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EF0 tornado in Ottawa County, Kansas

Tornado May 25, 2016 · Ottawa County, Kansas

EF0

Rating

0.5 mi

Path length

25 yd

Path width

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 25 yards (0.01 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF0 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF0 is light damage: shingles and siding peeled, gutters torn, branches broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 65–85 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

Off duty NWS employee reported a brief tornado that lasted around 90 seconds in an open field.

The wider storm

One supercell thunderstorm developed over Ottawa county around 5pm on May 25th. That storm went on to produce 4 documented tornadoes including a 26 mile long violent EF4 tornado that was on the ground for around 90 minutes. Most of the damage was done in Dickinson County Kansas where 20-25 homes were damaged or destroyed. The supercell thunderstorm continued into Morris and Wabaunsee counties where it produced 2 more tornadoes before dissipating that evening.

Began near Tescott (39.0566, -97.7891).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF4 Ottawa County EF1 Morris County EF1 Wabaunsee County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 626908. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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