Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 1982

F0 tornado, Sherman County, Kansas, May 19, 1982

This F0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Sherman County on May 19, 1982, touching down at 5:52 PM MDT and reaching 10 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did under $50 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 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
May 19, 1982
Touchdown
5:52 PM MDT (23:52 UTC)
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
10 yards (9 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
under $50
County
Sherman County
Touchdown point
39.400, -101.970
Record number
430

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.

Denver, CO (KDEN), 12:00Z

11.9 hours before the tornado, 120 km from the path. May 19, 1982.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Denver, CO at 12:00Z on 1982-05-19Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 11 joules per kilogram, CIN -287, lifted condensation level 2518 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, Denver, CO at 12:00Z on 1982-05-19The 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 35 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 15 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
11 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-287 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2518 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
15 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
10 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
35 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
26 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
6.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Denver, CO (KDEN), 00:00Z

0.1 hours after it, 120 km from the path. May 20, 1982.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Denver, CO at 00:00Z on 1982-05-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1 joules per kilogram, CIN -82, lifted condensation level 2668 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, Denver, CO at 00:00Z on 1982-05-20The 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 -5 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 37 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
1 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-82 J/kg
Surface CAPE
23 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2668 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
37 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
7 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-5 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
34 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
9.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Goodland (GLD), 24 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
22:00 UTC8255150° 16 kt1001
23:00 UTC7955140° 17 kt1004.1
23:08 UTC160° 27 kt351004.7
23:14 UTC150° 17 kt1004.7
00:00 UTC7243130° 13 kt1005.8TSRA
01:00 UTC6846100° 10 kt1005.1TSRA

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1982 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 19, 1982

18 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 195:30 PM EDTF1Essex, VT0.1100$5,000 to $50,000
May 195:30 PM EDTF0Macomb, MI0.210under $50
May 195:58 PM CDTF0Carson, TX0.550under $50
May 195:20 PM MDTF2Yuma, CO3.5200
May 196:23 PM CDTF3Gray, TX1.5587$50,000 to $500,000
May 196:53 PM CDTF3Gray, TX4.0880$500,000 to $5 million
May 197:09 PM CDTF0Gray, TX0.520under $50
May 197:12 PM CDTF2Gray, TX6.01,760$50,000 to $500,000
May 196:15 PM MDTF0Bennett, SD0.110under $50
May 197:25 PM CDTF3Gray, TX2.0100$5,000 to $50,000
May 197:50 PM CDTF2Gray, TX2.0200$50,000 to $500,000
May 198:04 PM CDTF0Roberts, TX0.320under $50
May 197:24 PM MDTF0Jackson, SD0.110under $50
May 197:30 PM MDTF3Sherman, KS2.0400$500,000 to $5 million
May 198:35 PM CDTF1Roberts, TX0.210under $50
May 198:35 PM CDTF1Hemphill, TX0.410$50 to $500
May 198:40 PM CDTF0Dewey, OK0.110under $50
May 199:20 PM CDTF0Thomas, KS0.110$5,000 to $50,000

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.