EF2 Tornado — Republic, Kansas

2015-05-06 · near Kackley, Republic, Kansas

Event narrative

This tornado initially developed across extreme southwest Republic county before tracking northeast across the county. The worst damage was done to a ethanol plant just southwest of Scandia and to a home just north of Scandia where EF2 damage was noted. Otherwise, while having a wide damage path that approached 1/2 mile at times the damage was in the EF0 to EF1 range to structures in its path. This tornado was visually wide however damage pattern suggested that the wide vortex was likely not entirely on the ground at all times and that smaller vortices were likely responsible for more extensive tree damage noted from time to time within the larger damage path. It is also surmised that this tornado was actually the result of a 2-3 occlusions which would mean that this tornado could have actually been 2-3 different tornadoes along its path and life cycle however lack of damage indicators and inconclusive radar data keep this a hypothesis. The tornado damage path did extend into Nebraska.

Wider weather episode

Approximately 14 tornadoes were documented and confirmed via reports and radar data all occurring during the late afternoon and evening of May 6th. The tornadoes impacted Republic, Cloud, Washington and Clay Counties. In fact, 7 tornadoes alone occurred in Republic County. This was the largest one day outbreak of tornadoes in the past 10 years for NWS Topeka. The strongest tornado was an EF3 that destroyed a home south of Munden in Republic county. The longest was over 25 miles in length also across Republic county.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (39.6838, -97.8974)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 565934. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.