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EF1 tornado in Kiowa County, Kansas

Tornado May 18, 2025 · Kiowa County, Kansas

EF1
Rating
2.8 mi
Path length
50 yd
Path width
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 50 yards (0.03 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

Short-lived satellite tornado off of the larger main votex farther east. Total path just under 3 miles and width no more than 50 yards with peak winds of 90 mph.

The wider storm

A regional outbreak of tornadoes occurred across portions

of western into south-central Kansas during the afternoon to

evening hours of Sunday 18 May 2025. The first couple of tornadic

supercells occurred near Scott City KS in Scott County during the

late afternoon and progressed northward with both storms generating

EF2 tornadoes and a lone brief EFU tornado. A second tornadic

supercell developed near Dodge City KS in the early evening and

progressed northeast with an EFO tornado occurring near Kinsley KS

in Edwards County and an EF2 tornado near Garfield KS in Pawnee County.

A final long-duration tornadic supercell then formed in the mid

evening hours over Comanche County KS and commenced moving northeast

toward Greensburg KS in Kiowa County, Iuka KS in Pratt County,

north of Preston KS in Pratt County and finally across Stafford

and Reno Counties. This storm generated five EF3 tornadoes along with

several smaller satellite tornadoes. The final count for this day

was 13 tornadoes just within the NWS Dodge City Warning area.

Began near Brenham (37.6400, -99.1900).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF3 Comanche CountyEF3 Pratt CountyEF3 Pratt CountyEF3 Kiowa CountyEF3 Kiowa CountyEF2 Scott CountyEF2 Scott CountyEF2 Edwards CountyEF0 Edwards CountyEFU Scott County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1253362. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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