One supercell thunderstorm developed over Ottawa county around 5pm on May 25th. That storm went on to produce 4 documented tornadoes including a 26 mile long violent EF4 tornado that was on the ground for around 90 minutes.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
The episode as NWS TOP wrote it up.
One supercell thunderstorm developed over Ottawa county around 5pm on May 25th. That storm went on to produce 4 documented tornadoes including a 26 mile long violent EF4 tornado that was on the ground for around 90 minutes. Most of the damage was done in Dickinson County Kansas where 20-25 homes were damaged or destroyed. The supercell thunderstorm continued into Morris and Wabaunsee counties where it produced 2 more tornadoes before dissipating that evening.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Topeka, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 25, 3:00 PM CST, 2 hours 8 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION National Weather Service Topeka KS 400 PM CDT WED MAY 25 2016 .SHORT TERM...(This Evening through Thursday) Issued at 317 PM CDT WED MAY 25 2016 Complicated forecast across the area this evening and tonight. First the outflow from earlier convection laid out a boundary that made it just south of Interstate 70 early this afternoon. Latest regional loop from radar shows the boundary washing out since 1930Z. Latest objective surface analysis shows a surface low over southwest and south central Kansas with an inverted trough extending northeast into central Kansas. Dryline was located from the surface low south across western Oklahoma. High resolution models continue to show some differing scenarios with convection firing late this afternoon near the surface low and diffuse boundary, then moving northeast toward our southern counties near Abilene around 7 PM then they vary with the placement of scattered storms through the evening hours. The low level jet will be veered to the southwest and best lift associated with it looks to focus across far northeast Kansas into southern Iowa and western Missouri. MLCAPE varies at 20Z from around 1000 J/kg to 1500 J/kg with shear of 25 to 35 kts. With the absence of any forcing aloft this afternoon will likely need to monitor boundaries for development late this afternoon and evening. Shear, instability and moisture will be conducive for some strong to severe storms with large hail and damaging winds the main hazards. A tornado or two is also possible over portions of central Kansas during the late afternoon and evening. Thursday, The upper trough will move east across the Rockies while ejecting out waves through the morning into the afternoon hours. If the convection across northeast Kansas and western Missouri occurs there would be an outflow boundary across the area for focus later in the afternoon hours. The surface low will reform across southwest Kansas with a frontal boundary extending northeast across north central Kansas and into northeast Nebraska in the afternoon hours. Latest model runs show shear around 30 to 40 kts by late afternoon and good instability along with good moisture transport into north central Kansas. Storms should develop along the frontal boundary and move northeast across the area in the late afternoon hours. .LONG TERM...(Thursday Night through Wednesday) Issued at 317 PM CDT WED MAY 25 2016 Challenging forecast in trying to differentiate enhanced convective chances with discerable shortwaves. How exactly convection will evolve on Thursday afternoon and evening is uncertain given the many convective scenarios forecast by the different short-range models. Depending on whether an MCS develops Thursday afternoon, expect another surge of strong to severe convection to affect portions of central and eastern KS during the evening hours. While low-level shear strengthens during the evening, 0-6 km shear decreases so messy convective modes are expected. After that, there is a decent chance for quiet weather from late Thursday night until mid Friday afternoon, when an apparent weak shortwave trough and peak heating may set off addtional thunderstorms over eastern KS. While the shear does not look as strong, there is enough that organized convection may again occur with possible severe weather. More significant shortwave trough and associated surface low then cross the area late Friday night and early Saturday with more chances of thunderstorms. Then a more stagnant flow pattern sets up for later in the weekend through at least the middle of next week. While winds aloft and vertical wind shear weaken considerably, decreasing organized severe thunderstorm chances, slow moving upper troughs interacting with an environment with little convective inhibition will produce periods of thunderstorms. Given the expected slow movement of the storms, and repeated heavy rains in some areas, areas of flooding are possible. && .AVIATION...(For the 18Z TAFS through 18Z Thursday Afternoon) Issued at 1257 PM CDT WED MAY 25 2016 Outflow boundary from earlier thunderstorms along the Kansas river at noon time, very near TAF sites. Ceilings should rise to VFR shortly, while winds could be variable for the next 2 or 3 hours, particularly at TOP and FOE before the boundary moves back north. Isolated thunderstorms developing over central KS late this afternoon may move through or near TAF sites by early evening so have VCTS for a few hours during that time. Later tonight, moist airmass could allow fog to form. && .TOP Watches/Warnings/Advisories... NONE. && SHORT TERM...53 LONG TERM...GDP AVIATION...GDP
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 954 AM CDT WED MAY 25 2016 KSZ008>012-020>024-026-034>040-054>056-058-059-261500- REPUBLIC-WASHINGTON-MARSHALL-NEMAHA-BROWN-CLOUD-CLAY-RILEY- POTTAWATOMIE-JACKSON-JEFFERSON-OTTAWA-DICKINSON-GEARY-MORRIS- WABAUNSEE-SHAWNEE-DOUGLAS-LYON-OSAGE-FRANKLIN-COFFEY-ANDERSON- 954 AM CDT WED MAY 25 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EAST CENTRAL...NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST KANSAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE IN NORTHEAST KANSAS THROUGH THIS MORNING. SEVERE STORMS ARE NOT EXPECTED THIS MORNING. THUNDERSTORMS WILL PROBABLY DEVELOP LATE THIS AFTERNOON IN CENTRAL KANSAS AND MOVE INTO THE FORECAST AREA BETWEEN 4 PM AND 7 PM. IF STORMS DEVELOP...THERE IS A GOOD CHANCE FOR A FEW OF THEM TO BECOME SEVERE. LARGE HAIL AND LOCALLY DAMAGING WINDS WILL BE THE PRIMARY THREAT BUT A TORNADO CANNOT BE RULED OUT. THE GREATEST SEVERE POTENTIAL WILL BE BETWEEN 5 PM AND 9 PM. THUNDERSTORMS MAY CONTINUE TO DEVELOP THROUGH THE OVERNIGHT HOURS...ESPECIALLY IN NORTHERN KANSAS. THE STRONGEST STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS...ALONG WITH HEAVY RAINFALL AND FLOODING. MINOR RIVER FLOODING IS EXPECTED ON THE REPUBLICAN RIVER AT CLAY CENTER AND THE SOLOMON RIVER AT NILES. MODERATE RIVER FLOODING IS FORECAST FOR GLASCO ON THE SOLOMON RIVER AND THE SALT CREEK AT ADA. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY. THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED ACROSS THE OUTLOOK AREA THURSDAY THROUGH EARLY NEXT WEEK. THE BEST POTENTIAL FOR ANY SEVERE WEATHER CENTERS ON THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS CAN BE EXPECTED WITH THE STRONGEST STORMS AND THERE IS SOME POTENTIAL FOR TORNADO DEVELOPMENT THROUGH EARLY EVENING. A FEW SEVERE STORMS ARE ONCE AGAIN POSSIBLE FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS WOULD BE THE MAIN HAZARDS. WITH SEVERAL ROUNDS OF HEAVY RAIN EXPECTED THIS WEEK...FLOODING WILL REMAIN A RISK THROUGHOUT THE WEEK. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. && MORE DETAILED INFORMATION CAN BE ACCESSED AT... HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/TOP/SITREP
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
349 PM CDT WED MAY 25 2016
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1041 PM TSTM WND DMG 2 SSE MORROWVILLE 39.82N 97.16W
05/24/2016 WASHINGTON KS PUBLIC
POLE BARN BLOWN OVER. 3-4 INCH DIAMETER TREE LIMBS
SNAPPED.
&&
BAERGPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
607 PM CDT WED MAY 25 2016
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0606 PM FUNNEL CLOUD WSW CULVER 38.97N 97.76W
05/25/2016 OTTAWA KS TRAINED SPOTTER
4 MILES NORTH OF WILLARD
&&
BAERGThe Topeka radar (KTWX), 135 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:08 UTC.
5 tornado, 4 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
Off duty NWS employee reported a brief tornado that lasted around 90 seconds in an open field.
The 26 mile long violent tornado began 1-2 miles NNE of Niles Kansas and destroyed 2 homes in Ottawa county before crossing into Dickinson county. The tornado produced high end EF3 damage in extreme eastern Ottawa county. Only 3 minor injuries were reported but none requiring a trip to the hospital.
The long track violent tornado began 1-2 miles NNE of Niles Kansas and destroyed 2 homes in Ottawa county before crossing into Dickinson county north of Solomon. The tornado tracked 2-3 miles north of the city of Abilene following a meandering path approximately east along 2700 avenue in Dickinson county before veering southeast and crossing interstate 70 approx. 2 miles west of the city of Chapman. The tornado then moved ESE and then east along a path around 1 mile south of Chapman destroying 1 farmstead and several other homes in the area. The worst damage was done to a farmstead 1 mile southwest of Chapman along old highway 40 where the home was destroyed and all outbuildings were blown away. The sub floor of the home was removed from a bolted sill plate and the poured concrete foundation was cracked on the south side exposing the rebar where the strongest forces from the lifting structure occurred as it was being removed and blown away likely occurred. Much of the brick facade of the home did remain where it fell around the structure however so the area was not swept clean. Winds approaching 200 mph were likely in this area while a woman home at the time took shelter in the basement and was ok with only superficial injuries. The approximate number of minor injuries was 5 reported to NWS however none required a hospital visit. Photos of the damage are available off of the NWS damage assessment toolkit website at https://apps.dat.noaa.gov/StormDamage/DamageViewer/ .
Just north of Detroit, Kansas.
The 3rd tornado of the day that was spawned by the long lived supercell occurred just east of Dwight and tracked ESE doing damage to barns and power poles along the path. The track is based on local storm reports and radar data with input from Emergency Managers.
The 4th and final tornado of the day was produced by the same long lived supercell thunderstorm that produced all other tornadoes. This tornado did damage to one structure and to power poles along its path. The tornado was reported to be on the ground at K-99 and K-31 by law enforcement and it dissipated around one half mile east of this location.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kansas in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Kansas, 2016Warnings in Kansas, May 2016
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: 626908, 635836, 635837, 635838, 626910, 626912, 635839, 626926, 626933.