Tornadoes in Kansas, May 26, 1996

Name: Tornadoes in Kansas, May 26, 1996
Start: 1996-05-26T15:03
End: 1996-05-26T15:37
Location: Kansas

May 26, 1996 · NWS DDC · 2 events in 2 counties and zones

flood irrigation pipe scattered about.

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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $300,000
Crop damage: $140,000
Events: 2

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 DDC wrote it up.

2 irrigation sprinklers destroyed...fertilizer tanks carried over 1 mile...2 houses damaged...fence destroyed...trees uprooted...hay bales tossed...30 foot radio tower blown down...wheat plants pulled up...farm building heavily damaged...flood irrigation pipe scattered about.

The radar

The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 105 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:00 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Seward

When: May 26, 3:03 PM CST to 3:28 PM CST
Where: Seward County, Liberal to 11 mi S of Sublette
Rating: F2
Path length: 14 mi
Path width: 450 yd
Property damage: $200,000
Crop damage: $140,000
Coordinates: 37.200, -100.930

Tornado, Haskell

When: May 26, 3:28 PM CST to 3:37 PM CST
Where: Haskell County, Sublette to 6 mi ESE of Sublette
Rating: F2
Path length: 6 mi
Path width: 150 yd
Property damage: $100,000
Coordinates: 37.400, -100.850

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

Every storm in Kansas in 1996 Every state in 1996 This day in weather history The tornado archive for Kansas, 1996 Warnings in Kansas, May 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: 5572636, 5572637.