F1 tornado, Buhler to Mc Pherson, Kansas, May 4, 1999

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.

Rating

F1

Date

May 4, 1999

Touchdown

2:02 PM CDT (19:02 UTC)

Path length

8.0 miles (12.9 km)

Path width

0 yards (0 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$1.1 million

Counties

McPherson and Reno counties

Touchdown point

38.130, -97.800

Lift-off point

38.330, -97.700

Record number

877

At Buhler, a subdivision consisting of 37 homes was hit. Of the 37 homes damaged, 3 were destroyed, 4 sustained major damage and 30 minor damage. This tornado would continue a northeast track into Southwest McPherson County where it skipped along Highway 61.

Initial damage occurred 3.5 miles SW of Inman where an old barn collapsed and trees were uprooted. The greatest damage occurred 3-4 miles east of Inman where one house sustained minor roof damage, a circle irrigation system was destroyed, a tin cattleshed was destroyed, and an irrigation pipe was wrapped around trees. As the tornado continued a northeast track along and just east Highway 61, it inflicted more tree damage as well as damaging part of the wheat crop as it passed 2 miles southeast of Groveland before lifting 3 miles southwest of McPherson. Though possessing an overall track of 10 miles from point of entry into McPherson County to dissipation, the tornado skipped, never maintaining ground contact for more than 2 miles at a time with the segments totalling about 5 miles.

Remained over open country.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

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 Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 16:50 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 Wichita radar (KICT), 69 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:01 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

The live radar over the trackEvery 1999 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are

42 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.