EF3 tornado in Kiowa County, Kansas

Tornado April 14, 2012 · Kiowa County, Kansas

EF3

Rating

92.6 mi

Whole path

1,500 yd

Path width

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Kiowa County → Kiowa County → Edwards County → Stafford County → Stafford County → Rice County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 1,500 yards (0.85 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 strong tornado developed west of Greensburg and became intense by the time it crossed into Edwards county at 842 PM CDT. In Kiowa county it did EF3 damage. Damage was done to outbuildings, trees, power lines, farm machinery and pivot irrigation sprinklers. The ground was scoured in a field near the Edwards/Kiowa county line.

The wider storm

A vigorous upper level system combined with copious moisture and an advancing warm front to produce widespread thunderstorms, some producing tornadoes.

Began near Joy (37.6134, -99.3765).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF1 Pawnee County EF1 Rush County EF1 Clark County EF1 Ford County EF1 Edwards County EF1 Comanche County EF1 Stafford County EF1 Stafford County EF1 Stafford County EF1 Pawnee County EF0 Pratt County EF0 Pratt County EF0 Rush County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 380694. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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