EF3 tornado in Kingman County, Kansas

Tornado May 19, 2012 · Kingman County, Kansas

EF3

Rating

9.7 mi

Whole path

75 yd

Path width

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Harper County → Kingman County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

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 EF3 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF3 is severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, consistent with estimated gusts of 136–165 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

This is the tornado that moved out of Harper county and it continued to cause devastation to wind turbines, power lines, and oil tanks.

The wider storm

A significant tornado outbreak occurred across portions of Kingman and Harper counties. In all, nine tornadoes touched down on this day, the strongest being rated as and EF-3. Many other counties experienced large hail and strong winds.

Began near Spivey (37.3855, -98.1409).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF3 Harper County EF1 Kingman County EF0 Kingman County EF0 Kingman County EF0 Kingman County EF0 Kingman County EF0 Kingman County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 372116. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

Tornadoes near your address

See every tornado that passed near a place you know, measured to its path.