Tornadoes · United States · Kansas

1971 tornadoes in Kansas

39 tornadoes touched down in Kansas in 1971, 35 percent below the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

1970 1972 The whole country in 1971

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.

F040 to 72 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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.

Every tornado in Kansas in 1971

February 18 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
February 18	2:45 PM CST	F1	Haskell	6.5	27
February 18	4:15 PM CST	F1	Hodgeman	0.1	10

May 5 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 5	5:40 PM CDT	F2	Cherokee	1.0	440			$500 to $5,000

May 9 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 9	5:00 PM CDT	F0	Hodgeman	0.2	20
May 9	5:50 PM CDT	F3	Edwards	9.0	200			$50,000 to $500,000

May 11 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 11	5:15 PM CDT	F0	Cherokee	1.9	167

May 16 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 16	5:55 PM CDT	F0	Haskell	0.2	10

May 17 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 17	8:30 PM CDT	F1	Lane	2.0	100	$50 to $500
May 17	9:30 PM CDT	F2	Trego	19.1	10	$50,000 to $500,000
May 17	12:05 AM CDT	F1	Clay	1.9	10	$500 to $5,000

May 18 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 18	2:45 PM CDT	F2	Leavenworth to MO	55.4	100		6	$5,000 to $50,000

May 21 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 21	2:40 PM CDT	F1	Morris	2.0	467

May 30 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 30	6:25 PM CDT	F2	Smith	7.1	220	$5,000 to $50,000
May 30	7:15 PM CDT	F2	Jewell	1.5	200	$5,000 to $50,000
May 30	7:30 PM CDT	F1	Mitchell	1.5	30	$500 to $5,000

May 31 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
May 31	6:30 PM CDT	F1	Cheyenne	0.5	20		$500 to $5,000
May 31	8:00 PM CDT	F1	Johnson	0.9	100		$500 to $5,000
May 31	9:30 PM CDT	F2	Marion	6.2	200		$50,000 to $500,000
May 31	9:45 PM CDT	F1	Marion	0.9	200		$5,000 to $50,000
May 31	10:45 PM CDT	F1	Allen	2.0	300	3	$5,000 to $50,000

June 2 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 2	12:15 PM CDT	F0	Sedgwick	0.4	233			$50 to $500

June 4 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 4	11:35 PM CDT	F1	Jewell	1.5	50			$500 to $5,000

June 6 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 6	9:15 PM CDT	F3	Morris	2.0	200			$50,000 to $500,000
June 6	10:25 PM CDT	F1	Shawnee	0.2	10

June 9 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
June 9	2:12 PM MDT	F1	Sherman	0.5	77		$5,000 to $50,000
June 9	9:30 PM CDT	F1	Ottawa	0.2	200
June 9	10:00 PM CDT	F2	Rice	3.6	440	1	$5,000 to $50,000
June 9	10:30 PM CDT	F2	Ness	7.7	117	1	$50,000 to $500,000

June 10 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 10	4:35 PM MDT	F1	Hamilton	0.4	10

June 13 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 13	6:25 PM CDT	F2	McPherson	0.5	300		1	$5,000 to $50,000

June 22 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 22	3:25 PM CDT	F1	Graham	0.4	10

July 3 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 3	5:45 PM CDT	F1	Rawlins	2.0	10

July 9 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 9	3:15 PM CDT	F2	Lyon	4.9	10

July 27 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 27	6:45 PM CDT	F1	Finney	0.1	10

August 19 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 19	7:32 PM CDT	F1	Scott	1.5	100

October 17 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
October 17	8:45 PM CDT	F3	Logan	0.1	10
October 17	10:07 PM CDT	F3	Rawlins	3.8	440		$5,000 to $50,000
October 17	11:25 PM CDT	F2	Finney	5.6	127	7	$5,000 to $50,000
October 17	12:15 AM CDT	F2	Cheyenne	0.5	100		$5,000 to $50,000

Nearby

Every tornado in Kansas since 1950 Warnings in force in Kansas The live radar over Kansas

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.