Jim Minick in conversation with Lisa Teachman

Watermark Books & Café is excited to welcome Jim Minick in conversation with Lisa Teachman! Jim is the author of the book Without Warning: The Tornado of Udall, Kansas, a nonfiction account of the human story of the disaster from 1955. Lisa is an Emmy Award-winning meteorologist, and the Chief Meteorologist for the KSN Storm Track 3 Weather Team. She was born and raised in Haysville, Kansas, and she will be joining Jim in conversation about the tornado that hit Udall on May 25th in 1955. Join us for this in-store event on Thursday, May 18th at 6:00 pm either in-person or on Facebook Live! RSVP at the button below.

About Jim Minick

Jim Minick is the author or editor of seven books, including the award-winning Fire Is Your Water and The Blueberry Years: A Memoir of Farm and Family. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Times, Poets and Writers, Oxford American, Orion, and Shenandoah.

About Lisa Teachman

Emmy Award-winning meteorologist Lisa Teachman is Chief Meteorologist of the KSN Storm Track 3 Weather Team.

Born and raised in the Wichita suburb of Haysville, Ms. Teachman is excited and proud to return to her hometown. KSNW-TV is where she began her broadcasting career in 1996 as a meteorology intern under the leadership of the station’s former Chief Meteorologist, Dave Freeman, who retired in May 2017. Upon completing her undergraduate studies at Wichita State University and Mississippi State University, Lisa went on to serve weather teams in Huntington, WV; Baltimore, MD; and Kansas City, MO.

Ms. Teachman has earned the American Meteorological Society “Seal of Approval”. In 2018, she was recognized by the Kansas Association of Broadcasters for having the best weathercast in Wichita. She brings nearly 20 years of professional experience to her role at KSN News 3, including 10 years of forecasting severe weather in Kansas and Missouri. In 2011, she reported live from Joplin in the hours following the catastrophic EF5 tornado that struck the city. She saw her first tornado in Moundridge, KS, in 2012.

Her passion for meteorology began in her youth. Her father is a Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service volunteer, assisting in emergency communications for Sedgwick County. Her hometown was hit twice by devastating tornadoes in 1991 and 1999.

In her spare time, you’ll find Lisa taking her 3 dogs for long walks with her husband. She also loves country music and eating as much BBQ as she can!

About Without Warning: The Tornado of Udall, Kansas

In 1955 the small town of Udall, Kansas, was home to oil field workers, homemakers, and teenagers looking ahead to their futures. But on the night of May 25, an F5 tornado struck their town without warning. In three minutes the tornado destroyed most of the buildings, including the new high school. It toppled the water tower. It lifted a pickup truck, stripped off its cab, and hung the frame in a tree. By the time the tornado moved on, it had killed 82 people and injured 270 others, more than half the town’s population of roughly 600 people. It remains the deadliest tornado in the history of Kansas.

Jim Minick’s nonfiction account, Without Warning, tells the human story of this disaster, moment by moment, from the perspectives of those who survived. His spellbinding narrative connects this history to our world today. Minick demonstrates that even if we have never experienced a tornado, we are still a people shaped and defined by weather and the events that unfold in our changing climate. Through the tragedy and hope found in this story of destruction, Without Warning tells a larger story of community, survival, and how we might find our way through the challenges of the future.