F1 tornado, Palco to Plainville, Kansas, April 10, 2001

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

April 10, 2001

Touchdown

11:35 PM CDT (04:35 UTC)

Path length

14.0 miles (22.5 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$100,000

County

Rooks County

Touchdown point

39.180, -99.570

Lift-off point

39.380, -99.400

Record number

654

Strong thunderstorms just north of a warm front moved into north-central Kansas. Despite the late hour of the day, cooler temperatures and foggy conditions, these thunderstorms began to rotate and produced several tornadoes across the area. The first tornado developed in southwest Rooks county near Palco and lifted just south of Webster Lake. One farmstead was hit with damage sustained to outbuildings, trees and farm equipment. The next twister entered Rooks county from Ellis county south of Plainville. This tornado hit a farmstead on the south side of Plainville and traveled northeast through the cemetery and then on to rural areas of eastern Rooks county. The farmstead sustained damage to outbuildings and trees. The home was spared from major damage. Another weak tornado started on the south side of Plainville and traveled up US highway 183 and then northeast to a modular home manufacturing plant. Several homes in production were damaged. Other homes along the path had roof or window damage. Three other tornadoes occurred in Osborne county. The first, on the west side of the county, damaged outbuildings and trees along its 9 mile path. A short lived tornado near the junction of US highway 24 and Kansas Highway 181 hit an abandoned gas station. Old tanks and concrete blocks were littered about for nearly a mile to the northeast. The last tornado in the county started southwest of Downs and traveled northeast. It hit one farmstead on the west side of Downs causing damage to various outbuildings and farm machinery. This twister continued northeast and entered extreme southeast Smith county and then into southwest Jewell county. Before lifting, the tornado hit the parsonage of the Dispatch church, causing roof and wall damage to the home. Other weak tornadoes were noted in Smith and Jewell counties with minor damage noted to power poles and trees. Some other reports indicated that some hail and strong winds accompanied these storms.

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. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

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 Moderate Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 00:45 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.

NWS Hastings, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Apr 10, 1:45 PM CDT, 9 hours 50 minutes earlier.

SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
145 PM CDT TUE APR 10 2001

...TSRA POTENTIAL THE NEXT 24 HRS IS THE MAIN CONCERN...

SMALL...BUT RELATIVELY POTENT...BATCH OF TSRAS PRODUCED SVR WX ACROSS
THE MIDDLE OF CWA THIS MORNING. THIS CLUSTER EFFECTIVELY PUSHED INVERTED
SFC TROF SOUTH TO NEAR THE NEB/KS BORDER...AT LEAST IN OUR CWA. FURTHER
SOUTH...WARM FRONT IS LIFTING THRU CNTRL KS W/ M60 DWPTS AS FAR NORTH AS
TOP/SLN. PLENTY OF TSRA ACTIVITY IN WARM SECTOR IN ERN KS...W/ WEAKER
RETURNS INTO OUR 6 NC CNTYS. AS WARM LIFTS INTO INVERTED TROF...EXPECT
TSRAS TO BECOME MORE WIDESPREAD LATE THIS AFTN INTO EVENING. THE BEST
POTENTIAL FOR SVR WX WILL BE OVER NC KS...BUT WILL ALSO WORK NORTH THRU
NEB CNTYS AS STRONG OVERRUNNING OF COOL SFC AIR TAKES PLACE TONIGHT W/
THE APPROACH OF POTENT UPPER LVL SYS CURRENTLY INDICATED CLEARING ON WV
IN AZ. EVENTUALLY EXPECT COOL LLVL AIR TO BE DISPLACED NORTH AS WELL
OVER MOST OF CWA.

WILL FOLLOW ETA W/ ITS SLIGHTLY BETTER HANDING OF LLVL MOISTURE INFLUX
W/ THE CAVIOT THAT IT DID NOT ANTICIPATE THE SWRD PUSH OF SFC TROF BY
AM TSRAS. REALLY...FCST PLAYS OUT ABOUT THE SAME USING ALL THE MDLS W/
BASIC SCENARIO OF TSRAS INCREASING IN COVERAGE THRU NC KS THIS AFTN &
SPREADING THRU NEB CNTYS THIS EVENING...SOME DRY SLOTTING OVERNIGHT...
THEN THE UPPER LO LIFTS NE OVER CWA TOMR...W/ POTENTIAL FOR SVR WX...
INCLUDING TORNADOS INTO EARLY AFTN...WHEN SYS PASSES NE AND A STRONG W
TO NW WIND DRIES THINGS OUT. WHEN ALL THINGS ARE SAID AND DONE...ONLY
NEED TO TWEEK CURRENT FCST. WILL HAVE TO REWORD TEMPS TONIGHT AS 40S
IN PLACE OVER MUCH OF NRN/CNTRL CWA WILL BE REPLACED BY 50S TONIGHT.
WILL UP TEMPS TOMR AS WELL...ESP SE 1/2 OF CWA BASED ON PROGGED TRACK
OF SFC LO AND SOUTH WINDS FCST THRU EARLY AFTN.

AS FOR EXTENDED...WONT PLAY W/ MUCH. AS PER PMDEPD...SOME DIFFICULTY
W/ NEXT WAVE THAT DROPS IN BEHIND CURRENT SYS. I AM INCLINED TO LEAVE
FCST DRY. I EXPECT 2ND SYS TO HAVE ALOT OF TROUBLE MAINTAINING ITSELF
AS IT WORKS EAST INTO CONFLUENT FLOW LEFT IN BEHIND CURRENT BIG STORM.
OTHERWISE...A TREND TOWARD WARMER WX BY WEEKEND AFTER COOLER READINGS
INVADE LATE WED INTO THU IN WAKE OF AZ UPPER LO.

.GID...NONE.

GURNEY

In the hours before

KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087-110230-

SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK - SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
535 PM CDT TUE APR 10 2001

...SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND
NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS TONIGHT...

SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE STILL EXPECTED ACROSS SOUTH
CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS TONIGHT.  UNTIL 8
PM...MOST AREAS WILL SEE PERIODS OF DRIZZLE OR LIGHT RAIN AND PATCHY
FOG.  A FEW THUNDERSTORMS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE...MAINLY IN AREAS EAST
OF HIGHWAY 281.

AFTER 8 PM...SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL INCREASE
IN COVERAGE AS A POTENT LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM LIFTS OUT OF THE
SOUTHWEST UNITED STATES INTO WESTERN KANSAS.  THE STORMS WILL
DEVELOP AND SPREAD ACROSS KANSAS...AND THEN REACH NEBRASKA AS
THEY RAPIDLY TRACK NORTHEAST AT 40 TO 45 MPH. THE STORMS MAY BECOME
SEVERE...PRODUCING LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS.

THE THREAT FOR SEVERE STORMS WILL CONTINUE DURING THE DAY ON
WEDNESDAY.  THE INTENSE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM IS FORECAST TO
ADVANCE NORTHEAST INTO NEBRASKA WEDNESDAY...AND THEN EXIT
INTO IOWA WEDNESDAY NIGHT.  IN ADDITION TO POSSIBILITY OF SEVERE
WEATHER WEDNESDAY...EXPECT VERY WINDY CONDITIONS BY LATE IN THE DAY
AS WINDS SHIFT TO THE NORTHWEST AND GUST TO 45 MPH.

LOCAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS AND SPOTTER GROUPS ACROSS
SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS SHOULD
CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE WEATHER SITUATION CLOSELY TONIGHT...AND
BE PREPARED FOR ACTIVATION.

FAY

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
837 PM CDT TUE APR 10 2001

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....
R
0818 PM    ROCKVILLE                 NE    .75 INCH HAIL
04/10/01   SHERMAN

0830 PM    3 WNW FARWELL             NE    1 INCH HAIL
04/10/01   HOWARD

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Hill_city (HLC), 31 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The live radar over the trackEvery 2001 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are

28 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.