Post updated at 8:15 p.m. Friday, April 26:
The National Weather Service in Topeka issued a tornado watch for Douglas County, effective through 9 p.m. Friday; however, the watch was canceled around 7 p.m. Friday because the risk of severe storms had greatly diminished.
Storms are also possible with up to tennis ball-size hail likely throughout northeastern Kansas and in parts of Missouri and Iowa, according to NWS. Scattered wind gusts of up to 70 mph are also possible.
There is a small chance of additional thunderstorms late Friday night into early Saturday, and there could be hail risks through the early morning hours, according to NWS.
“Severe thunderstorms are forecast to redevelop by Saturday afternoon with very large hail, damaging winds and tornadoes possible,” according to NWS. “Additional rounds of heavy rainfall could also lead to more widespread flooding across east central and northeast Kansas.”
There is also a flood watch in effect for Douglas County from Saturday afternoon through Sunday morning, according to NWS.
“Excessive runoff may result in flooding of rivers, creeks, streams, and other low-lying and flood-prone locations,” according to the advisory.
The NWS encourages people to review their weather safety plans, ensure weather warning devices are working and monitor the forecast.
Severe weather resources
National Weather Service local office (Topeka):
• Find the latest weather forecast info and severe weather advisories for the Lawrence area at this link.
• In the event of rapidly changing severe weather, such as tornadoes, the NWS posts frequent updates on Twitter, @NWSTopeka. You do not need a Twitter account to see tweets from NWS.
• NWS is also on Facebook, facebook.com/NWSTopeka.
• Call 785-234-2592 to hear the forecast.
Douglas County Emergency Management:
• Follow @DgCoEM on Twitter or Douglas County, KS- Emergency Management on Facebook, facebook.com/dgcoem.
• Sign up to receive emergency alerts at dgcoks.org/emalerts.
• Find lots of tips on severe weather and other emergency preparedness on DgCoEM’s website at douglascountyks.org/emergency-management.
• Report storm damage (for non-emergencies only, and after storm danger has passed) by calling the nonemergency dispatch line at 785-843-0250 or 785-832-7509.
Evergy outages:
• Check the status of power outages on the Evergy outage map, outagemap.evergy.com.
• Report a power outage at evergy.com/report-outage, or call 800-544-4857.
• For down powerlines, call 911.
City of Lawrence snow info:
• The city has snow information and a map at lawrenceks.org/snow that shows information about road conditions and snow plow locations. The city typically begins snow and ice control for residential roadways when 2 or more inches of snowfall or icing occurs.
Air quality:
• Check the current air quality index in Lawrence and elsewhere through AirNow, airnow.gov.
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Nathan Kramer / Lawrence Times
