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EF3 tornado in Nemaha County, Kansas

Tornado May 21, 2019 · Nemaha County, Kansas

EF3
Rating
5.9 mi
Path length
300 yd
Path width
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 300 yards (0.17 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 short-lived but powerful tornado tracked through northern Nemaha County and damaged several structures. The most severe damage occurred to a home towards the middle of the tornado's path, where low end EF-3 damage was noted. Damage to trees and power lines also occurred. The tornado lifted about 200 yards south of the Nebraska state line.

The wider storm

Supercell t-storms developed quickly along an arc from north central east southeast through northeast Kansas during the late afternoon and early evening on Tuesday May 21st. The supercells occurred in an environment conducive to rapid low level rotation and tornado formation. At least 6 tornadoes were documented between 4pm and 9 pm during that evening. Some were longer track tornadoes with the strongest being rated an EF3.

Began near Bern (39.9243, -95.9335).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF2 Jackson CountyEF1 Dickinson CountyEF0 Shawnee CountyEF0 Nemaha CountyEFU Dickinson County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 818322. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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