The National Weather Service has issued a tornado watch for parts of Kansas, including Douglas County, through 5 a.m. Sunday.
“Severe storms are likely this (Saturday) evening into early Sunday, particularly along and south of Interstate 70,” according to the NWS weather advisory. “Damaging wind gusts, large hail, localized flash flooding, and tornadoes are all possible.”
Update:
• Trees damaged, power out for many in Lawrence and Douglas County after severe windstorm, May 26, 2024
The NWS recommends people have multiple ways to receive warnings about severe weather.
Strong to severe storms are also possible Sunday afternoon into early evening, with large hail and wind gusts as the main hazards, according to NWS.
A tornado “watch” means conditions are right for a tornado to be possible. A tornado “warning” means a tornado is imminent.
Update, 11:32 a.m. Sunday, May 26: The tornado watch was canceled at 2 a.m. Sunday as “the threat has waned,” according to NWS.
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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