Tornado, Thomas
- When
- July 21, 4:23 PM CST to 4:50 PM CST
- Where
- Thomas County, Colby to 5 mi N of Colby
- Rating
- F1
- Path length
- 3 mi
- Path width
- 100 yd
- Property damage
- $37,000
- Crop damage
- $10,000
- Coordinates
- 39.470, -101.020
Tornado in Kansas, July 21, 1996
WELL PHOTOGRAPHED AND VIDEOGRAPHED TORNADO PICKED UP LARGE AMOUNTS OF DIRT FROM FIELD WHERE FARMER HAD BEEN PLOWING. 5 MILES.
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
- $37,000
- Crop damage
- $10,000
- Events
- 1
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.
What happened
The episode as NWS GLD wrote it up.
WELL PHOTOGRAPHED AND VIDEOGRAPHED TORNADO PICKED UP LARGE AMOUNTS OF DIRT FROM FIELD WHERE FARMER HAD BEEN PLOWING. TORNADO FIRST MOVED EAST FOR ABOUT 1/2 MILE AND THEN TURNED TO MOVE SLOWLY WEST SOUTHWEST FOR 2.5 MILES. TORNADO DISSIPATED JUST AFTER CROSSING STATE HIGHWAY 25. TORNADO DAMAGED CORN FIELD, IRRIGATION SPRINKLER SYSTEM, AND THREE WHEEL ALL TERRAIN CYCLE. TORNADO COULD BE SEEN FROM 20-30 MILES AWAY.
The radar
The Goodland radar (KGLD), 60 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:25 UTC.
Event by event
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
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.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Flash Flood in Missouri, July 21, 1996
- Hail in North Dakota, July 21, 1996
- Hail in Minnesota, July 21, 1996
- Hail in South Dakota, July 21, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Tennessee, July 21, 1996
- Flash Flood in Tennessee, July 21 to 22, 1996
- Damaging Wind in South Dakota, July 21, 1996
- Damaging Wind in South Dakota, July 21, 1996
- Hail in Minnesota, July 21, 1996
- Hail in Kansas, July 21, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Kansas, July 21, 1996
- Tornado in Indiana, July 21, 1996
More
Every storm in Kansas in 1996Every state in 1996This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Kansas, 1996Warnings in Kansas, July 1996
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: 5558728.