Tornadoes · United States · Kansas

1994 tornadoes in Kansas

41 tornadoes touched down in Kansas in 1994, 32 percent below the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

1993 1995 The whole country in 1994

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 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.
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.

Every tornado in Kansas in 1994

April 9 6 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
April 9	4:25 PM CDT	F2	Seward	25.0	1,700	8	$5,000 to $50,000
April 9	5:24 PM CDT	F0	Clark	0.5	100
April 9	5:41 PM CDT	F0	Clark	1.0	100
April 9	5:52 PM CDT	F2	Clark	0.8	200		$5,000 to $50,000
April 9	6:25 PM CDT	F0	Kiowa	0.1	23
April 9	7:50 PM CDT	F0	Sumner	0.3	10

May 3 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 3	7:33 PM MDT	F0	Wallace	0.1	20

May 5 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 5	8:00 PM MDT	F0	Sherman	0.3	20

June 5 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 5	6:20 PM CDT	F0	Ellsworth	1.0	100

June 7 7 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 7	7:55 PM CDT	F2	Cheyenne	10.0	800	$50,000 to $500,000
June 7	8:08 PM CDT	F0	Cheyenne	0.1	50
June 7	8:32 PM CDT	F2	Cheyenne	7.0	800	$500,000 to $5 million
June 7	7:45 PM MDT	F0	Sherman	0.1	50
June 7	8:10 PM MDT	F0	Sherman	0.5	30
June 7	8:10 PM MDT	F2	Sherman	2.0	500	$50,000 to $500,000
June 7	8:50 PM MDT	F1	Sherman	1.0	100

June 8 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 8	9:36 PM CDT	F1	Rawlins	3.0	200
June 8	10:10 PM CDT	F0	Rawlins	1.0	50
June 8	11:40 PM CDT	F1	Thomas	4.0	300	$5,000 to $50,000

June 10 7 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
June 10	2:50 PM MDT	F0	Sherman	0.1	50
June 10	5:45 PM CDT	F0	Rawlins	1.0	100
June 10	4:47 PM MDT	F0	Sherman	0.5	400
June 10	4:57 PM MDT	F0	Sherman	0.1	20
June 10	5:15 PM MDT	F0	Sherman	0.1	20
June 10	5:53 PM MDT	F0	Sherman	0.1	20
June 10	6:56 PM CDT	F0	Thomas	0.1	20

June 11 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 11	8:05 PM CDT	F0	Rawlins	0.2	50
June 11	10:23 PM CDT	F0	Logan	2.0	50

June 22 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 22	5:15 PM CDT	F0	Kearny	0.1	10

July 1 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
July 1	7:45 PM CDT	F0	Gove	0.1	20	$50 to $500
July 1	8:55 PM CDT	F0	Ottawa	2.5	50	$500 to $5,000
July 1	9:39 PM CDT	F1	Osborne	12.0	73	$50,000 to $500,000

July 24 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 24	5:25 PM MDT	F0	Sherman	0.1	50

July 31 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 31	5:20 PM CDT	F0	Sedgwick	0.1	20

August 3 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
August 3	5:05 PM CDT	F0	Ness	0.2	10
August 3	5:16 PM CDT	F0	Ness	0.1	10
August 3	5:20 PM CDT	F0	Ness	0.2	20

August 7 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 7	6:16 PM MDT	F0	Sherman	0.1	20

September 7 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
September 7	6:13 PM CDT	F0	Kearny	0.1	10
September 7	7:58 PM CDT	F0	Grant	0.1	30
September 7	8:35 PM CDT	F0	Stevens	0.1	20

Crossed into Kansas

Tornadoes that touched down in a neighboring state and ran into Kansas. They are counted under the state they began in.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 10	5:05 PM CDT	F1	Cheyenne, CO to KS	1.5	200

Nearby

Every tornado in Kansas since 1950 Warnings in force in Kansas The live radar over Kansas

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.