Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 1985

F0 tornado, Labette County, Kansas, March 3, 1985

This F0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Labette County on March 3, 1985, touching down at 9:45 PM CST and reaching 10 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $500 to $5,000 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 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
March 3, 1985
Touchdown
9:45 PM CST (03:45 UTC)
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
10 yards (9 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$500 to $5,000
County
Labette County
Touchdown point
37.330, -95.270
Record number
16

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), 00:00Z

3.8 hours before the tornado, 139 km from the path. March 4, 1985.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 1985-03-04Temperature 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 0, lifted condensation level NaN 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, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 1985-03-04The 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 604 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 74 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
NaN m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
74 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
604 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
664 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Springfield, MO (KUMN), 12:00Z

8.2 hours after it, 139 km from the path. March 4, 1985.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 1985-03-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 31 joules per kilogram, CIN -1, lifted condensation level 556 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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 12:00Z on 1985-03-04The 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 -176 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 87 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 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
31 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-1 J/kg
Surface CAPE
68 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
556 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
87 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-176 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-360 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1985 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of March 3, 1985

6 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 34:35 PM CSTF1Adams, NE4.0100$500,000 to $5 million
March 35:30 PM CSTF1Hamilton, NE0.150$5,000 to $50,000
March 36:10 PM CSTF1York, NE0.150$5,000 to $50,000
March 36:15 PM CSTF1York, NE3.050$50,000 to $500,000
March 36:20 PM CSTF1Logan, OK0.11012$50,000 to $500,000
March 37:00 PM CSTF1Payne, OK0.110$50,000 to $500,000

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.