Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 1969

F2 tornado, Linn, Miami, Bates and Cass counties, Kansas and Missouri, April 4, 1969

This F2 tornado ran 18.7 miles across Linn, Miami, Bates and Cass counties on April 4, 1969, touching down at 3:00 PM GMT-6 and reaching 200 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 1, and did $50,000 to $500,000 of property damage.

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
April 4, 1969
Touchdown
3:00 PM GMT-6 (21:00 UTC)
Path length
18.7 miles (30.1 km)
Path width
200 yards (183 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
1
Property damage
$50,000 to $500,000
Counties
Linn, Miami, Bates and Cass counties
Touchdown point
38.350, -94.770
Lift-off point
38.520, -94.500
Record number
18

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.

Topeka, KS (KTOP), 12:00Z

9.0 hours before the tornado, 107 km from the path. April 4, 1969.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Topeka, KS at 12:00Z on 1969-04-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 573 joules per kilogram, CIN -36, lifted condensation level 644 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, Topeka, KS at 12:00Z on 1969-04-04The 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 238 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 32 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
573 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-36 J/kg
Surface CAPE
64 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
644 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
238 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
236 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
2.4
0-3 km lapse rate
5.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Topeka, KS (KTOP), 00:00Z

3.0 hours after it, 107 km from the path. April 5, 1969.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Topeka, KS at 00:00Z on 1969-04-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -1, lifted condensation level 554 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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, Topeka, KS at 00:00Z on 1969-04-05The 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 45 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 23 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-1 J/kg
Surface CAPE
105 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
554 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
45 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
112 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1969 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 4, 1969

5 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 410:00 AM GMT-6F2Burleson, TX9.0440$500 to $5,000
April 44:15 PM GMT-6F0Cass, MO0.210under $50
April 45:05 PM GMT-6F1Delaware, OK0.1100$5,000 to $50,000
April 45:20 PM GMT-6F2Johnson, MO0.31501$50,000 to $500,000
April 46:38 PM GMT-6F1Pittsburg, OK0.110$500 to $5,000

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.