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EF3 tornado in Comanche County, Kansas

Tornado May 18, 2025 · Comanche County, Kansas

EF3
Rating
8.2 mi
Path length
800 yd
Path width
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 800 yards (0.45 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF3 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF3 is severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, consistent with estimated gusts of 136–165 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

First tornado of this prolific cyclic supercell with the vortex starting in far northern Comanche County KS and then traveling north-northeast for over 8 miles before ending around 7 miles southeast of Mullinville KS in Kiowa County KS. Maximum width of almost a half mile with peak winds of at least 155 mph (EF3).

A farm grain cart was tossed/tumbled at least 100 yards, Total destruction of a metal building system. Trees debarked with only stubs of largest branches remaining. Electrical transmission lines were damaged.

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 Coldwater (37.3804, -99.4475).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1253363. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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