Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 1990
F5 Goessel tornado, Kansas, March 13, 1990
This F5 tornado ran 22.0 miles across Harvey, McPherson and Marion counties on March 13, 1990, touching down at 5:30 PM CST and reaching 1,320 yards wide. It killed 1 person, and did $5 million to $50 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.
F040 to 72 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
F5261 to 318 mphthis tornado
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.
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
- F5
- Date
- March 13, 1990
- Touchdown
- 5:30 PM CST (23:30 UTC)
- Path length
- 22.0 miles (35.4 km)
- Path width
- 1,320 yards (1207 m)
- Deaths
- 1
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $5 million to $50 million
- Counties
- Harvey, McPherson and Marion counties
- Touchdown point
- 38.150, -97.430
- Lift-off point
- 38.420, -97.170
- Record number
- 97
What the Weather Service recorded
The deaths
1 direct deaths are recorded for this tornado, each with what Storm Data knows of it.
| Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct |
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
38 minutes of warning. NWS ICT issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:52 UTC, 38 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:30 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17:13 UTC | 18:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT |
| 22:52 UTC | 23:30 UTC | Tornado Warning | ICT |
| 23:27 UTC | 23:45 UTC | Tornado Warning | ICT |
| 00:56 UTC | 01:45 UTC | Tornado Warning | ICT |
| 03:44 UTC | 04:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT |
| 04:46 UTC | 05:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT |
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 forecast that day
The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 09:44 UTC.
SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.
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
11.5 hours before the tornado, 165 km from the path. March 13, 1990.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1521 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -86 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 1077 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 766 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 52 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 37 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 173 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 24 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.3
- Supercell composite
- 1.9
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.4 K/km
Topeka, KS (KTOP), 00:00Z
0.5 hours after it, 165 km from the path. March 14, 1990.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1053 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -14 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 625 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 623 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 49 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 33 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 246 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 268 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.5
- Supercell composite
- 6.9
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.5 K/km
The surface observations
Hutchinson (HUT), 55 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22:00 UTC | 68 | 62 | 170° 18 kt | 23 | 1000.3 | |
| 23:00 UTC | 66 | 63 | 170° 18 kt | 1000.3 | TSRA | |
| 00:00 UTC | 66 | 62 | 150° 15 kt | 999.3 | ||
| 01:00 UTC | 67 | 62 | 150° 15 kt | 20 | 999 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 1990 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of March 13, 1990
58 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 13 | 12:10 AM CST | F1 | Jefferson, KS | 3.0 | 100 | $50,000 to $500,000 | ||
| March 13 | 8:36 AM CST | F1 | Hodgeman, KS | 1.0 | 23 | |||
| March 13 | 3:32 PM CST | F1 | Davis, IA | 14.0 | 23 | $50,000 to $500,000 | ||
| March 13 | 4:31 PM CST | F0 | Sac, IA | 0.3 | 50 | $500 to $5,000 | ||
| March 13 | 4:34 PM CST | F5 | Hesston tornado, KS | 48.0 | 1,320 | 1 | 60 | $5 million to $50 million |
| March 13 | 4:42 PM CST | F0 | Scott, IA | 0.2 | 73 | $500 to $5,000 | ||
| March 13 | 4:44 PM CST | F2 | Grady, OK | 28.0 | 200 | 1 | $500,000 to $5 million | |
| March 13 | 4:45 PM CST | F3 | Rock Island, IA to IL | 15.5 | 250 | 1 | $50,000 to $500,000 | |
| March 13 | 4:45 PM CST | F1 | Buffalo, NE | 1.0 | 80 | $50 to $500 | ||
| March 13 | 4:48 PM CST | F1 | Smith, KS | 13.0 | 220 | $5,000 to $50,000 | ||
| March 13 | 4:53 PM CST | F4 | Linn, IA | 19.0 | 200 | $5 million to $50 million | ||
| March 13 | 4:55 PM CST | F1 | Scott, IA | 13.0 | 73 | $50,000 to $500,000 | ||
| March 13 | 5:00 PM CST | F3 | Kearney, NE | 32.0 | 200 | $500,000 to $5 million | ||
| March 13 | 5:00 PM CST | F1 | Jewell, KS | 1.5 | 100 | $5,000 to $50,000 | ||
| March 13 | 5:05 PM CST | F4 | Webster, NE | 131.0 | 440 | 8 | $5 million to $50 million | |
| March 13 | 5:08 PM CST | F1 | Jones, IA | 6.0 | 30 | $500,000 to $5 million | ||
| March 13 | 5:10 PM CST | F1 | Pottawattamie, IA | 8.0 | 40 | $50,000 to $500,000 | ||
| March 13 | 5:15 PM CST | F3 | Grant, OK | 19.0 | 200 | $50,000 to $500,000 | ||
| March 13 | 5:20 PM CST | F2 | Kearney, NE | 8.0 | 100 | $50,000 to $500,000 | ||
| March 13 | 5:25 PM CST | F2 | Adams, NE | 9.0 | 80 | $50,000 to $500,000 | ||
| March 13 | 5:30 PM CST | F0 | Throckmorton, TX | 0.2 | 10 | |||
| March 13 | 5:31 PM CST | F2 | McClain, OK | 18.0 | 150 | $50,000 to $500,000 | ||
| March 13 | 5:35 PM CST | F0 | Buffalo, NE | 0.1 | 40 | under $50 | ||
| March 13 | 5:44 PM CST | F3 | Hall, NE | 27.0 | 200 | $500,000 to $5 million | ||
| March 13 | 5:53 PM CST | F1 | Cleveland, OK | 5.0 | 50 | |||
| March 13 | 5:54 PM CST | F3 | Grant, OK to KS | 22.0 | 200 | $500,000 to $5 million | ||
| March 13 | 5:55 PM CST | F1 | Dubuque, IA | 3.0 | 23 | $5,000 to $50,000 | ||
| March 13 | 5:59 PM CST | F2 | Cleveland, OK | 19.0 | 200 | 1 | $50,000 to $500,000 | |
| March 13 | 6:01 PM CST | F1 | Jefferson, OK | 21.0 | 73 | |||
| March 13 | 6:04 PM CST | F0 | Sumner, KS | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| March 13 | 6:12 PM CST | F0 | Sumner, KS | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| March 13 | 6:15 PM CST | F2 | Marion, KS | 55.0 | 220 | $500,000 to $5 million | ||
| March 13 | 6:20 PM CST | F1 | Jewell, KS | 5.0 | 440 | $50,000 to $500,000 | ||
| March 13 | 6:23 PM CST | F2 | Merrick, NE | 13.0 | 100 | $500,000 to $5 million | ||
| March 13 | 6:25 PM CST | F1 | Boone, NE | 1.5 | 200 | $50,000 to $500,000 | ||
| March 13 | 6:30 PM CST | F1 | Nance, NE | 2.0 | 50 | $5,000 to $50,000 | ||
| March 13 | 6:35 PM CST | F1 | Harper, KS | 12.0 | 50 | $50,000 to $500,000 | ||
| March 13 | 6:45 PM CST | F1 | Madison, NE | 0.2 | 50 | $5,000 to $50,000 | ||
| March 13 | 6:45 PM CST | F1 | Jewell, KS | 13.0 | 550 | $50,000 to $500,000 | ||
| March 13 | 6:55 PM CST | F3 | McPherson, KS | 18.0 | 200 | $50,000 to $500,000 | ||
| March 13 | 6:58 PM CST | F3 | Jefferson, OK | 22.0 | 200 | 1 | $500,000 to $5 million | |
| March 13 | 7:00 PM CST | F2 | Republic, KS | 15.0 | 440 | $500,000 to $5 million | ||
| March 13 | 7:16 PM CST | F0 | Republic, KS | 0.5 | 10 | |||
| March 13 | 7:20 PM CST | F0 | Dallas, IA | 0.1 | 13 | $500 to $5,000 | ||
| March 13 | 7:25 PM CST | F2 | Boone, IA | 22.0 | 50 | $500,000 to $5 million | ||
| March 13 | 7:30 PM CST | F1 | Madison, NE | 0.6 | 73 | $500,000 to $5 million | ||
| March 13 | 7:35 PM CST | F1 | Boone, IA | 1.0 | 30 | $50,000 to $500,000 | ||
| March 13 | 7:45 PM CST | F3 | Thayer, NE | 25.0 | 180 | $500,000 to $5 million | ||
| March 13 | 7:45 PM CST | F3 | Thayer, NE | 13.0 | 150 | $50,000 to $500,000 | ||
| March 13 | 7:50 PM CST | F2 | Garvin, OK | 28.0 | 150 | $500,000 to $5 million | ||
| March 13 | 7:50 PM CST | F0 | Saline, KS | 0.2 | 10 | |||
| March 13 | 7:55 PM CST | F2 | Polk, IA | 15.0 | 60 | 15 | $500,000 to $5 million | |
| March 13 | 8:03 PM CST | F1 | Pottawatomie, KS | 2.0 | 50 | $50,000 to $500,000 | ||
| March 13 | 8:10 PM CST | F2 | Okmulgee, OK | 9.0 | 340 | $50,000 to $500,000 | ||
| March 13 | 8:36 PM CST | F3 | Story, IA | 9.0 | 100 | 1 | $50,000 to $500,000 | |
| March 13 | 8:40 PM CST | F0 | Cloud, KS | 0.2 | 10 | |||
| March 13 | 9:30 PM CST | F2 | Polk, MO | 2.0 | 600 | $500,000 to $5 million | ||
| March 13 | 10:01 PM CST | F1 | Thurston, NE | 1.5 | 50 | $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.