EF3 Tornado — Ottawa, Kansas

2018-05-01 · near Tescott, Ottawa, Kansas

14.2 mi

Path length

880 yds

Path width

Event narrative

A strong tornado developed in far northwestern Saline county Kansas around 744pm CDT and moved northeast into Ottawa County doing damage to several structures including a single family home. The tornado was well documented by numerous chasers and become wide with multiple vortices noted on video. The lack of DIs in this part of Kansas can be a challenge when it comes to rating tornadoes and using the traditional methodology of DIs yielded a EF3 rating. The tornado dissipated just to the southwest of Minneapolis, KS around 810 pm CDT.

Wider weather episode

Supercell T-storms developed across north central Kansas during the late afternoon on May 1. The supercells produced at least 4 documented tornadoes including a strong tornado in Ottawa county near Tescott Kansas. No injuries occurred with any of the storms.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (38.9447, -97.8836)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 743852. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.