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EF1 tornado in Lyon County, Kansas

Tornado May 21, 2011 · Lyon County, Kansas

EF1
Rating
6.0 mi
Path length
150 yd
Path width
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 150 yards (0.09 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

The tornado first touched down northeast of the Emporia State University campus and proceeded northeast. Several large trees were snapped, a chimney collapsed on top of a home and some farm outbuildings were heavily damaged. This tornado lifted before reaching the town of Reading.

The wider storm

Supercell thunderstorms developed in advance of a cold front and dryline during the late afternoon of Saturday May 21st. Several of the supercell thunderstorms produced tornadoes including at least 2 brief touchdowns in Topeka. The strongest tornado was rated an EF3 and hit the town of Reading Kansas. In all there were 8 tornadoes across Northeast Kansas that evening. There was one fatality which occurred in the town of Reading where a man was killed when his mobile home was destroyed. There were 5 injuries that required treatment in Reading. The supercells also produced huge hailstones with some reported to be the size of softballs and numerous reports of baseball size hail in and around Topeka.

Began near Emporia (38.4453, -96.1611).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF3 Lyon County 1 deadEF1 Osage CountyEF0 Shawnee CountyEF0 Shawnee CountyEF0 Jefferson CountyEF0 Douglas County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 295471. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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