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F0 tornado in Sedgwick County, Kansas

Tornado April 5, 1999 · Sedgwick County, Kansas

Rating

2.0 mi

Path length

50 yd

Path width

$2.0M

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

NOAA recorded where this tornado touched down but not where it lifted, so it appears as a point. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F0 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F0 meant light damage: shingles and siding peeled, gutters torn, branches broken; the scale paired it with winds of 40–72 mph, figures later judged too high, especially toward the top of the scale, and revised downward in the Enhanced Fujita scale. Ratings then, as now, came from the damage.

What the National Weather Service wrote

The weak tornado fromed along the gust front of a downburst in East Wichita. Initial touchdown occurred just west of the East Harry/South Oliver intersection. The tornado moved northeast to the Kellogg/Oliver intersection, then almost due north to just east of the Central/Oliver intersection where it lifted. The tornado inflicted extensive tree damage, destroyed two portable grade school classrooms, caved in the ceiling of a supermarket, and caused extensive roof damage to homes and businesses.

The wider storm

Synoptic-scale high winds of 39-53kts with gusts to 63kts ripped across Central Kansas from mid-morning thru late afternoon. The high winds tore the roof off a modular building around 9:30 am at St. Francis Academy, 5 miles west of Salina. Building was unoccupied at time of the event. Tractor-trailers were overturned along I-70 in Saline County. In Russell County, several power poles were blown down causing power outages in and around Russell. Widespread damage to houses, primarily to roofs and guttering, occurred throughout the county.

Began near Wichita (37.7000, -97.3300).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

F0 Harper County F0 Sedgwick County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5686507. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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