Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2004

F3 tornado, Kinsley, Kansas, March 27, 2004

This F3 tornado ran 10.0 miles across Edwards and Pawnee counties on March 27, 2004, touching down at 1:13 PM CST and reaching 1,300 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $480,000 of property damage.

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 mph

    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 mphthis tornado

    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
F3
Date
March 27, 2004
Touchdown
1:13 PM CST (19:13 UTC)
Path length
10.0 miles (16.1 km)
Path width
1,300 yards (1189 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$480,000
Counties
Edwards and Pawnee counties
Touchdown point
37.970, -99.480
Lift-off point
38.120, -99.350
Record number
759

What the Weather Service recorded

This tornado became very large and dusty. Several farms were hit with minor damage to other outbuildings across it's path. One farm sustained a direct hit. Five equipment buildings were destroyed and the house was knocked from it's foundation. Trees were mangled and debarked. A stock trailer was blown 3/4 of a mile from it's original location and an oil tank was rolled .3 of a mile. A stack of hay bales was demolished with the remnants piled 10 feet thick in a grove of trees. One large cedar tree was carried about a mile. As the tornado was dissipating, it crossed into Pawnee county at a location 12 miles north of Kinsley.

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

The warnings

6 minutes of warning. NWS DDC issued a tornado warning for this county at 19:07 UTC, 6 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 19:45 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
18:49 UTC19:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningDDC
19:07 UTC19:45 UTCTornado WarningDDC

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 Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 18:44 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 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), 12:00Z

7.2 hours before the tornado, 52 km from the path. March 27, 2004.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dodge City, at 12:00Z on 2004-03-27Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1373 joules per kilogram, CIN -7, lifted condensation level 642 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 2004-03-27The 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 249 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 30 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
1373 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-7 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1634 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
642 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
249 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
244 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.2
Supercell composite
6.5
0-3 km lapse rate
6.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Dodge City, (KDDC), 00:00Z

4.8 hours after it, 52 km from the path. March 28, 2004.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dodge City, at 00:00Z on 2004-03-28Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -87204, lifted condensation level 2127 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 00:00Z on 2004-03-28The 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 -111 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 68 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-87204 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2127 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
68 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-111 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
64 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
7.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Dodge City (DDC), 58 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
17:53 UTC6659170° 22 kt291004.4-RA
18:06 UTC66.257.2190° 19 kt1004.4VCTS
18:39 UTC75.246.4230° 24 kt321003.7
18:53 UTC7737220° 28 kt351003.7
19:53 UTC7932240° 25 kt321003.7
20:19 UTC75.237.4300° 25 kt321004.4
20:53 UTC6939310° 33 kt381005.8

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

The radar

The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 58 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:14 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.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
20:28 UTCHAIL 1.7511 W Great BendBarton, KS
20:32 UTCHAIL 211 W Great BendBarton, KS
20:37 UTCHAIL 2.511 W Great BendBarton, KS
20:50 UTCHAIL 1.55 Se Great BendBarton, KS

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2004 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of March 27, 2004

16 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 2712:43 PM CSTF0Ellis, OK2.050
March 271:09 PM CSTF0Edwards, KS1.520
March 271:20 PM CSTF0Dewey, OK0.120
March 271:29 PM CSTF1Pawnee, KS1.580
March 271:33 PM CSTF1Woodward, OK4.0250$10,000
March 271:35 PM CSTF0Pawnee, KS0.520
March 271:54 PM CSTF0Woodward, OK0.110
March 272:02 PM CSTF1Woodward, OK1.0100$1,000
March 272:27 PM CSTF0Woodward, OK0.130
March 272:55 PM CSTF0Woodward, OK0.110
March 273:00 PM CSTF0Custer, OK0.530
March 273:14 PM CSTF0Barton, KS1.055
March 273:30 PM CSTF0Custer, OK0.320
March 273:54 PM CSTF0Custer, OK0.110
March 275:45 PM CSTF0Barber, KS0.530
March 276:54 PM CSTF0Canadian, OK0.110

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.