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EF1 tornado in McPherson County, Kansas

Tornado June 20, 2009 · McPherson County, Kansas

EF1
Rating
0.9 mi
Path length
75 yd
Path width
$75K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 75 yards (0.04 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

Tornado moved across a farmstead and destroyed a barn, toppled a tractor trailer, and threw two grain bins out into the wheat field.

The wider storm

Strong to severe thunderstorms ignited across portions of central, south-central and east-central Kansas during the afternoon and evening hours on the 20th, along and north of a warm front. The thunderstorms became supercellular as they moved north of the warm front, producing a handful of tornadoes across portions of Barton, McPherson and Marion counties. Severe straight-line winds also slammed the community of McPherson, producing some damage across town.

Began near Windom (38.3644, -97.8454).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF0 McPherson CountyEF0 Lincoln CountyEF0 Lincoln CountyEF0 Marion CountyEF0 Barton County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 166699. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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