Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 1959

F2 tornado, Labette County, Kansas, September 27, 1959

This F2 tornado ran 7.2 miles across Labette County on September 27, 1959, touching down at 7:00 PM GMT-5 and reaching 440 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 mph

    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 mphthis tornado

    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
F2
Date
September 27, 1959
Touchdown
7:00 PM GMT-5 (00:00 UTC)
Path length
7.2 miles (11.6 km)
Path width
440 yards (402 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Labette County
Touchdown point
37.050, -95.200
Lift-off point
37.120, -95.100
Record number
549

The air that afternoon

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Fort Smith Muni, AR (KFSM), 00:00Z

0.0 hours before the tornado, 210 km from the path. September 28, 1959.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Fort Smith Muni, AR at 00:00Z on 1959-09-28Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2917 joules per kilogram, CIN -42, lifted condensation level 1257 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Fort Smith Muni, AR at 00:00Z on 1959-09-28The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 127 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 35 knots.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
2917 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-42 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3396 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1257 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
127 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
273 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
2.2
Supercell composite
15.4
0-3 km lapse rate
7.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Fort Smith Muni, AR (KFSM), 12:00Z

12.0 hours after it, 210 km from the path. September 28, 1959.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Fort Smith Muni, AR at 12:00Z on 1959-09-28Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2764 joules per kilogram, CIN -122, lifted condensation level 763 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Fort Smith Muni, AR at 12:00Z on 1959-09-28The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 121 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 30 knots.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
2764 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-122 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3469 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
763 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
121 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
170 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.0
Supercell composite
5.6
0-3 km lapse rate
5.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1959 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of September 27, 1959

6 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
September 277:00 PM GMT-5F4Craig, OK to KS20.444011$5,000 to $50,000
September 278:23 PM GMT-5F1Chariton, MO4.150$500 to $5,000
September 278:23 PM GMT-5F2Howard, MO6.450$5,000 to $50,000
September 279:00 PM GMT-5F1Polk, MO0.2101$500 to $5,000
September 279:30 PM GMT-5F2McDonough, IL9.42001$50,000 to $500,000
September 279:55 PM GMT-5F0Callaway, MO0.110$50 to $500

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.