EF2 tornado in Ford County, Kansas

Tornado May 24, 2016 · Ford County, Kansas

EF2

Rating

6.6 mi

Whole path

550 yd

Path width

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 550 yards (0.31 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 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

Visually this tornado appeared to be much stronger, perhaps strong enough to produce EF4 damage. Damage was done to several irrigation pivot sprinklers and to a farm house (that was on the edge of the circulation).

The wider storm

Severe thunderstorms erupted during the late afternoon ahead of a dry line. Numerous tornado producing supercell thunderstorms were observed. Dodge City, although with parts damaged by a tornado, escaped a major disaster as tornadoes near that location moved north and northwest, instead of moving northeast (as dictated by the upper steering winds).

Began near Dodge City (37.6460, -100.0988).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 641022. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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