EF2 tornado in Rice County, Kansas

Tornado April 14, 2012 · Rice County, Kansas

EF2

Rating

50.3 mi

Whole path

400 yd

Path width

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Rice County → Ellsworth County → McPherson County → Saline County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 400 yards (0.23 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 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

Gutters stripped from house and shingle damage. Five power poles snapped and launched into a wheat field. Two truck axles laying in a wheat field from an unknown vehicle. Several large tree trunks snapped and twisted. EF2 tornado rating. Numerous large cottonwood tree trunks snapped. This tornado moved into Ellsworth county.

The wider storm

A significant severe weather outbreak with several damaging long track tornadoes occurred. The strongest tornado moved through portions of central Kansas and produced EF-4 damage at one home stead. Two other tornadoes touched down producing EF-3 damage in south central Kansas.

Began near Lyons (38.4060, -98.2570).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 366377. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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