EF3 tornado in Ford County, Kansas

Tornado May 24, 2016 · Ford County, Kansas

EF3

Rating

4.6 mi

Whole path

150 yd

Path width

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 150 yards (0.09 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 tornado developed and intensified very rapidly. It was witnessed by an off duty NWS employee along with numerous chasers, law enforcement personnel and storm spotters. It developed just southwest of the county landfill and destroyed the landfills office and shop, producing EF3 damage at point. Fortunately no one was at the facility at the time as it had closed for the day.

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 (ddc)dodge City Arpt (37.8614, -100.0489).

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 641244. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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