There's a hint of autumn crispness in the air. The Kansas State Fair is in high gear in Hutchinson. To local meteorologists and weather buffs, those are clear signs that tornado season looms.
Tornado season? In the fall?
It's dubbed "second season," and it's a clear surge in tornado activity that spans most of September and October in Kansas.
While the numbers don't approach the historic peaks of April, May and June, weather officials say the pattern is unmistakable.
Greg Carbin, warning coordination meteorologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said the fall tornado season is clearly evident in the "small humps" of activity on bar graphs.
Tornado season resembles a theater curtain. In the spring, as the weather warms, the peak zones move north like a rising curtain. In the fall, as temperatures cool, the hot zones slide south.
While the peak fall season for Kansas usually hits during September and October, Carbin said, the southeastern U.S. doesn't typically see a "second season" until November.
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