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EF1 tornado in Mitchell County, Kansas

Tornado May 29, 2008 · Mitchell County, Kansas

EF1
Rating
16.0 mi
Whole path
400 yd
Path width
$15K
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Osborne County → Mitchell County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 400 yards (0.23 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

Storm Chasers captured video of this tornado as it crossed from Osborne County into Mitchell County. Other eye witnesses said this tornado joined with another tornado that had just developed near Glen Elder Dam. Damage from this tornado was limited to trees and power poles as it remained in open country.

The wider storm

A significant severe weather outbreak occurred during the afternoon and evening of May 29th. Several tornadoes were reported from south of Palco in Rooks County to community of Jewell in Jewell County. On tornado inflected significant damage to the community of Jewell, including destroying the town's caf and water tower. Several homes in rural areas of Mitchell and Jewell Counties were damaged or destroyed. The town of Woodston in eastern Rooks County also had a twister move through the community; luckily damage was not as severe. All together eight tornadoes occurred in this part of north-central Kansas and no critical injuries were reported. Other areas of north-central Kansas also saw hail and heavy rains from the storms. An area between Webster Lake and Stockton in Rooks County had hail up to the size of baseballs. The hail damaged windows and siding of homes along the storms path. In addition to the tornadoes, hail and wind, thunderstorms dumped several inches of rain across the Solomon River valleys. This resulted in some flooding of rural roads and area creeks and rivers.

Began near Tipton (39.4146, -98.4896).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

7 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 109502. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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