Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 1978

F3 tornado, Pottawatomie and Jackson counties, Kansas, May 31, 1978

This F3 tornado ran 37.0 miles across Pottawatomie and Jackson counties on May 31, 1978, touching down at 4:30 PM CDT and reaching 1,300 yards wide. It killed 3 people 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 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 mphthis tornado

    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
F3
Date
May 31, 1978
Touchdown
4:30 PM CDT (21:30 UTC)
Path length
37.0 miles (59.5 km)
Path width
1,300 yards (1189 m)
Deaths
3
Injuries
1
Property damage
$50,000 to $500,000
Counties
Pottawatomie and Jackson counties
Touchdown point
39.320, -96.380
Lift-off point
39.470, -95.720
Record number
365

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

9.5 hours before the tornado, 56 km from the path. May 31, 1978.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Topeka, KS at 12:00Z on 1978-05-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 360 joules per kilogram, CIN -213, lifted condensation level 1180 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 1978-05-31The 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 7 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 11 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
360 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-213 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1180 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
11 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
7 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-6 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

2.5 hours after it, 56 km from the path. June 1, 1978.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Topeka, KS at 00:00Z on 1978-06-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 3419 joules per kilogram, CIN -15, lifted condensation level 1106 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 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 1978-06-01The 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 271 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 38 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
3419 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-15 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2676 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1106 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
271 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
368 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
4.9
Supercell composite
29.8
0-3 km lapse rate
6.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Topeka (Top) (TOP), 52 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
20:00 UTC7866150° 15 kt1011.9
21:00 UTC8169150° 13 kt211010.8
22:00 UTC8068150° 14 kt211009.8
23:00 UTC8068120° 14 kt191008.8TSRA

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1978 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 31, 1978

2 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 314:35 PM CDTF0Deaf Smith, TX2.030
May 314:50 PM CDTF0Parmer, TX1.030

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.