Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2005

F0 tornado, Gove, Kansas, June 9, 2005

This F0 tornado ran 0.8 miles across Gove County on June 9, 2005, touching down at 6:57 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
June 9, 2005
Touchdown
6:57 PM CDT (23:57 UTC)
Path length
0.8 miles (1.3 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Gove County
Touchdown point
38.800, -100.300
Lift-off point
38.800, -100.300
Record number
907

What the Weather Service recorded

Shed and camper destroyed near Road 72 and Road K. Some tree damage.

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

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
00:00 UTC00:30 UTCTornado WarningGLD
00:32 UTC01:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLD
00:37 UTC01:22 UTCTornado WarningGLD

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, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 21:04 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

12.0 hours before the tornado, 120 km from the path. June 9, 2005.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dodge City, at 12:00Z on 2005-06-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 3849 joules per kilogram, CIN -97, lifted condensation level 730 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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 2005-06-09The 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 233 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 33 knots.193958Sfc1 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
3849 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-97 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3031 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
730 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
33 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
233 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
206 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
2.1
Supercell composite
9.1
0-3 km lapse rate
5.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Dodge City, (KDDC), 00:00Z

0.0 hours before the tornado, 120 km from the path. June 10, 2005.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dodge City, at 00:00Z on 2005-06-10Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1692 joules per kilogram, CIN -123, lifted condensation level 2128 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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 2005-06-10The 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 197 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 28 knots.193958Sfc1 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
1692 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-123 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2633 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2128 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
197 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
258 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
2.6
0-3 km lapse rate
7.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 119 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:58 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
21:05 UTCTORNADO5 Nne Saint PeterGraham, KS
21:50 UTCHAIL 1.753 W ArnoldNess, KS
22:10 UTCHAIL 0.75Trego CenterTrego, KS
23:02 UTCTORNADO2 Nw Trego CenterTrego, KSBRIEF TORNADO TOUCHDOWN AT 602 PM AND AGAIN AT 605 PM. ALSO REPORTED BY KSNW STORM SPOTTER.
23:05 UTCTORNADO1 N Trego CenterTrego, KSTORNADO DAMAGE OVER A WIDE PATH WITH SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE TO THE ROOF OF A HOME ALONG HIGHWAY 283.
23:15 UTCTORNADO1 N Trego CenterTrego, KSLARGE CONDENSATION FUNNEL WITH DEBRIS CLOUD OBSERVED
23:18 UTCHAIL 1WakeeneyTrego, KS
23:25 UTCHAIL 1.75WakeeneyTrego, KS
23:34 UTCTORNADO2 S OgallahTrego, KS
23:41 UTCTORNADO4 E OgallahTrego, KSTHREE SEMI TRUCKS BLOWN OVER ON THE WESTBOUND SIDE OF I70. HIGHWAY SIGN TWISTED.
23:57 UTCTORNADO10 Se GoveGove, KSTWO REPORTED TORNADOES ON THE GROUND
23:58 UTCTORNADOOgallahTrego, KSRELAYED BY GOODLAND NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
00:14 UTCTORNADOTrego CenterTrego, KSTORNADO NEAR TREGO CENTER.
00:22 UTCTORNADO13 W Trego CenterTrego, KS
00:33 UTCTORNADO15 Se GoveGove, KS
00:35 UTCTORNADO9 W Trego CenterTrego, KS
00:47 UTCHAIL 1.7516 S QuinterGove, KS
00:54 UTCHAIL 0.7520 Se GoveGove, KS

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

This ground now

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

The other tornadoes of June 9, 2005

36 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 96:33 AM CDTF1Iberville Parish, LA0.230$180,000
June 94:20 PM CDTF2Graham, KS9.5400
June 94:31 PM CDTF0Decatur, KS1.525
June 94:45 PM CDTF0Decatur, KS0.825
June 94:45 PM CDTF0Graham, KS0.325
June 94:46 PM CDTF0Graham, KS0.625
June 95:05 PM CDTF0Rooks, KS2.540$30,000
June 95:18 PM CDTF0Trego, KS2.050
June 95:25 PM CDTF1Rooks, KS9.060$300,000
June 95:34 PM CDTF1Rooks, KS6.090$300,000
June 95:57 PM CDTF1Rooks, KS4.050$300,000
June 96:00 PM CDTF3Trego, KS6.0200
June 96:16 PM CDTF1Trego, KS3.5100
June 96:24 PM CDTF1Trego, KS4.4100
June 96:25 PM CDTF3Hale, TX15.0900$300,000
June 96:27 PM CDTF0Pecos, TX0.5100
June 96:29 PM CDTF0Brewster, TX0.7100
June 96:29 PM CDTF1Trego, KS8.2100$3.0 million
June 96:38 PM CDTF0Meade, KS1.330
June 96:40 PM CDTF0Winnebago, WI3.040
June 96:43 PM CDTF0Meade, KS1.825
June 96:46 PM CDTF1Meade, KS0.820
June 96:55 PM CDTF2Meade, KS9.2200
June 96:58 PM CDTF0Ellis, KS1.250
June 97:02 PM CDTF0Carson, TX0.125
June 97:14 PM CDTF0Calumet, WI0.125
June 97:14 PM CDTF0Trego, KS1.850
June 97:15 PM CDTF0Ellis, KS1.830
June 97:33 PM CDTF1Gove, KS1.550
June 98:05 PM CDTF1Meade, KS8.0150
June 98:06 PM CDTF0Beaver, OK0.125
June 98:30 PM CDTF0Donley, TX0.230$10,000
June 98:47 PM CDTF0Donley, TX0.125
June 99:30 PM CDTF0Meade, KS1.030
June 99:40 PM CDTF0Crosby, TX1.050
June 910:00 PM CDTF0Dickens, TX1.050

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.