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EF3 tornado in Sedgwick County, Kansas

Tornado May 6, 2015 · Sedgwick County, Kansas

EF3
Rating
16.5 mi
Whole path
125 yd
Path width
1
Injury
$630K
Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 125 yards (0.07 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

Tornado touched down in an open field and quickly grew in strength as it moved slightly east of north. The tornado damaged 3 center pivot irrigation systems and caused damage at a farmstead by demolishing a single car detached garage and ripped off a carport that was attached to a barn. As the tornado moved on to the north, it encountered another farmstead. One house was directly in the path of the tornado and was completely leveled with nothing left standing (DI2 DOD9). The home was built in the late 1800's and was not secured to the foundation. Another home just to the northwest of the main home sustained significant damage to the southeast corner by taking down two small sections of the home. Another barn on the property was a complete loss and the trees experienced significant limb loss and some debarkation. One minor injury was reported. The person affected refused treatment. The tornado was 125 yards wide. This tornado moved into Harvey County.

The wider storm

A modest dryline developed across South Central and Central Kansas during the afternoon hours of May 6th, 2015. Moderate instability and shear combined to produce supercell thunderstorms across South Central Kansas and Central Kansas.

The supercell thunderstorms produced some large hail, but also produced five tornadoes across the area. One of the tornadoes was rated an EF3, with another rated an EF2.

Began near Mt Hope (37.8404, -97.6507).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 565780. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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