EF1 Tornado — Barton, Kansas

2007-05-05 · near Claflin, Barton, Kansas

Event narrative

The tornado damaged large trees at several locations along its path. Two barns were destroyed and several outbuildings were also severely damaged. Five 100,000 bushel grain bins were also destroyed with two of them flung onto the local Dillon's grocery store causing damage to that structure. Damage to a church steeple and out building also occurred at the beginning of the tornado path. Tornado was probably descending down directly onto the church.

Wider weather episode

A powerful but slow moving storm system caused several severe thunderstorm outbreaks from very late in the day on May 4th through late in the day on May 6th. This storm system was responsible for 20 tornadoes, 17 tornadoes were reported in parts of Central Kansas while 3 additional weak tornadoes occurred in South Central Kansas on the 6th as well as numerous reports of severe hail and winds. In Barton County alone, 500 power poles including several large transmission lines were knocked down causing at least 4.5 million dollars in damage. Since several tornadoes occurred over nearly the same areas it is not clear how many poles were knocked down from each tornado.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (38.4399, -98.5724)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 31530. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.