Tornadoes · United States · Kansas

1972 tornadoes in Kansas

45 tornadoes touched down in Kansas in 1972, 25 percent below the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody. 1 were rated F4 or EF4 and above.

1971 1973 The whole country in 1972

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 1972

April 19 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 19	5:50 PM CST	F2	Wilson	20.0	100			$5,000 to $50,000

April 26 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 26	2:45 PM CST	F1	Meade	0.1	17

April 30 10 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
April 30	5:00 PM CDT	F3	Lane	13.1	300		$5,000 to $50,000
April 30	5:30 PM CDT	F2	Ellis	10.5	127		$5,000 to $50,000
April 30	6:20 PM CDT	F3	Lane	1.0	50	2	$500 to $5,000
April 30	6:30 PM CDT	F3	Pawnee	17.0	77		$50,000 to $500,000
April 30	6:30 PM CDT	F3	Ness	6.8	440		$500 to $5,000
April 30	7:25 PM CDT	F4	Hodgeman	26.6	77	1	$50,000 to $500,000
April 30	7:38 PM CDT	F3	Ness	2.7	200		$50,000 to $500,000
April 30	9:00 PM CDT	F2	Ellsworth	1.0	30		$5,000 to $50,000
April 30	10:15 PM CDT	F3	Dickinson	1.5	300	6	$50,000 to $500,000
April 30	11:16 PM CDT	F2	Johnson	0.1	233		$50,000 to $500,000

May 9 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 9	4:45 PM CDT	F3	Morton	2.7	400			$5,000 to $50,000

May 22 16 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 22	5:30 PM CDT	F1	Rooks	7.9	30
May 22	6:30 PM CDT	F1	Rooks	0.5	100
May 22	7:00 PM CDT	F2	Hodgeman	9.4	10
May 22	7:00 PM CDT	F1	Hodgeman	7.1	33
May 22	7:00 PM CDT	F1	Hodgeman	0.5	33
May 22	7:05 PM CDT	F1	Hodgeman	0.5	33
May 22	7:05 PM CDT	F1	Hodgeman	0.5	33
May 22	7:05 PM CDT	F1	Hodgeman	5.0	33
May 22	7:10 PM CDT	F1	Ness	0.5	33
May 22	7:15 PM CDT	F2	Hodgeman	5.1	33
May 22	7:15 PM CDT	F1	Hodgeman	0.5	33
May 22	7:39 PM CDT	F2	Ellis	1.0	220
May 22	7:39 PM CDT	F2	Ellis	1.0	220
May 22	7:39 PM CDT	F2	Ellis	1.0	220
May 22	7:40 PM CDT	F2	Ellis	2.0	250	$5,000 to $50,000
May 22	7:42 PM CDT	F2	Ellis	0.5	220

May 26 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 26	3:23 PM CDT	F0	Cloud	0.5	10			$50 to $500

June 24 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 24	5:45 PM CDT	F0	Cloud	0.3	13			$500 to $5,000

July 2 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 2	6:10 PM CDT	F1	Osage	0.5	33

July 6 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 6	7:10 PM MDT	F1	Wallace	0.2	17

July 12 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 12	6:45 PM CDT	F1	Osborne	0.1	23

July 20 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 20	3:00 PM CDT	F0	Sheridan	0.4	50			$500 to $5,000

July 27 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 27	12:45 AM CDT	F2	Rooks	0.5	100		1	$5,000 to $50,000

July 28 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 28	3:35 AM CDT	F2	Haskell	1.3	440		7	$50,000 to $500,000
July 28	4:00 AM CDT	F2	Clark	0.5	50			$5,000 to $50,000

August 2 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 2	6:30 PM CDT	F2	Ellis	0.2	150			$50,000 to $500,000

August 22 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 22	1:15 AM CDT	F1	Johnson	0.1	17			$5,000 to $50,000
August 22	5:00 PM CDT	F2	Stanton	0.1	220			$5,000 to $50,000

August 31 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 31	4:40 PM CDT	F1	Ford	9.9	17

September 5 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
September 5	6:10 PM CDT	F2	Sheridan	2.0	100	$500 to $5,000
September 5	6:18 PM CDT	F1	Decatur	0.5	50
September 5	6:18 PM CDT	F2	Decatur	2.3	80	$50,000 to $500,000

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.