Eastern Kansas/Southwestern Missouri
A few cities include: Emporia, Joplin and Topeka.
Local tornado season: Peaks between late April and mid-June.
Terrain: Plains and hills with some forested areas.
Road network: Fairly good, but there are some gaps.
Radar coverage: Good northeast, limited southeast.
Eastern Kansas into southwestern Missouri has seen many strong, long track tornadoes over the years. Large to very large hail can also occur with the most intense supercells here. Intense squall lines are no stranger to the area, as thunderstorms often grow upscale as they move toward Missouri.
Terrain
Being the transition zone between the Central Plains and Midwest, the terrain here is not nearly as favorable for storm chasing as central or western Kansas. Hills and forested areas are common in eastern Kansas, mixed in with flatter farmland. Areas between Wichita and Topeka are hilly and forested. The Flint Hills start near the Oklahoma border and extend north to the Manhattan area. This hilly terrain can make storm chasing in the area rather challenging.
Areas near and north of Junction City can be difficult to chase as well. Here, the terrain is hilly, lakes and rivers are common and densely populated areas exist. Forested areas are also common obstacles near and east of the Kansas/Missouri border.
Road network
The road network across the area is variable. Most counties in eastern Kansas and southwestern Missouri have multiple paved, primary roads to choose from. With that said, there can be gaps in the road network. Roadways in eastern Kansas, especially near the Flint Hills, can be curvy and irregular, which may make it difficult to stay with a faster-moving storm. Some areas have a gridded network of secondary dirt roads, but this network is not consistent throughout the region.
Interstate-35 travels northeast from Wichita as the Kansas Turnpike. At Emporia, the Kansas Turnpike continues northeast as I-335 to Topeka, while I-35 veers at more of an easterly direction toward Kansas City. I-70 travels west-to-east across northeastern Kansas, while I-44 is the main freeway in southwestern Missouri.
Interstate-49 connects Joplin with Kansas City and terrain becomes increasingly difficult east of this corridor. US-60 in southwestern Missouri roughly separates the Ozarks from the Plains, as terrain gets increasingly hilly to the southeast of this corridor.
Radar coverage
For radars, KTWX covers the vast majority of northeastern Kansas and there is some overlap with KEAX as well. KSGF covers all of southwestern Missouri, but a notable gap in radar coverage is apparent in southeastern Kansas. Radar coverage from Eureka, KS, southeast toward the Missouri border is limited, but assuming there are no outages, usually one of the adjacent radar sites can offer some data. KICT will pick up on storms approaching from the west, while KINX covers storms moving northeast from Oklahoma.
In summary, eastern Kansas into southwestern Missouri is chaseable, but terrain and road networks can make storm chasing in some areas challenging. Radar coverage is also limited in southeastern Kansas, but adjacent radars will usually be able to help pick up on approaching storms.