Greensburg, Kansas was thrust into the national spotlight on May 4, 2007 when an EF5 tornado destroyed most of the town. The huge, 1.7 mile wide tornado destroyed 95 percent of the town, and the other 5 percent was severely damaged. Eleven people died, which is miraculous, given the severity of the storm. Greensburg has now become a focus for green redevelopment.
The May 2007 tornado will long be remembered as one of the most significant in U.S. history. But a tornado nearly eighty years earlier that struck Greensburg is part of legend.
At about 4 in the afternoon on June 22, 1928, Mr. Will Keller and his family were examining their wheat crop on their farm outside Greensburg. It had been completely destroyed by a huge hailstorm.
Mr. Keller kept an eye on a particularly ominous cloud to the southwest. He suspected that the storm might have a tornado in it. As it approached, his suspicions were confirmed.
No stranger to tornadoes, the Keller family had a “cyclone cellar” at the ready, and the father herded everyone into it. He was just about to close the door and seal t hem inside when he decided to take one last look at the approaching funnel.
The funnel lifted just a bit as it approached his vantage point. The end of the funnel moved directly over him. He said that he could see directly up into the cylinder of the tornado. He remarked that conditions inside the funnel were still, but that small tornadoes were hissing as they rotated around the inside of the twister. He said the entire tube was illumined by constant lightning.
Mr. Keller had a long time to look inside the slow moving funnel. It was an amazing experience that he would never forget and one that lives in legend.
Mr. Alonzo Justice of the Weather Bureau Office in Dodge City, Kansas heard about Mr. Keller’s experience and recorded it for the Monthly Weather Review.
