Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2005

F0 tornado, Thayer, Kansas, September 13, 2005

This F0 tornado ran 0.5 miles across Neosho County on September 13, 2005, touching down at 6:22 PM CDT and reaching 55 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
September 13, 2005
Touchdown
6:22 PM CDT (23:22 UTC)
Path length
0.5 miles (0.8 km)
Path width
55 yards (50 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Neosho County
Touchdown point
37.480, -95.480
Lift-off point
37.480, -95.480
Record number
1158

What the Weather Service recorded

No damage reported.

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 Wichita, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Sep 13, 3:33 PM CDT, 2 hours 49 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 13, 3:33 PM CDT, 2 hours 49 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
333 PM CDT TUE SEP 13 2005

.DISCUSSION...
MAIN FORECAST CONCERN IS POTENTIAL FOR SEVERE WEATHER THIS EVENING.

TONIGHT:
19Z SURFACE ANALYSIS DEPICTED A COMPLEX PATTERN WITH WEAK MESOLOW
OVER MCPHERSON COUNTY WITH A TRAILING WEAK SURFACE TROF AXIS
SOUTHWARD THROUGH EAST WICHITA TO NEAR PONCA CITY. AN OUTFLOW
BOUNDARY WAS DRAPED ACROSS SOUTHEAST KS AND THE FLINT HILLS. THE
COLD FRONT EXTENDS FROM THE SURFACE LOW THROUGH HUTCHINSON INTO FAR
NORTHWEST OKLAHOMA. SOUTHEAST OF THE COLD FRONT AND SURFACE TROF,
CAPE VALUES ON THE ORDER OF 3,000 TO 4,000 J/KG - SO EXTREMELY
UNSTABLE. DEEP LAYER SHEAR, MOSTLY RESULTING FROM SPEED SHEAR, IS ON
THE ORDER OF 35-45 KTS INTO THIS EVENING. LIMITING FACTOR FOR SEVERE
CONVECTIVE DEVELOPMENT THUS FAR HAS BEEN WEAK CONVERGENCE. HOWEVER,
A 105 KT UPPER SPEED MAX IS NOSING OUT OF THE SOUTHERN ROCKIES INTO
SOUTHERN KS WITH A STRONGLY DIFFLUENT PATTERN OVER EASTERN KS INTO
THIS EVENING. THIS WILL LIKELY PROVIDE LARGE SCALE ASCENT, IN
CONJUNCTION WITH THE SURFACE BOUNDARIES TO PROMOTE SCATTERED
STRONG-SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS INTO THIS EVENING. MAIN THREATS EXPECTED
ARE LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS, ALTHOUGH AN ISOLATED TORNADO CANNOT
BE RULED OUT FOR ANY STORM TRAVELING ALONG AN OUTFLOW BOUNDARY. BY
12Z WEDNESDAY, COLD FRONT SHOULD EXTEND FROM EXTREME NORTHERN
OKLAHOMA ACROSS EXTREME SOUTHEAST KS. THE GFS AND ESPECIALLY NAM,
SHOW ISENTROPIC LIFT DEVELOPING OVER WESTERN AND CENTRAL KS LATE
TONIGHT, SO ALSO CARRYING LOW POPS WELL NORTH OF FRONT IN CENTRAL KS.

WEDNESDAY-THURSDAY:
850 FRONT WILL REMAIN STALLED NEAR THE KS/OK BORDER. CHANCES OF
SHOWERS/T-STORMS WILL CONTINUE OVER SOUTHERN KS WEDNESDAY. CLOUDS,
PRECIPITATION, AND EASTERLY WINDS WILL KEEP HIGHS DOWN IN LOWER 70S,
SO IT SHOULD FEEL MUCH COOLER. NEXT SOUTHERN STREAM SHORTWAVE WILL
LIFT OUT ACROSS KS/OK WEDNESDAY NIGHT INTO THURSDAY. NAM AND GFS
SHOW COUPLED UPPER JET STRUCTURE ACROSS NORTHERN OKLAHOMA INTO
SOUTHERN MISSOURI AND NORTHWEST ARKANSAS. SO WOULD EXPECT HEAVY
RAINFALL POTENTIAL JUST SOUTHEAST OF SOUTHEAST KS. THIS COULD CHANGE
WITH LATER MODEL RUNS, SO WILL CONTINUE TO WATCH. NEVETHELESS, HIGH
CHANCE POPS FOR SOUTHEAST KS LOOK WARRANTED.

THURSDAY NIGHT-FRIDAY NIGHT:
WARM AIR ADVECTION/ISENTROPIC LIFT PATTERN WILL DEVELOP ACROSS THE
KANSAS REGION AHEAD OF AN UPPER TROF DIGGING INTO THE GREAT BASIN.
STRONGEST MOISTURE TRANSPORT/ISENTROPIC LIFT SIGNAL IS FOR FRIDAY
NIGHT PER 12Z GFS. THEREFORE CURRENT SLIGHT CHANCE POPS LOOK GOOD
FOR FRIDAY NIGHT WITH ELEVATED CONVECTION POSSIBLE.

SATURDAY-TUESDAY:
UPPER TROF OVER THE SOUTHWEST WILL LIFT OUT ACROSS THE NORTHERN AND
CENTRAL PLAINS LATE SATURDAY THROUGH SUNDAY EVENING. THE 12Z GFS AND
00Z ECMWF HAVE THE ASSOCIATED COLD FRONT PUSHING SOUTHWARD AND
STALLING IN CENTRAL/SOUTH CENTRAL KS SUNDAY NIGHT INTO MONDAY. THIS
LOOKS TO BE THE NEXT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS IN OUR AREA. THESE
MODELS THEN SHOW ANOTHER UPPER TROF DIGGING INTO THE NORTHERN
ROCKIES FROM SOUTHWEST CANADA BY 00Z TUESDAY. THIS MAY ALLOW THE
FRONT TO TEMPORARILY LIFT NORTHWARD ON TUESDAY, BEFORE THE FRONT
COMES BACK DOWN INTO OUR AREA PERHAPS TUESDAY NIGHT. THAT WILL BE
SOMETHING TO WATCH FOR IN LATER MODEL RUNS. THERMAL PATTERN AND
SOUTHERLY FLOW FAVORS ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES OVER THE WEEKEND
AHEAD OF THE STALLING COLD FRONT, AND WILL THEN MAINTAIN NEAR NORMAL
TEMPERATURES MONDAY-TUESDAY.

CARUSO

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
WICHITA-KICT    62  73  60  81 /  40  60  40  20
HUTCHINSON      59  72  59  81 /  30  40  30  10
NEWTON          62  72  59  81 /  40  40  30  20
ELDORADO        62  72  60  81 /  40  50  40  20
WINFIELD-KWLD   63  73  61  81 /  70  60  50  30
RUSSELL         54  73  55  81 /  20  20  20  10
GREAT BEND      55  72  57  81 /  30  30  20  10
SALINA          58  73  57  81 /  20  30  20  10
MCPHERSON       58  73  58  81 /  30  30  30  10
COFFEYVILLE     64  76  62  81 /  80  60  70  50
CHANUTE         63  76  60  80 /  70  60  60  30
IOLA            63  75  59  80 /  60  50  50  20

&&

.ICT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NONE.
&&
Hazardous weather outlook, Sep 13, 4:15 PM CDT, 2 hours 7 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
415 PM CDT TUE SEP 13 2005

KSZ032-033-047>053-067>072-082-083-091>096-098>100-141200-
RUSSELL-LINCOLN-BARTON-ELLSWORTH-SALINE-RICE-MCPHERSON-MARION-CHASE-
RENO-HARVEY-BUTLER-GREENWOOD-WOODSON-ALLEN-KINGMAN-SEDGWICK-HARPER-
SUMNER-COWLEY-ELK-WILSON-NEOSHO-CHAUTAUQUA-MONTGOMERY-LABETTE-
415 PM CDT TUE SEP 13 2005

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST KANSAS.

.DAY ONE...TONIGHT

SCATTERED STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP ACROSS
PORTIONS OF SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEASTERN KANSAS INTO THIS EVENING.
THE MAIN THREATS WILL BE LARGE HAIL TO GOLFBALL SIZE OR LARGER AND
DAMAGING WINDS. A TORNADO CANNOT BE RULED OUT IN SOUTHEASTERN KANSAS
THROUGH EARLY THIS EVENING. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL POSSIBLE TONIGHT
IN EXTREME SOUTHEASTERN KANSAS.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY

THUNDERSTORMS WILL AGAIN BE POSSIBLE WEDNESDAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT
OVER MUCH OF THE AREA WITH THE THREAT SHIFTING TO SOUTH CENTRAL AND
SOUTHEAST KANSAS FOR THURSDAY AND THURSDAY NIGHT. THESE STORMS ARE
NOT EXPECTED TO BE SEVERE BUT MAY BRING SOME LOCALIZED FLOODING,
ESPECIALLY FOR THOSE COUNTIES NEAR THE OKLAHOMA BORDER.

THUNDERSTORMS WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE FRIDAY NIGHT, SUNDAY NIGHT AND
MONDAY. AT THIS TIME IT IS TOO EARLY OUT TO SPECULATE ON THE
SEVERITY OF THESE STORMS.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAYBE NEEDED THIS EVENING ACROSS PORTIONS
OF SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEASTERN KANSAS.

&&

FOR A GRAPHICAL VERSION OF THIS INFORMATION, SEE OUR
WEBPAGE AT (LOWERCASE) HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/WICHITA/HWO/HWOICT.HTM

LAWSON/JMC

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Sep 13, 5:26 PM CDT, 56 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
526 PM CDT TUE SEP 13 2005

KSZ072-132300-
ALLEN-
526 PM CDT TUE SEP 13 2005

...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WICHITA HAS ISSUED A SIGNIFICANT
WEATHER ADVISORY FOR ALLEN COUNTY...

AT 525 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
THAT THUNDERSTORMS WERE RAPIDLY DEVELOPING NEAR LA HARPE...OR 9
MILES EAST OF IOLA...AND MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

PENNY TO NICKEL SIZE HAIL...AND WINDS TO 50 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH
THESE STORMS.

BE PREPARED TO TAKE SHELTER IN THE EVENT THESE STORMS INTENSIFY AND
BECOME SEVERE, OR A WARNING IS ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER
SERVICE.

BOWMAN
Special weather statement, Sep 13, 5:29 PM CDT, 53 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
529 PM CDT TUE SEP 13 2005

KSZ095-096-132300-
NEOSHO-WILSON-
529 PM CDT TUE SEP 13 2005

...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WICHITA HAS ISSUED A SIGNIFICANT
WEATHER ADVISORY FOR NEOSHO AND WILSON COUNTIES...

AT 525 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A
STRONG THUNDERSTORM 7 MILES SOUTHWEST OF CHANUTE...AND MOVING
NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH.

PENNY TO NICKEL SIZE HAIL...AND WINDS TO 50 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH
THIS STORM.

BE PREPARED TO TAKE SHELTER IN THE EVENT THESE STORMS INTENSIFY AND
BECOME SEVERE, OR A WARNING IS ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER
SERVICE.

BOWMAN
Special weather statement, Sep 13, 5:31 PM CDT, 51 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
531 PM CDT TUE SEP 13 2005

KSZ094-132300-
ELK-
531 PM CDT TUE SEP 13 2005

...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WICHITA HAS ISSUED A SIGNIFICANT
WEATHER ADVISORY FOR ELK COUNTY...

AT 529 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A
STRONG THUNDERSTORM 10 MILES EAST OF LATHAM...OR 31 MILES SOUTHEAST
OF EL DORADO...AND MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH.

PENNY TO NICKEL SIZE HAIL...AND WINDS TO 50 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH
THIS STORM.

BE PREPARED TO TAKE SHELTER IN THE EVENT THESE STORMS INTENSIFY AND
BECOME SEVERE, OR A WARNING IS ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER
SERVICE.

BOWMAN
Local storm report, Sep 13, 5:46 PM CDT, 36 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
Local storm report, Sep 13, 5:46 PM CDT, 36 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
Local storm report, Sep 13, 5:59 PM CDT, 23 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
559 PM CDT TUE SEP 13 2005

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0546 PM     HAIL             HUMBOLDT                37.81N 95.44W
09/13/2005  4.25 INCH        ALLEN              KS   LAW ENFORCEMENT

            SOFTBALL SIZE HAIL ON THE GROUND

&&

REC

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.

Springfield, MO (KSGF), 12:00Z

11.4 hours before the tornado, 162 km from the path. September 13, 2005.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2005-09-13Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 379 joules per kilogram, CIN -121, lifted condensation level 1161 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, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2005-09-13The 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 93 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 17 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
379 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-121 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1161 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
17 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
93 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
173 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Springfield, MO (KSGF), 00:00Z

0.6 hours after it, 162 km from the path. September 14, 2005.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 2005-09-14Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1509 joules per kilogram, CIN -14, lifted condensation level 2064 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, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 2005-09-14The 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 44 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 32 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
1509 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-14 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1469 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2064 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
9 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
44 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
76 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.5
0-3 km lapse rate
8.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Parsons (PPF), 17 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 Tulsa radar (KINX), 145 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:21 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 2005 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of September 13, 2005

5 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
September 133:17 PM CDTF1La Crosse, WI2.065$10,000
September 134:57 PM CDTF0Barton, MO0.220
September 135:06 PM CDTF0Crawford, KS6.020
September 136:09 PM CDTF0Brown, WI1.950$10,000
September 136:38 PM CDTF0Elk, KS0.555

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.