Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2003

F0 tornado, Greensburg, Kansas, April 23, 2003

This F0 tornado ran 1.0 miles across Kiowa County on April 23, 2003, touching down at 4:13 PM CDT and reaching 100 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 23, 2003
Touchdown
4:13 PM CDT (21:13 UTC)
Path length
1.0 miles (1.6 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Kiowa County
Touchdown point
37.400, -99.300
Lift-off point
37.420, -99.300
Record number
132

What the Weather Service recorded

This weak tornado (Landspout) drifted northeast without hitting anything.

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

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 23, 1:50 PM CDT, 2 hours 23 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 23, 1:50 PM CDT, 2 hours 23 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS
150 PM CDT WED APR 23 2003

DAYS 1-2...
NOT MUCH TIME TODAY DUE TO ONGOING WEATHER. MAIN QUESTION WILL BE
CHANCES FOR SEVERE CONVECTION NEXT FEW HOURS AND THEN MOVING THE
MIDLATITUDE CYCLONE THROUGH AND ENDING THE WEATHER.

THE DIAGNOSTICS SHOWED THE APPROACHING MIDLATITUDE CYCLONE OVER THE
ROCKIES WORKING EASTWARD WITH VERY LITTLE DIFFERENCE OBSERVED
BETWEEN WHAT IS HAPPENING AND WHAT THE MODELS HAVE FORECAST FOR THE
PAST SEVERAL DAYS. ONGOING CONVECTION IN THE EXIT REGION OF THE
UPPER JET AND IN ADVANCE OF THE UPPER CYCLONE IS NOW WORKING
EASTWARD AS THE SURFACE LOW DEEPENS IN THE LEE SLOPES. DRY SLOTTING
IS IN PROGRESS ACROSS MY WESTERN ZONES WITH A SHARP DRY LINE NOW
EVIDENT FROM LAKIN TO LIBERAL AND CU BEGINNING TO DEVELOP ALONG IT.
THE UPPER COLD POOL STILL LAGS A BIT FARTHER WEST SO PROBABLY
ANOTHER HOUR OR TWO BEFORE STRONGER CONVECTIVE PLUMES CAN DEVELOP.
THE DDC MORNING SOUNDING MODIFIED FOR EXPECTED LATE DAY CONDITIONS
PROVIDES AMPLE CAPE AND SHEAR FOR SEVERE STORMS THOUGH THEY MAY WELL
BE RATHER COMPACT IN VERTICAL EXTENT DUE TO THE MUCH LOWER
TROPOPAUSE IN THE CYCLONE. EXPECT LOW TOPPED SUPERCELLS EARLY ON
WITH THE MAIN THREAT WIND AND HAIL. WIND PROFILES INDICATE THAT THE
CONVECTION SHOULD RAPIDLY LINE OUT INTO A SQUALL LINE SITUATION AND
SWEEP ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA. HAVE MODIFIED MY GRIDS TO REFLECT
THIS THINKING.

ONCE THE CYCLONE MOVES OUT ACROSS KANSAS TONIGHT WINDS SHOULD
LIGHTEN AND THEN SHIFT NORTHWEST AND STRENGTHEN AGAIN. WILL HAVE TO
MAKE A LAST MINUTE DECISION ON THE GOING WIND ADVISORY AS THE
STRONGEST WINDS SHOULD ACCOMPANY THE DRYLINE EASTWARD LATER THIS
AFTERNOON INTO EARLY EVENING. COLDER WRAP AROUND IN THE UPPER
DEFORMATION ZONE WILL MAKE IT NECESSARY TO KEEP SOME SMALL POPS FOR
SHRA IN THE ZONES THURSDAY BUT WILL END THIS THURSDAY NIGHT AS
SUBSIDENCE DEVELOPS AND THE CYCLONE TRACKS EAST OUT OF THE AREA.

TEMPERATURE WISE, THE GOING FORECAST NEEDED ONLY MINOR TWEEKS TO FIT
ONGOING CONDITIONS AS CLOUD COVER THROUGH MUCH OF THE FORECAST
BEYOND THIS AFTERNOON SHOULD MODERATE TEMPERATURES NICELY LEAVING
THE REGION ABOUT NORMAL FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR.

DAYS 3-7...
NO TIME TO DIG INTO THE LATER PERIODS AND HAVE SIMPLY EXTENDED THE
GOING FORECAST FORWARD ANOTHER DAY. IN ANY CASE, THE GOING FORECAST
NICELY FITS THE FAVORED REGIME SO SHOULD NOT NEED MUCH WORK.

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

DDC   42  59  43  63 /  20  20   0   0
GCK   40  57  41  62 /   0  20   0   0
EHA   41  62  39  66 /   0   0   0   0
LBL   43  63  42  65 /   0   0   0   0
HYS   46  52  42  61 /  60  20  20   0
P28   50  62  47  65 /  60  20  20   0

.DDC...KSZ030-031-043>046-061>066-074>081-084>090 WIND ADVSRY
        UNTIL 800 PM CDT.

JOHNSON
Hazardous weather outlook, Apr 23, 5:00 AM CDT, 11 hours 13 minutes before
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The surface observations

Pratt (PTT), 59 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
00:00 UTC

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

The radar

The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 71 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:15 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 2003 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 23, 2003

8 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 2312:16 PM CDTF1Donley, TX0.125$150,000
April 2312:16 PM CDTF0Briscoe, TX0.140
April 2312:22 PM CDTF0Hall, TX0.240
April 2312:44 PM CDTF0King, TX1.050
April 232:15 PM CDTF0Hardeman, TX1.550
April 232:24 PM CDTF0Knox, TX0.550
April 233:57 PM CDTF0Shackelford, TX0.120
April 235:16 PM CDTF0Cotton, OK2.070

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.