Tornadoes · United States · Kansas

1998 tornadoes in Kansas

71 tornadoes touched down in Kansas in 1998, 18 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

1997 1999 The whole country in 1998

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 1998

April 6 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 6	6:25 PM CDT	F1	Ellis	3.3	100		2	$50,000

April 14 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
April 14	4:06 PM CDT	F1	Decatur	1.2	50	$2,000
April 14	4:15 PM CDT	F1	Decatur	7.5	200	$3,000
April 14	4:25 PM CDT	F0	Decatur	0.1	50
April 14	5:05 PM CDT	F1	Decatur	0.2	50	$1,000

May 7 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 7	7:04 PM CDT	F0	Seward	0.4	50

May 11 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 11	7:11 PM CDT	F0	Ellsworth	1.0	100
May 11	8:14 PM CDT	F1	Ellsworth	5.0	200	$10,000
May 11	9:48 PM CDT	F0	McPherson	1.0	100
May 11	10:53 PM CDT	F0	McPherson	1.0	100

May 22 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 22	7:50 PM MDT	F0	Sherman	0.2	30
May 22	8:56 PM CDT	F0	Rawlins	0.2	30

May 24 6 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 24	7:10 PM CDT	F0	Harper	1.0	50	$30,000
May 24	6:25 PM MDT	F0	Sherman	0.2	30
May 24	7:30 PM CDT	F0	Sumner	1.0	50
May 24	7:39 PM CDT	F0	Cowley	1.0	50
May 24	8:01 PM CDT	F0	Cowley	4.0	100
May 24	8:45 PM CDT	F0	Cowley	1.0	50

June 8 9 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 8	4:37 PM CDT	F0	Reno	0.2	60
June 8	4:42 PM CDT	F0	Sumner	1.0	110
June 8	4:44 PM CDT	F0	Harvey	2.0	110	$150,000
June 8	4:47 PM CDT	F0	Ottawa	2.0	30
June 8	5:17 PM CDT	F0	Harvey	0.2	60
June 8	5:23 PM CDT	F0	Ottawa	0.5	30
June 8	5:26 PM CDT	F0	Cowley	0.2	60	$500,000
June 8	5:30 PM CDT	F0	Phillips	0.5	30
June 8	6:35 PM CDT	F0	Chase	0.2	60	$10,000

June 10 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 10	8:05 PM CDT	F0	Lyon	0.1	30

June 11 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 11	1:11 AM CDT	F0	Cheyenne	0.1	30

June 13 17 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 13	5:00 PM CDT	F0	Smith	0.5	30	$30,000
June 13	5:35 PM CDT	F0	Sumner	0.5	60	$50,000
June 13	5:50 PM CDT	F0	Chase	0.5	60
June 13	6:29 PM CDT	F0	Cowley	1.0	110	$500,000
June 13	6:38 PM CDT	F0	Republic	0.2	200
June 13	8:00 PM CDT	F0	Nemaha	0.1	30
June 13	8:19 PM CDT	F1	Nemaha	4.0	450
June 13	8:30 PM CDT	F0	Nemaha	0.1	30
June 13	8:35 PM CDT	F0	Nemaha	1.5	50
June 13	8:40 PM CDT	F0	Nemaha	2.0	50
June 13	8:43 PM CDT	F0	Nemaha	1.0	100
June 13	8:44 PM CDT	F0	Nemaha	0.1	30
June 13	8:55 PM CDT	F1	Brown	0.2	50
June 13	9:00 PM CDT	F0	Brown	0.1	30
June 13	10:00 PM CDT	F0	Nemaha	0.1	30
June 13	10:22 PM CDT	F2	Nemaha	1.0	100	$3.5 million
June 13	10:55 PM CDT	F0	Brown	0.1	30

June 20 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
June 20	5:24 PM CDT	F0	Nemaha	0.5	30
June 20	5:47 PM CDT	F0	Nemaha	0.2	30
June 20	7:40 PM CDT	F0	Jackson	0.1	30

June 27 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 27	9:53 PM CDT	F1	Washington	4.5	100	$60,000
June 27	10:10 PM CDT	F0	Washington	3.0	50	$10,000
June 27	10:45 PM CDT	F0	Washington	0.2	30
June 27	11:10 PM CDT	F1	Marshall	6.0	80	$810,000

June 29 6 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 29	6:34 PM CDT	F1	Jackson	1.0	30	$70,000
June 29	7:10 PM CDT	F0	Pottawatomie	1.0	50
June 29	7:36 PM CDT	F0	Jefferson	0.1	30
June 29	8:24 PM CDT	F0	Osage	0.2	30
June 29	8:46 PM CDT	F0	Osage	0.2	30
June 29	9:27 PM CDT	F0	Osage	0.2	30

August 3 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 3	12:11 PM CDT	F0	Kingman	1.0	110

August 25 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 25	4:08 PM CDT	F0	Kingman	1.0	110

September 27 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 27	11:13 PM CDT	F0	Barber	0.1	50

September 29 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 29	7:31 PM CDT	F0	Barton	1.0	110
September 29	7:33 PM CDT	F0	Barton	1.0	110

October 4 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 4	5:45 PM CDT	F1	Shawnee	1.0	30			$10,000
October 4	6:05 PM CDT	F1	Douglas	6.0	100			$70,000

October 16 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 16	6:54 PM CDT	F3	Trego	26.0	1,300		1	$1.2 million
October 16	7:05 PM CDT	F0	Ellis	0.1	50

November 9 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
November 9	5:15 PM CST	F0	Pratt	0.1	30
November 9	7:25 PM CST	F0	Sedgwick	1.0	50	$50,000
November 9	9:30 PM CST	F0	Osage	1.0	80	$70,000

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.