Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 1977

F1 tornado, Montgomery County, Kansas, May 17, 1977

This F1 tornado ran 3.3 miles across Montgomery County on May 17, 1977, touching down at 12:15 PM CDT and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $5,000 to $50,000 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 mphthis tornado

    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
F1
Date
May 17, 1977
Touchdown
12:15 PM CDT (17:15 UTC)
Path length
3.3 miles (5.3 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$5,000 to $50,000
County
Montgomery County
Touchdown point
37.230, -95.650
Lift-off point
37.230, -95.580
Record number
274

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.

Springfield, MO (KUMN), 12:00Z

5.3 hours before the tornado, 165 km from the path. May 17, 1977.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 1977-05-17Temperature 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 -894, lifted condensation level 1161 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 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, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 1977-05-17The 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 -138 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 29 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-894 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1161 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
19 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-138 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-20 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Springfield, MO (KUMN), 00:00Z

6.7 hours after it, 165 km from the path. May 18, 1977.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 1977-05-18Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 615 joules per kilogram, CIN -86, lifted condensation level 1584 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, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 1977-05-18The 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 9 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 7 knots.1939Sfc1 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
615 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-86 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1573 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1584 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
7 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
7 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
9 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
25 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
7.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Chanute (CNU), 50 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
16:00 UTC7366170° 15 kt261016.6
16:16 UTC170° 15 kt261016.9
17:00 UTC7566170° 14 kt201016.9
18:00 UTC7768180° 17 kt1016.9
19:00 UTC7869190° 17 kt1016.6

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1977 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 17, 1977

12 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 175:40 PM EDTF1Barry, MI3.383$5,000 to $50,000
May 176:55 PM CDTF0McKenzie, ND0.110
May 177:10 PM CDTF2Hale, TX0.560$50 to $500
May 177:30 PM CDTF0Armstrong, TX0.220
May 178:00 PM CDTF1Hutchinson, TX1.020under $50
May 178:27 PM CDTF1Armstrong, TX6.420under $50
May 178:30 PM CDTF1Mountrail, ND8.510$50,000 to $500,000
May 178:50 PM CDTF1Carson, TX1.020under $50
May 179:00 PM CDTF0Stevens, KS10.330under $50
May 179:20 PM CDTF1Hale, TX1.020under $50
May 179:40 PM CDTF1Armstrong, TX1.020under $50
May 1711:10 PM CDTF0Gray, TX0.520

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.