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EF1 tornado in Cherokee County, Kansas

Tornado April 20, 2025 · Cherokee County, Kansas

EF1
Rating
24.1 mi
Whole path
250 yd
Path width
$1.0M
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Cherokee County → Jasper County, Missouri; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 250 yards (0.14 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

A NWS survey determined that an EF 1 tornado touched down near Empire Lake north of Galena, KS and tracked to the northeast before crossing into Missouri at the intersection of SE Turkey Creek Road and North State Line Avenue. Along its path in Cherokee County the tornado damaged hundreds of trees, knocked over power poles and lines and damaged multiple roofs.

The wider storm

A strong storm system moved through the area on Sunday April 20th, 2025. This system brought tornadoes, damaging wind, large hail and heavy rain. The heavy rainfall led to flooding as the area had already received heavy rainfall from the previous week.

Began near Lowell (37.0600, -94.6900).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1248303. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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