winds spread out at the surface, the wind damage is often times wider as it moves away from the storm.
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Surveyors may then observe trees that have fallen or broken in the same direction.
Tornado damage, on the other hand, is completely different. A tornado is a rotating structure that has the capability of turning, throwing and ripping objects from the ground.
As a result, debris is often found tossed around with no clear pattern and settling in different directions. Ripping a house off its foundation, cars toppled over, windows broken and roofs missing are all indicators of tornadic damage.
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After the National Weather Service completes its survey, they are able to rate the strength of the tornado based on the amount of damage found. It provides a measurement of the strongest winds reported from the tornado as well. It's based on a scale from EF 0 - EF 5.
Stay tuned on how the National Weather Service assesses the damage and what EF rating they assign to the possible tornadoes no later than Wednesday.
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Lindsey Anderson can be reached at Lindsey.Anderson@KSHB.com.
