Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 1993

F0 tornado, Sumner County, Kansas, June 7, 1993

This F0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Sumner County on June 7, 1993, touching down at 3:45 PM CDT and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody.

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
June 7, 1993
Touchdown
3:45 PM CDT (20:45 UTC)
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Sumner County
Touchdown point
37.270, -97.400
Record number
411

The warnings

10 minutes of warning. NWS ICT issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:35 UTC, 10 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:15 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
20:07 UTC21:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningICT
20:35 UTC21:15 UTCTornado WarningICT

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 High Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 12:04 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 surface observations

Mcconnell_afb (IAB), 41 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
19:00 UTC83.8468210° 19 kt281004.7
20:00 UTC8567210° 22 kt271004.1
20:43 UTC210° 15 kt211004.1
21:00 UTC81.8667200° 13 kt201003.7-TSRA
21:15 UTC200° 14 kt221004.1
22:00 UTC7956.84200° 14 kt281003.7TS
22:25 UTC200° 15 kt201003.7

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1993 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 7, 1993

39 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 711:45 AM CDTF0, FL2.0100
June 71:45 PM CDTF1Brule, SD13.0732$50,000 to $500,000
June 71:50 PM CDTF0Buffalo, SD0.130
June 71:55 PM CDTF0Buffalo, SD0.130
June 72:10 PM CDTF1Hughes, SD0.440$500 to $5,000
June 72:46 PM CDTF0Hand, SD0.130
June 72:55 PM CDTF0Hand, SD0.130
June 73:07 PM CDTF0Hand, SD0.130
June 73:30 PM CDTF3Spink, SD5.0400$50,000 to $500,000
June 73:30 PM CDTF2Miner, SD3.073$50,000 to $500,000
June 73:30 PM CDTF2Miner, SD3.073$50,000 to $500,000
June 73:30 PM CDTF2Miner, SD3.073$50,000 to $500,000
June 73:35 PM CDTF2Sanborn, SD9.0100$5,000 to $50,000
June 73:40 PM CDTF2Spink, SD10.0100$50,000 to $500,000
June 73:40 PM CDTF2Spink, SD10.0100$50,000 to $500,000
June 73:40 PM CDTF2Spink, SD10.0100$50,000 to $500,000
June 73:45 PM CDTF1Hanson, SD12.073$5,000 to $50,000
June 73:54 PM CDTF1McCook, SD5.0100$5,000 to $50,000
June 74:03 PM CDTF0Beadle, SD0.230
June 74:03 PM CDTF1Beadle, SD1.050$5,000 to $50,000
June 74:07 PM CDTF1McCook, SD2.0100$500 to $5,000
June 74:23 PM CDTF3McCook, SD5.0250$5,000 to $50,000
June 74:30 PM CDTF4Minnehaha, SD54.08005$5 million to $50 million
June 74:40 PM CDTF4Lake, SD10.05004$500,000 to $5 million
June 74:50 PM CDTF3Lake, SD6.0100$50,000 to $500,000
June 74:50 PM CDTF3Lake, SD6.0100$50,000 to $500,000
June 75:52 PM CDTF1Rock, MN12.0200
June 76:00 PM CDTF0Deuel, SD0.330$50 to $500
June 76:30 PM CDTF1O'Brien, IA1.867$500 to $5,000
June 76:38 PM CDTF1Sioux, IA7.530$50,000 to $500,000
June 76:40 PM CDTF0O'Brien, IA0.523$500 to $5,000
June 76:41 PM CDTF2Osceola, IA10.01275$5,000 to $50,000
June 76:42 PM CDTF0Sioux, IA0.320$500 to $5,000
June 76:52 PM CDTF1Lyon, MN2.5506$500,000 to $5 million
June 76:57 PM CDTF0Yellow Medicine, MN1.040
June 77:28 PM CDTF1Redwood, MN3.080$50,000 to $500,000
June 77:40 PM CDTF0Jackson, MN0.210
June 79:37 PM CDTF0Green Lake, WI0.123
June 79:45 PM CDTF0Marquette, WI0.123

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.