EF4 Tornado — Leavenworth, Kansas

2019-05-28 · near Linwood, Leavenworth, Kansas

Event narrative

This tornado is a continuation of the tornado that formed in Douglas County and crossed the Kansas River into Leavenworth County. As the tornado crossed the Kansas River it became very strong and wide. It produced EF-3 damage to residences along the Kansas River. When the tornado impacted Linwood, Kansas it produced isolated EF-3 and EF-4 damage. Preliminary estimates for damage exceeded 26 million dollars, per the Leavenworth Times ( https://www.leavenworthtimes.com/news/20190531/tornado-damage-exceeds-26-million ). Despite the EF-4 rating and widespread devastation to rural areas near Lawrence and Linwood no serious injuries occurred. This was the strongest tornado to impact the Kansas City metro area since 2003.

Wider weather episode

In the evening of May 28 a strong tornado formed in Douglas County and grew to a wide EF-4 tornado. This is the same storm that caused the storm chasing group to fly off the road just south of Lawrence, Kansas. Once the tornado crossed into Leavenworth County it impacted mainly rural residences, but also impact the city of Linwood. It was here that isolated EF-3 and EF-4 damage was noted. The tornado continued on to the Bonner Springs area before it dissipated just southwest of Kansas Speedway and I-70.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (38.9689, -95.1080)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 830798. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.