EF3 tornado in Seward County, Kansas

Tornado November 16, 2015 · Seward County, Kansas

EF3

Rating

51.3 mi

Whole path

1,900 yd

Path width

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 1,900 yards (1.08 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 very large tornado damaged outbuildins, power poles, pivots, trees, a home, and a hog farm were numerous animals were destroyed. The track of the tornado turned enough that it missed Kismet and Plains. It was also on nearly an identical track to the tornado that occurred on May 24, 2015. This tornado continued into Meade county.

The wider storm

An unusually strong November severe weather episode occurred across the region. A very strong upper level low approached with with strong winds aloft. An unusually high amount of moisture and unseasonably unstable airmass were transported north into Kansas. Storms developed along a dry line but quickly moved off the dryline and became supercellular. Large, long tracked and rapidly moving tornadoes occurred along with instances of large and damaging hail.

Began near Hayne (37.0933, -100.8699).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF2 Lane County EF2 Gray County EF1 Ness County EF1 Trego County EF1 Comanche County EF1 Meade County EF0 Grant County EF0 Finney County EF0 Trego County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 609658. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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