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EF1 tornado in Ellis County, Kansas

Tornado May 18, 2013 · Ellis County, Kansas

EF1

Rating

1.7 mi

Path length

50 yd

Path width

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 50 yards (0.03 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 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 small tornado damaged some power poles and trees.

The wider storm

High instability was in place as an upper level wind maxima moved out of the base of a deep upper trough in the west.

Began near Ellis (38.8509, -99.5849).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF4 Pawnee County EF1 Pawnee County EF0 Ellis County EF0 Pawnee County EF0 Ness County EF0 Trego County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 457690. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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