Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 1955

F0 tornado, Sumner County, Kansas, May 27, 1955

This F0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Sumner County on May 27, 1955, touching down at 10:15 PM GMT-5 and reaching 10 yards wide. It killed nobody.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. F040 to 72 mphthis tornado

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. F173 to 112 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. F2113 to 157 mph

    Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

  4. F3158 to 206 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. F4207 to 260 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. F5261 to 318 mph

    Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

  7. Unrated

    The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

The record

Rating
F0, estimated from the damage record rather than surveyed
Date
May 27, 1955
Touchdown
10:15 PM GMT-5 (03:15 UTC)
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
10 yards (9 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Sumner County
Touchdown point
37.230, -97.470
Record number
279

The surface observations

Wichita (ICT), 47 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
02:00 UTC736320° 6 kt1002.4
03:00 UTC6254290° 35 ktTSRA
04:00 UTC575420° 20 kt1004.1
05:00 UTC5752320° 10 kt1005.8

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1955 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 27, 1955

24 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 273:30 PM GMT-5F0Phillips, KS8.010
May 274:00 PM GMT-5F1Lincoln, MO0.210under $50
May 277:27 PM GMT-5F0Ford, KS0.110
May 277:30 PM GMT-5F2Anderson, KS27.010
May 278:15 PM GMT-5F0Ford, KS0.110$5,000 to $50,000
May 278:15 PM GMT-5F0Ford, KS0.110
May 279:25 PM GMT-5F1Kingman, KS0.110$5,000 to $50,000
May 279:30 PM GMT-5F1Harper, KS0.110
May 279:40 PM GMT-5F0Pottawatomie, KS0.110
May 2710:00 PM GMT-5F1Cass, MO0.210$500 to $5,000
May 2710:00 PM GMT-5F0Grant, OK0.1400$50 to $500
May 2710:15 PM GMT-5F0Butler, KS0.110
May 2710:15 PM GMT-5F0Butler, KS0.110
May 2710:15 PM GMT-5F0Sumner, KS0.110
May 2710:15 PM GMT-5F0Harvey, KS0.110
May 2710:15 PM GMT-5F0Harvey, KS0.110
May 2710:15 PM GMT-5F1Harvey, KS0.110$5,000 to $50,000
May 2710:15 PM GMT-5F0Sedgwick, KS0.110
May 2710:15 PM GMT-5F0Sedgwick, KS0.110
May 2710:15 PM GMT-5F0Cowley, KS0.110
May 2710:15 PM GMT-5F0Cowley, KS0.110
May 2710:15 PM GMT-5F1Grant, OK22.4300$500 to $5,000
May 2710:30 PM GMT-5F0Kay, OK0.110
May 2711:00 PM GMT-5F0Kay, OK0.110

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.