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EF2 tornado in Saline County, Kansas

Tornado October 6, 2016 · Saline County, Kansas

EF2
Rating
0.2 mi
Path length
60 yd
Path width
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 60 yards (0.03 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

A barn was demolished and debris was strewn to the east. There was also damage to a few trees.

The wider storm

An unseasonably warm moist airmass was in place across the southern and central Plains on Thursday, October 6th, 2016. Storms developed over southeast and south central Kansas during the early afternoon hours along a weak outflow boundary. These storms produced three tornadoes over Cowley County, and with another brief tornado near Strother Field. Another very brief tornado touchdown was noted in Labette County near Bartlett. Straight line wind damage from one of the storms occurred in Allen County. Additional storms developed along a cold front that was surging east. A supercell thunderstorm developed along this feature and produced two tornadoes in eastern Saline County. In addition to the tornadoes, numerous rounds of storms resulted in very heavy rainfall across mainly southeast Kansas causing flash flooding. Several water rescues were performed along with homes being flooded in Allen County.

Began near Mentor (38.7407, -97.5156).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF3 Saline CountyEF1 Cowley CountyEF1 Cowley CountyEF0 Labette CountyEF0 Labette CountyEF0 Cowley County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 656411. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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