F1 tornado, Sublette to Kismet, Kansas, June 16, 2005

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

June 16, 2005

Touchdown

6:45 PM CDT (23:45 UTC)

Path length

10.5 miles (16.9 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Haskell and Seward counties

Touchdown point

37.480, -100.770

Lift-off point

37.370, -100.620

Record number

974

This tornado touched down about 1/4 mile south of 190 Road and 1/2 mile east of SS Road at 1745 CST. No evident damage was observed until the tornado reached a residence near 230 Road and UU Road at around 1752 CST. A roof of a deck was lifted and blown about 100 feet. The tornado moved south-southeast, damaging part of a center pivot sprinkler system and then crossed into northeastern Seward county before turning east. Damaged sprinkler systems were found 0.6 miles east of Road T and 1/4 mile north of Road 23. The last damage evident was a partially rolled sprinkler and 1/4 mile south of Road 23 and just east of Road X.

This tornado touched down about 1/4 mile south of 190 Road and 1/2 mile east of SS Road at 1745 CST. No evident damage was observed until the tornado reached a residence near 230 Road and UU Road at around 1752 CST. A roof of a deck was lifted and blown about 100 feet. The tornado moved south-southeast, damaging part of a center pivot sprinkler system and then crossed into northeastern Seward county before turning east. Damaged sprinkler systems were found 0.6 miles east of Road T and 1/4 mile north of Road 23. The last damage evident was a partially rolled sprinkler and 1/4 mile south of Road 23 and just east of Road X.

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

15 minutes of warning. NWS DDC issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:30 UTC, 15 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:13 UTC.

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, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:12 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 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.

Liberal_muni (LBL), 48 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 74 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:44 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.

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

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

The live radar over the trackEvery 2005 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are

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.