Air Quality Concerns; Fire Weather; Extreme Heat; Flash Flooding

Wildfire smoke continues to result in poor air quality from the Upper Midwest into the Northeast. Dangerous heat and fire weather concerns for portions of the Four Corners region into the central Great Basin. Heavy rainfall and flash flooding possible for the Southeast through Monday. For Hawaii, gusty trade winds a drier weather could result in any fires that start to spread rapidly. Read More >

A tornado that began in eastern Trego county at 658 PM CDT on 16 October 1998 steadily moved northeast before dissipating north of Hays around 728 PM CDT. The tornado hit several farms in rural Ellis county and slammed into sparsely populated Yocemento. After leaving Yocemento, the tornado tore through a feedyard and on across other parts of rural Ellis county. Fortunately, the tornado stayed just west and north of populated Hays where a high school football game was in progress. The tornado damaged or destroyed 10 homes, a grain elevator, many outbuildings, a tractor and a feedlot. During the weaker moments of the tornado, it moved a 14,000 pound tractor 30 yards. One modular constructed home on a concrete slab was completely destroyed with the remains carried 1/2 of a mile. A steel I-beam from a concrete building travelled several hundred yards, eventually crashing into a grain elevator. Three empty anhydrous ammonia tanks were moved causing a leak of a benign amount of vapour. An injury occurred to a male driving a tractor-trailer rig on Interstate 70.

The tornado was rated F3 on the old Fujita scale.

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Air Quality Concerns; Fire Weather; Extreme Heat; Flash Flooding

25th Anniversary of October 16 1998 Yocemento Tornado