EF1 tornado in Ottawa County, Kansas

Numerous reports of a well formed stove-pipe tornado were received as the storm crossed the Saline/Ottawa County line. The storm was also watched on live TV at the office via storm chaser cameras. The tornado was very well formed and was likely very strong; however, it did not impact many structures so the subsequent rating was EF-1. The extent of the damage was to a gas transfer station along K-18 near Solomon Road in rural Ottawa County. Near the station some power poles were snapped and laying across the roadway. Aside from the gas transfer station a few farmsteads were impacted, with the main damage being some damaged outbuildings. The tornado crossed the Ottawa/Dickinson County line near Barn Road and 3200 Road, and eventually dissipated in an open field in near Manchester.

A volatile environment developed across Kansas that featured extremely strong wind shear and sufficient buoyancy (called convective energy) to allow supercell thunderstorms to develop ahead of a dry line across central Kansas. The supercells produced strong to violent tornadoes across central Kansas and tracked into parts of the NWS Topeka county warning area during the evening. A handful of tornadoes were reported along with some large hail reports with the most numerous reports of large hail occurring after midnight.