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EF4 tornado in Leavenworth County, Kansas

Tornado May 28, 2019 · Leavenworth County, Kansas

EF4

Rating

39.8 mi

Whole path

1,760 yd

Path width

Injuries

$26.0M

Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 1,760 yards (1.00 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF4 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF4 is devastating damage: well-built houses levelled, consistent with estimated gusts of 166–200 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 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.

The wider storm

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.

Began near Linwood (38.9689, -95.1080).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 830798. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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