EF3 tornado in Reno County, Kansas

Tornado May 18, 2025 · Reno County, Kansas

EF3

Rating

32.5 mi

Whole path

1,760 yd

Path width

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 1,760 yards (1.00 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

Based on the NWS storm survey, the tornado started in Pratt County then went into Stafford County before entering western Reno County. The total track of the tornado was around 32 miles with 21 of those in Reno County. A peak of EF3 damage was found with estimated winds of 155 mph occurring in Stafford and Pratt counties. In Reno County, the peak estimated winds were 145 mph based on a brick exterior home that had all of the exterior walls removed except long entryway. One portion of an interior wall remained. The maximum width was around one mile. This tornado damaged multiple homes to varying degrees in the town of Plevna with damage ranging from EF0 to EF2. Then the torando tracked northeast before going northwest prior to dissipating.

The wider storm

Multiple rounds of severe weather impacted many areas of Kansas. The initial round developed during the mid-afternoon hours with numerous large hail reports across central and south-central Kansas. The next round developed during the late afternoon and evening hours, producing large hail across central Kansas.

The final round developed after 9 PM across west-central Kansas and moved east-northeastward into Reno County. A lone supercell thunderstorm tracked across southwest Kansas and eventually moved into Reno County. This storm produced a long track wedge tornado that was on the ground for over 30 miles and had a width around a mile wide. It destroyed three homes near the town of Plevna along with widespread tree and power line damage. This tornado was given an EF-3 rating with the most significant damage just southwest of Plevna. Fortunately there were no injuries or fatalities with this destructive tornado.

Began near Turon (37.8600, -98.4721).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1267002. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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