Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 1991

F1 tornado, Barton County, Kansas, May 16, 1991

This F1 tornado ran 2.0 miles across Barton County on May 16, 1991, touching down at 5:38 PM CDT and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $5,000 to $50,000 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 16, 1991
Touchdown
5:38 PM CDT (22:38 UTC)
Path length
2.0 miles (3.2 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$5,000 to $50,000
County
Barton County
Touchdown point
38.520, -98.820
Record number
591

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
22:27 UTC23:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOP
22:42 UTC23:30 UTCTornado WarningTOP
23:28 UTC00:15 UTCTornado 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 forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Moderate Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 07:06 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.

Dodge City, (KDDC), 12:00Z

10.6 hours before the tornado, 126 km from the path. May 16, 1991.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dodge City, at 12:00Z on 1991-05-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1548 joules per kilogram, CIN -120, lifted condensation level 947 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 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, Dodge City, at 12:00Z on 1991-05-16The 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 22 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 28 knots.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 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
1548 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-120 J/kg
Surface CAPE
608 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
947 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
4 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
22 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
23 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Dodge City, (KDDC), 00:00Z

1.4 hours after it, 126 km from the path. May 17, 1991.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dodge City, at 00:00Z on 1991-05-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 105 joules per kilogram, CIN -61, lifted condensation level 2480 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, Dodge City, at 00:00Z on 1991-05-17The 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 28 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 30 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
105 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-61 J/kg
Surface CAPE
781 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2480 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
17 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
28 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
113 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.3
0-3 km lapse rate
9.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1991 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 16, 1991

47 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 162:40 PM EDTF0Pinellas, FL0.210$50 to $500
May 161:45 PM CDTF0Pierce, NE0.113
May 162:07 PM CDTF0Piatt, IL0.250
May 162:45 PM CDTF0Russell, KS1.050$500 to $5,000
May 162:47 PM CDTF3Hodgeman, KS22.08802$50,000 to $500,000
May 162:56 PM CDTF0Ellis, KS1.050$500 to $5,000
May 163:18 PM CDTF0Cheyenne, KS7.020
May 162:38 PM MDTF0Logan, CO0.210
May 162:46 PM MDTF0Washington, CO0.210
May 163:58 PM CDTF0Lincoln, NE0.223
May 163:10 PM MDTF0Chase, NE1.550
May 163:10 PM MDTF0Perkins, NE0.223
May 163:10 PM MDTF0Perkins, NE0.223
May 164:15 PM CDTF0Gosper, NE0.550
May 163:20 PM MDTF0Kit Carson, CO0.210
May 163:24 PM MDTF0Kit Carson, CO0.210
May 164:25 PM CDTF0Gosper, NE0.540
May 164:35 PM CDTF0Gosper, NE0.530$5,000 to $50,000
May 165:55 PM EDTF0Pinellas, FL0.123$500 to $5,000
May 164:55 PM CDTF0Sumner, KS0.550
May 164:00 PM MDTF0Keith, NE0.223
May 165:00 PM CDTF0Buffalo, NE0.750
May 165:05 PM CDTF0Buffalo, NE1.040
May 164:07 PM MDTF0Sherman, KS1.010
May 165:09 PM CDTF1Sumner, KS9.0100$5,000 to $50,000
May 164:12 PM MDTF0Sherman, KS1.010
May 165:25 PM CDTF3Sedgwick, KS20.0200$500,000 to $5 million
May 164:32 PM MDTF0Sherman, KS1.010
May 165:38 PM CDTF1Barton, KS2.0100$500 to $5,000
May 165:43 PM CDTF2Seward, NE11.0100$50,000 to $500,000
May 166:09 PM CDTF1Okmulgee, OK7.060$50,000 to $500,000
May 166:12 PM CDTF0Barton, KS1.050$5,000 to $50,000
May 166:18 PM CDTF0Tulsa, OK0.330
May 166:20 PM CDTF1Okmulgee, OK0.550$5,000 to $50,000
May 166:20 PM CDTF0Butler, KS1.050
May 166:25 PM CDTF0Butler, KS1.050
May 166:28 PM CDTF0Barton, KS1.050
May 166:45 PM CDTF0Rice, KS1.050$500 to $5,000
May 166:45 PM CDTF0Butler, KS1.050
May 167:20 PM CDTF0Butler, KS1.050
May 166:45 PM MDTF0Yuma, CO0.210
May 168:08 PM CDTF0Tulsa, OK0.330
May 168:36 PM CDTF2Rogers, OK4.0100$50,000 to $500,000
May 169:25 PM CDTF0Rogers, OK0.327
May 168:30 PM MDTF0Douglas, CO0.210
May 169:30 PM MDTF0Beaverhead, MT0.210$5,000 to $50,000
May 169:30 PM MDTF0Douglas, CO0.210

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.