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EF2 tornado in Ford County, Kansas

Tornado May 24, 2016 · Ford County, Kansas

EF2
Rating
16.7 mi
Whole path
1,800 yd
Path width
1
Injury

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 1,800 yards (1.02 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

During the initial stages of development, there was DOW data on this tornado. It intensified from 40 meters/second to 90 meters/second in a span of 21 seconds that lasted less than a minute at those velocities. This would have been enough to produce EF5 damage briefly, based on those velocities. As the tornado moved north into a housing addition just west of Dodge City, it showed multiple vortex characteristics and did EF2 Damage. One person was seriously hurt in a home that was heavily damaged. The tornado eventually went north-northwest and crossed into Hodgeman County at 18:12 CST as it turned northeast. As it crossed into Hodgeman County, it tossed a partially filled stock tank to the west, about a mile and an half from the original location in far northern Ford County.

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 (37.6999, -100.0935).

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 641029. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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