Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 1986

F1 tornado, Geary and Morris counties, Kansas, May 6, 1986

This F1 tornado ran 15.0 miles across Geary and Morris counties on May 6, 1986, touching down at 9:03 PM CDT and reaching 200 yards wide. It killed nobody, 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 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 6, 1986
Touchdown
9:03 PM CDT (02:03 UTC)
Path length
15.0 miles (24.1 km)
Path width
200 yards (183 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$50,000 to $500,000
Counties
Geary and Morris counties
Touchdown point
38.870, -96.820
Lift-off point
38.920, -96.500
Record number
195

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
01:55 UTC03:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOP

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

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), 00:00Z

2.1 hours before the tornado, 89 km from the path. May 7, 1986.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Topeka, KS at 00:00Z on 1986-05-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 3023 joules per kilogram, CIN -6, lifted condensation level 1120 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 00:00Z on 1986-05-07The 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 13 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 31 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
3023 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-6 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3781 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1120 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
2 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
13 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
92 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.6
Supercell composite
3.9
0-3 km lapse rate
7.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Topeka, KS (KTOP), 12:00Z

9.9 hours after it, 89 km from the path. May 7, 1986.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Topeka, KS at 12:00Z on 1986-05-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 37 joules per kilogram, CIN -613, lifted condensation level 1285 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 1986-05-07The 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 -127 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 47 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
37 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-613 J/kg
Surface CAPE
187 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1285 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
47 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-127 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
246 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.7
0-3 km lapse rate
3.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1986 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 6, 1986

1 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 68:45 PM CDTF0Coleman, TX0.210

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.