Tornadoes · United States · Kansas

1997 tornadoes in Kansas

64 tornadoes touched down in Kansas in 1997, about the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

1996 1998 The whole country in 1997

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 1997

April 19 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 19	3:25 PM CDT	F0	Logan	0.4	20

April 29 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 29	5:04 PM CDT	F0	Thomas	0.3	50

May 7 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 7	5:06 PM CDT	F0	Ottawa	5.0	23			$30,000
May 7	7:09 PM CDT	F0	Morris	0.1	23

May 18 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
May 18	5:47 PM CDT	F0	Reno	0.5	50
May 18	6:07 PM CDT	F0	Reno	0.5	50
May 18	6:43 PM CDT	F0	Reno	0.2	50

May 25 25 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 25	4:15 PM CDT	F0	Scott	2.0	50
May 25	4:20 PM CDT	F0	Barton	3.0	100
May 25	4:25 PM CDT	F0	Russell	1.0	100	$20,000
May 25	4:29 PM CDT	F0	Finney	0.5	30	$10,000
May 25	4:30 PM CDT	F0	Finney	0.5	30
May 25	4:44 PM CDT	F0	Trego	0.5	50
May 25	5:10 PM CDT	F0	Barton	1.0	100
May 25	5:16 PM CDT	F0	Barton	1.0	100
May 25	5:35 PM CDT	F0	Ellsworth	0.5	50
May 25	5:36 PM CDT	F0	Ellsworth	1.0	100
May 25	6:30 PM CDT	F0	Ellsworth	0.5	50
May 25	7:00 PM CDT	F0	Kingman	0.5	50
May 25	7:01 PM CDT	F0	Harper	1.0	50
May 25	7:35 PM CDT	F0	Harper	0.5	50
May 25	7:35 PM CDT	F0	Reno	2.0	100	$250,000
May 25	7:36 PM CDT	F0	Harvey	1.0	50
May 25	7:48 PM CDT	F0	Harper	1.0	50
May 25	8:23 PM CDT	F1	Harvey	1.0	100	$70,000
May 25	8:35 PM CDT	F2	Sumner	8.0	1,700	$1.9 million
May 25	8:50 PM CDT	F0	Wabaunsee	0.1	23
May 25	9:00 PM CDT	F0	Sumner	9.0	100
May 25	9:22 PM CDT	F0	Butler	0.5	50
May 25	9:40 PM CDT	F0	Butler	1.0	50
May 25	9:58 PM CDT	F0	Butler	0.5	50
May 25	10:43 PM CDT	F0	Greenwood	0.5	50

May 29 7 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
May 29	3:29 PM CDT	F0	Ford	0.2	20
May 29	3:31 PM CDT	F0	Ford	0.3	30
May 29	3:31 PM CDT	F0	Ford	0.2	30
May 29	3:39 PM CDT	F0	Ford	0.5	40
May 29	3:42 PM CDT	F0	Ford	1.7	100
May 29	3:58 PM CDT	F0	Ford	0.2	20
May 29	5:00 PM CDT	F0	Ford	5.0	100

June 11 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 11	3:35 PM MDT	F0	Greeley	1.5	100
June 11	10:04 PM CDT	F0	Graham	0.1	50

June 25 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 25	9:10 PM CDT	F0	Norton	0.1	30

June 29 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 29	6:16 PM CDT	F0	Sumner	0.5	50			$70,000

July 1 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 1	5:15 AM CDT	F1	Nemaha	2.0	23			$20,000

July 5 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 5	3:24 PM MDT	F0	Greeley	0.1	30
July 5	3:30 PM MDT	F0	Sherman	2.0	50

July 13 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
July 13	8:15 PM CDT	F1	Geary	2.5	50	3	$200,000
July 13	9:11 PM CDT	F0	Dickinson	4.0	50
July 13	9:40 PM CDT	F0	Marion	0.5	50

July 27 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 27	5:45 PM CDT	F1	Nemaha	1.3	50			$10,000

August 1 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 1	6:30 PM CDT	F0	Scott	0.5	50
August 1	6:40 PM CDT	F0	Scott	0.5	50

August 13 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 13	5:10 PM MDT	F0	Hamilton	0.2	50

August 16 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 16	7:20 PM CDT	F0	Washington	0.8	150			$10,000

August 18 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 18	6:56 PM CDT	F0	Stanton	0.5	50
August 18	7:41 PM CDT	F0	Seward	1.5	300

August 20 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 20	2:47 PM CDT	F0	Clark	0.4	50

October 8 7 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
October 8	4:40 PM CDT	F0	Marion	0.2	23
October 8	4:46 PM CDT	F0	Marion	3.0	50	$100,000
October 8	5:15 PM CDT	F0	Riley	2.5	50	$80,000
October 8	5:39 PM CDT	F0	Morris	0.1	30
October 8	6:15 PM CDT	F0	Pottawatomie	0.2	73
October 8	6:20 PM CDT	F0	Wabaunsee	1.0	30
October 8	7:18 PM CDT	F1	Atchison	12.0	100	$150,000

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.