Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2001

F0 tornado, Riga, Kansas, April 21, 2001

This F0 tornado ran 0.2 miles across Trego County on April 21, 2001, touching down at 8:04 PM CDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody.

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.

  1. F040 to 72 mphthis tornado

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. F173 to 112 mph

    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.

The record

Rating
F0
Date
April 21, 2001
Touchdown
8:04 PM CDT (01:04 UTC)
Path length
0.2 miles (0.3 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Trego County
Touchdown point
38.950, -99.620
Lift-off point
38.950, -99.620
Record number
687

What the Weather Service recorded

Lasted 30 seconds. Semi overturned.

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

The warnings

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 forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Moderate Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 00:57 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.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Dodge City, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Apr 21, 3:02 PM CDT, 5 hours 2 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 21, 3:02 PM CDT, 5 hours 2 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS
302 PM CDT SAT APR 21 2001

MAIN FORECAST CHALLENGE TODAY WILL BE CHANCES FOR CONVECTION TONIGHT
AND SUNDAY.

25H ANALYSIS AT 12Z INDICATED ONE 80KT JET ALONG THE WRN OK/ERN TX
PANHANDLE BORDER. ANOTHER JET OF 110KS WAS LOCATED IN SRN AZ. DDC
SOUNDING SHOWING LOW LEVEL MOISTURE BEHIND THIS DRY LINE IN OUR
EASTERN CWA WAS VERY DRY, WHILE GOOD CONV AND MADV PRESENT ALONG DRY
LINE. DELTA T'S GREATER THAN 18 AT 12Z AND WITH SOME 7H WAA AND CAA
AT 5H BETTER INSTAB WILL BE IN PLACE THIS EVENING PRIOR TO THE MAJOR
WAVE EARLY SUNDAY. AS OF 18Z GRANADA PROFILERS AND KDDC VAD WINDS
ALREADY SHOWING A SOUTHEAST FLOW RETURNING WITH DWPTS RISING INTO
THE 60S AT P28. MSAS SHOWING LI INDEXES ALREADY NEG ALONG WARM FRONT
WHICH EXTENDED FROM ROUGHLY EAST CENTRAL COLORADO INTO NW OKLAHOMA.
VIS ALSO SHOWING SOME CU ALSO DEVELOPING HERE AS WELL. BETTER CU
FIELD NOTED NEAR P28 WHERE MCON FIELD AND TADV IS BEST.
EXTRAPOLATION ON THE S/W TROF IN SRN AZ PLACES THIS WAVE IN SE CO BY
23Z. AS A RESULT WILL GO WILL LIKELY POPS TONIGHT ALONG AND NORTH OF
THE WARM FRONT WHILE JUST EAST OF THE DRYLINE CARRY CAT POPS.

GIVEN THE WIND PROFILE VIA PROFILERS FROM HAVILAND AND GRANADA ALONG
WITH KDDC VADS, BOUNDARIES DISSECTING THE CWA AND INSTAB ALOFT WILL
MENTION THE THREAT THAT SOME STORMS MAY BE SEVERE FOR ALL BUT THE
SOUTHWEST NEAR EHA WHERE MOISTURE WILL BE MOST LIMITED. HOWEVER EVEN
HERE SOME WINDS WILL BE POSSIBLE FROM THE INITIAL ELEVATED
CONVECTION.

THE MORE SIGNIFICANT SYSTEM STILL APPEARING FAIRLY DYNAMIC WITH
CONVECTION VISIBLE AHEAD OF THIS WAVE. MODELS CONTINUE TO SHOW THIS
WAVE ROTATING INTO THE CENTRAL PLAIN EARLY ON SUNDAY. 5H AND 7H HT
FALLS REMAIN IN THE BASE OF NEXT UPPER LOW CURRENTLY LOCATED IN
SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA AT 12Z SAT WHICH LEAD ME TO FOLLOW THE ETA AND
AVN SLIGHTLY SLOWER SOLUTION. EVEN GOING WITH THIS SOLUTION THERE
WILL BE GOOD PVA PRESENT ACROSS ENTIRE AREA BY 12Z SUN WHICH
SUPPORTS HIGH CHANCE TO LIKELY CONTINUING. DEEPENING SFC PRESSURES
ALONG SE COLORADO SHOULD PLACE THE SFC FRONT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE
CWA BY MORNING. MOISTURE AND LIFT COMING TOGETHER BEST IN THE NORTH
AND EAST SO WILL PLACE THE HIGHEST POPS HERE. DEEPENING PRESSURE
WILL ALSO KEEP THE WINDS UP OVERNIGHT SHOULD SEE WINDY CONDITIONS
ACROSS THE AREA ON SUNDAY. UPPER LOW MOVES FROM NEW MEXICO OVER
WESTERN KANSAS DURING THE AFTERNOON WITH A SLOT OF DRYER AIR
SUGGESTING PARTLY/MOSTLY CLEAR CONDITIONS BY NOON. HOWEVER VERY
UNSTABLE AIR IN PLACE WITH COLD POOL ALOFT AND AS SOME MOISTURE
WRAPS AROUND THE DEEPENING 85H LOW SOME CONVECTION WILL STILL BE
POSSIBLE IN THE LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING.

CAA BEGINS TO TRULY MAKE ITS PRESENT FELT ON MONDAY NIGHT AS 85H
TEMPS FALLS FROM 6-8C OVER A 6H TIME FRAME. PLACEMENT OF THIS SYSTEM
IS EVERYTHING FOR LOCATION OF THE WRAP AROUND MOISTURE AND LIFT. AT
THIS TIME WILL KEEP TO LOW POPS GOING SUNDAY NIGHT IN THE SOUTH
GIVEN THE INSTAB ALOFT AND HIGHER CHC POPS IN THE NORTH GIVEN
CURRENT ETA/AVN TRACK. WILL HOLD OFF AT THIS MOMENT MENTIONING ANY
TYPE OF PCPN CHANGE OVER GIVEN THE COLD AIR INVADING THE NORTHWEST
BUT THIS MAY BE A CLOSE CALL IN OUR NORTHWEST.

COOL DOME OF HIGH PRESSURE MOVES INTO WESTERN KANSAS ON MONDAY AS
SUBSIDENCE DEVELOPS ALOFT. ETA WAS THE SLOWEST TO ERODE THE COLD
AIR AND GIVEN 85H TEMP PROGS AT 00Z TUE LOWER 60S FOR HIGHS ON
MONDAY LOOK REASONABLE FOR DDC AND MID 60S FURTHER WEST.

EXTENDED DISCUSSION...

THE 21/00Z MRF RUN IS VERY CLOSE TO 20/12Z ECMWF AND THE 21/12Z RUN
OF THE UKMET WITH RESPECT TO THE POSITION OF THE 500 MB TROUGH OVER
THE GREAT LAKES STATES AT 120 HR/25/12Z.  AFTER THAT PERIOD, THE MRF
IS MORE AGGRESSIVE WITH THIS TROUGH THAN THE ECMWF/UKMET AS IT
ENCOUNTERS THE MID-ATLANTIC SEABOARD.  FOR THE MOST PART, THINK THE
MRF IS ON TRACK, BUT THEN STARTS DIVING CANADIAN COLD AIR ALOFT
SOUTHWARD TOO FAST.  WILL LEAN TOWARD THE FMR GUIDANCE UP THROUGH
WEDNESDAY PERIOD, BUT NOT WARM HIGH TEMPS UP QUITE AS QUICKLY AS MRF
FOR THURSDAY THROUGH SATURDAY PERIOD.  AFTER 1ST 48 HOURS PRECIP
EVENT FINISHES, UPPER RIDGE WILL TAKE HOLD OF SOUTHWESTERN KANSAS
(AND SOUTHWESTWARD).  THINK A SURFACE LEE TROUGH WILL FLIRT WITH
WEST KANSAS BORDER EACH AFTERNOON FROM WEDNESDAY ONWARD, BUT DO NO
SEE ENOUGH UPPER SUPPORT TO INTRODUCE CONVECTION AT THIS TIME.
SLIGHT CHANCE WORDING WILL LIKELY BE REQUIRED SOMETIME BETWEEN WED
AND SAT, BUT WILL LET LATER SHIFTS REFINE WHERE.

NO CHANGES PLANNED FOR NEW 8-10 DAY OUTLOOK, STAYING WITH ABOVE
NORMAL TEMPS (40S-ARND 70 DEG) AND NEAR NORMAL PRECIP (20-30% POP).

PRELIMINARY GUIDANCE FOR COORDINATION ONLY. OFFICIAL FORECASTS ARE
CONTAINED WITHIN THE DODGE CITY ZONE FORECAST.

DDC 055/067 035/061 035 753
GCK 054/063 032/062 032 754
EHA 053/065 032/06S4 032 422
LBL 057/066 033/063 033 752
HYS 055/060 035/056 032 774
P28 060/070 043/063 040 862

.DDC...NONE.

RB/BURKE

In the hours before

Local storm report, Apr 21, 2:15 PM CDT, 5 hours 49 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY, KS
215 PM CDT SAT APR 21 2001

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....
b
0810 PM    13 WNW LARNED               KS   .75 INCH HAIL
04/20/01   PAWNEE

JF

The air that afternoon

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.

Dodge City, (KDDC), 00:00Z

1.1 hours before the tornado, 133 km from the path. April 22, 2001.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dodge City, at 00:00Z on 2001-04-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1118 joules per kilogram, CIN -11, lifted condensation level 1940 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Dodge City, at 00:00Z on 2001-04-22The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 181 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 62 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
1118 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-11 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2606 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1940 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
62 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
181 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
365 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
12.2
0-3 km lapse rate
8.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Dodge City, (KDDC), 12:00Z

10.9 hours after it, 133 km from the path. April 22, 2001.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dodge City, at 12:00Z on 2001-04-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1369 joules per kilogram, CIN -75, lifted condensation level 670 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Dodge City, at 12:00Z on 2001-04-22The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 310 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 49 knots.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
1369 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-75 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1719 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
670 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
49 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
310 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
330 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.8
Supercell composite
9.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 136 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:05 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.

This ground now

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

The other tornadoes of April 21, 2001

11 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 212:35 PM CDTF1Mohave, CA to NV, AZ3.050
April 217:00 PM CDTF0Pawnee, KS0.430
April 217:30 PM CDTF0Rush, KS1.575
April 217:40 PM CDTF2Rush, KS1.5100$200,000
April 218:07 PM CDTF0Rush, KS2.275
April 219:00 PM CDTF0Rush, KS0.350
April 219:15 PM CDTF4Hoisington tornado, KS5.0660128$43 million
April 219:37 PM CDTF0Barton, KS0.555
April 2110:15 PM CDTF0Ellsworth, KS0.555
April 2110:44 PM CDTF0Ellsworth, KS2.0220$10,000
April 2111:15 PM CDTF0Lincoln, KS2.0220$50,000

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.