Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 1985

F4 tornado, Phillips, Smith, Franklin and Webster counties, Kansas and Nebraska, May 10, 1985

This F4 tornado ran 56.0 miles across Phillips, Smith, Franklin and Webster counties on May 10, 1985, touching down at 7:00 PM CDT and reaching 1,000 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 2, and did $500,000 to $5 million 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 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 mphthis tornado

    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
F4
Date
May 10, 1985
Touchdown
7:00 PM CDT (00:00 UTC)
Path length
56.0 miles (90.1 km)
Path width
1,000 yards (914 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
2
Property damage
$500,000 to $5 million
Counties
Phillips, Smith, Franklin and Webster counties
Touchdown point
39.730, -99.150
Lift-off point
40.350, -98.450
Record number
209

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.

N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), 00:00Z

0.0 hours before the tornado, 194 km from the path. May 11, 1985.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 00:00Z on 1985-05-11Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 265 joules per kilogram, CIN -82, lifted condensation level 3146 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, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 00:00Z on 1985-05-11The 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 26 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 23 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
265 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-82 J/kg
Surface CAPE
898 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
3146 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
5 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
26 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
71 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.2
0-3 km lapse rate
8.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), 12:00Z

12.0 hours after it, 194 km from the path. May 11, 1985.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 12:00Z on 1985-05-11Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 641 joules per kilogram, CIN -119, lifted condensation level 674 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, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 12:00Z on 1985-05-11The 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 137 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 45 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
641 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-119 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
674 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
45 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
137 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
157 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
2.9
0-3 km lapse rate
5.4 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 May 10, 1985

15 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 103:10 PM CDTF0Burleigh, ND0.110
May 103:12 PM CDTF1Burleigh, ND0.110
May 103:15 PM CDTF1Burleigh, ND2.0300$5,000 to $50,000
May 103:16 PM CDTF0Kidder, ND0.110
May 104:10 PM CDTF3Trego, KS10.0300$50,000 to $500,000
May 104:20 PM CDTF1Stutsman, ND0.110$5,000 to $50,000
May 104:50 PM CDTF3Rooks, KS30.0300$500,000 to $5 million
May 105:40 PM CDTF4Rooks, KS33.01,000$500,000 to $5 million
May 106:02 PM CDTF3Buffalo, NE17.05002$500,000 to $5 million
May 105:25 PM MDTF1Scotts Bluff, NE0.550$500 to $5,000
May 106:30 PM MDTF2Crook, WY1.027$500 to $5,000
May 107:30 PM CDTF1Sherman, NE0.540$5,000 to $50,000
May 108:23 PM CDTF1Holt, NE2.050
May 108:45 PM CDTF0Kearny, KS0.110
May 1010:55 PM CDTF2Seward, NE0.54004$500,000 to $5 million

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.