Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 1974

F0 tornado, Elk County, Kansas, June 8, 1974

This F0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Elk County on June 8, 1974, touching down at 6:10 PM CDT and reaching 100 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
Date
June 8, 1974
Touchdown
6:10 PM CDT (23:10 UTC)
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Elk County
Touchdown point
37.470, -96.450
Record number
559

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

11.2 hours before the tornado, 184 km from the path. June 8, 1974.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Topeka, KS at 12:00Z on 1974-06-08Temperature 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 -8962, lifted condensation level 1193 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 1974-06-08The 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 50 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 52 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
-8962 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1193 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
52 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
6 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
50 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
100 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Topeka, KS (KTOP), 00:00Z

0.8 hours after it, 184 km from the path. June 9, 1974.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Topeka, KS at 00:00Z on 1974-06-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 635 joules per kilogram, CIN -128, lifted condensation level 619 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 00:00Z on 1974-06-09The 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 491 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 51 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
635 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-128 J/kg
Surface CAPE
133 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
619 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
51 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
491 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
591 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
9.2
0-3 km lapse rate
3.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1974 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 8, 1974

35 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 82:42 PM CDTF3Oklahoma, OK8.925014$500,000 to $5 million
June 83:11 PM CDTF2Oklahoma, OK4.550$5,000 to $50,000
June 83:18 PM CDTF3Oklahoma, OK10.2600$500 to $5,000
June 83:30 PM CDTF1Garfield, OK0.223$5,000 to $50,000
June 84:15 PM CDTF0Butler, KS11.4200
June 84:30 PM CDTF0Rice, KS5.2100$500 to $5,000
June 84:35 PM CDTF1Oklahoma, OK2.5100$5,000 to $50,000
June 84:48 PM CDTF3Oklahoma, OK9.0127$5,000 to $50,000
June 84:50 PM CDTF0Clay, IL0.110
June 84:55 PM CDTF4Creek, OK29.040014150$500,000 to $5 million
June 84:55 PM CDTF0White, IL0.110
June 85:46 PM CDTF3Lincoln, OK6.81,3008$500,000 to $5 million
June 85:55 PM CDTF1Lincoln, OK1.550$50 to $500
June 86:03 PM CDTF2Lincoln, OK0.11,500$5,000 to $50,000
June 86:15 PM CDTF0Peoria, IL0.110
June 86:20 PM CDTF3Lincoln, OK2.5350$5,000 to $50,000
June 86:35 PM CDTF2Creek, OK4.3100$5,000 to $50,000
June 86:40 PM CDTF2Tulsa, OK5.460$5,000 to $50,000
June 86:45 PM CDTF2Seminole, OK11.8450$500,000 to $5 million
June 86:50 PM CDTF3Tulsa, OK63.6100280$5 million to $50 million
June 86:50 PM CDTF3Tulsa, OK48.910042$5 million to $50 million
June 87:00 PM CDTF4Lyon, KS37.51,7606177$5 million to $50 million
June 87:05 PM CDTF3Seminole, OK29.91,300$50,000 to $500,000
June 87:50 PM CDTF2Pottawatomie, OK2.0800$5,000 to $50,000
June 87:55 PM CDTF0Macon, IL0.110
June 88:00 PM CDTF0Gentry, MO0.110$5,000 to $50,000
June 88:30 PM CDTF2Creek, OK14.4100$50,000 to $500,000
June 89:00 PM CDTF0Crawford, KS4.3200
June 810:14 PM CDTF3Delaware, OK2.7150$50,000 to $500,000
June 810:30 PM CDTF1Newton, MO1.01506$500,000 to $5 million
June 810:30 PM CDTF2Craig, OK3.8100$500,000 to $5 million
June 810:40 PM CDTF0Jasper, MO0.110$5,000 to $50,000
June 810:40 PM CDTF1Newton, MO2.050
June 811:00 PM CDTF1Nodaway, MO10.1400$5,000 to $50,000
June 811:24 PM CDTF1Pittsburg, OK1.067

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.