Tornado, Cowley
- When
- May 17, 3:05 PM CST
- Where
- Cowley County
- Rating
- F2
- Path length
- 0.5 mi
- Path width
- 100 yd
- Property damage
- $2.5 million
- Coordinates
- 37.070, -97.050
Tornadoes and Hail in Kansas, May 17, 1981
6 hail, 4 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $2.8 million
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 10
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
Event by event
6 hail, 4 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
Tornado, Harper
- When
- May 17, 3:15 PM CST
- Where
- Harper County
- Rating
- F1
- Path length
- 7.2 mi
- Path width
- 100 yd
- Property damage
- $250,000
- Coordinates
- 37.350, -98.080
Hail, Harper
- When
- May 17, 3:19 PM CST
- Where
- Harper County
- Measured
- 1.75 in hail
- Coordinates
- 37.380, -98.130
Hail, Cowley
- When
- May 17, 3:20 PM CST
- Where
- Cowley County
- Measured
- 1.75 in hail
- Coordinates
- 37.250, -96.980
Tornado, Thomas
- When
- May 17, 3:56 PM CST
- Where
- Thomas County
- Rating
- F0
- Path length
- 0.2 mi
- Path width
- 17 yd
- Property damage
- $3,000
- Coordinates
- 39.200, -100.850
Hail, Sedgwick
- When
- May 17, 5:30 PM CST
- Where
- Sedgwick County
- Measured
- 1.75 in hail
- Coordinates
- 37.620, -97.270
Tornado, Cowley
- When
- May 17, 5:42 PM CST
- Where
- Cowley County
- Rating
- F1
- Path length
- 0.2 mi
- Path width
- 50 yd
- Property damage
- $3,000
- Coordinates
- 37.220, -96.750
Hail, Sedgwick
- When
- May 17, 6:10 PM CST
- Where
- Sedgwick County
- Measured
- 0.75 in hail
- Coordinates
- 37.330, -97.650
Hail, Butler
- When
- May 17, 6:39 PM CST
- Where
- Butler County
- Measured
- 1.75 in hail
- Coordinates
- 37.520, -97.020
Hail, Butler
- When
- May 17, 6:39 PM CST
- Where
- Butler County
- Measured
- 1.75 in hail
- Coordinates
- 37.530, -96.650
What these are
- Tornado
- A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.
- Hail
- Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
More
Every storm in Kansas in 1981Every state in 1981This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Kansas, 1981
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 10022622, 10022623, 10022624, 10022625, 10022626, 10022627, 10022628, 10022629, 10022630, 10022631.