Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2006
F1 tornado, Lawton to Waco, Kansas, April 6, 2006
From Lawton to Waco, this F1 tornado ran 5.0 miles across Cherokee and Jasper counties on April 6, 2006, touching down at 7:46 PM CDT and reaching 250 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $100,000 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.
F040 to 72 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mphthis tornado
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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
- F1
- Date
- April 6, 2006
- Touchdown
- 7:46 PM CDT (00:46 UTC)
- Path length
- 5.0 miles (8.0 km)
- Path width
- 250 yards (229 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $100,000
- Counties
- Cherokee and Jasper counties
- Touchdown point
- 37.230, -94.630
- Lift-off point
- 37.300, -94.570
- Record number
- 289
What the Weather Service recorded
A National Weather Service storm survey revealed that the beginning of a tornado track occurred just inside the Kansas and Missouri state line. The tornado was only in Cherokee County for about one mile prior to crossing into Jasper County Missouri. Only tree damage occurred in Cherokee County from this tornado.
This tornado is a continuation of the Cherokee County Kansas tornado. This tornado destroyed a few outbuildings across rural west central Jasper County.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
32 minutes of warning. NWS SGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:14 UTC, 32 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:58 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 22:55 UTC and running to 02:11 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 22:55 UTC | 02:11 UTC | Tornado Watch | SGF |
| 00:14 UTC | 00:58 UTC | Tornado Warning | SGF |
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 High Risk, with a 0.30 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 20:09 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.
Springfield, MO (KSGF), 00:00Z
0.8 hours before the tornado, 82 km from the path. April 7, 2006.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 571 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -132 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 513 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 665 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 59 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 23 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 198 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 212 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.4
- Supercell composite
- 4.2
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.2 K/km
Springfield, MO (KSGF), 12:00Z
11.2 hours after it, 82 km from the path. April 7, 2006.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -89043 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 2477 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 79 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 29 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 156 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 217 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.9 K/km
The radar
The Springfield radar (KSGF), 106 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:46 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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:14 UTC | TORNADO | 1 S Chetopa | Labette, KS | *** 12 INJ *** 2 HOMES WERE DAMAGED, 1 MOBILE HOME WAS DESTROYED, 1 TRACTOR TRAILOR WAS FLIPPED ON HIGHWAY 59. THE 12 INJURIES WERE MINOR AND ALL REFUSED TRANSPORTATION TO THE HOSPITAL. |
| 00:14 UTC | TORNADO | 1 S Chetopa | Labette, KS | *** 3 INJ *** MANUFACTURED HOME SUSTAINED SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE AND PRODUCED INJURIES. |
| 00:14 UTC | TORNADO | 1 S Chetopa | Labette, KS | *** 3 INJ *** MANUFACTURED HOME SUSTAINED SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE AND PRODUCED INJURIES. EMERGENCY MANAGER REPORTS 2-3 BLOCK WIDE DEBRIS SWATH FROM CHETOPA EAST TO THE COUNTY LINE. |
| 00:14 UTC | TORNADO | 1 W Chetopa | Labette, KS | TORNADO ON THE GROUND. |
| 00:16 UTC | TORNADO 0 | 4 S Faulkner | Cherokee, KS | NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STORM SURVEY INDICATED THAT A F0 TORNADO TRACK WAS FOUND IN SOUTHWEST CHEROKEE COUNTY WITH DAMAGE TO SEVERAL TREES. THIS PATH IS A CONTINUATION OF A TORNADO TRACK OUT OF LABETTE COUNTY...WHICH PA |
| 00:20 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | 2 N Melrose | Cherokee, KS | |
| 00:20 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 W Melrose | Cherokee, KS | HOMES DAMAGED AND POWERLINES DOWN. SEMI TRUCK BLOWN OFF ROAD NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF HIGHWAYS 122 AND 166. |
| 00:21 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | 2 N Melrose | Cherokee, KS | |
| 00:46 UTC | TSTM WND GST 60 | Frontenac | Crawford, KS | |
| 00:48 UTC | TORNADO 1 | 1 W Waco | Cherokee, KS | NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STORM SURVEY DISCOVERED THE BEGINNING OF A F1 TORNADO TRACK 1 MILE WEST OF WACO MISSOURI IN EXTREME EAST CENTRAL CHEROKEE COUNTY KANSAS. THIS TRACK MOVED TO THE NORTHEAST INTO JASPER COUNTY MISSO |
| 00:52 UTC | TORNADO | 2 Se Asbury | Jasper, MO | HOME DAMAGED AND TREES DOWN ACROSS ROAD AT COUNTY ROAD 290 AND NUTMEG. |
| 00:54 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | 1 Ne Asbury | Jasper, MO | TREES DOWN AND METAL WRAPPED AROND TREES. |
| 00:55 UTC | TORNADO 1 | 2 Se Asbury | Jasper, MO | NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STORM SURVEY CONCLUDED THAT A F1 TORNADO PATH CONTINUED FROM EAST CENTRAL CHEROKEE COUNTY INTO JAPSER COUNTY PASSING 2 MILES SOUTH/SOUTHEAST OF ASBURY ON HIGHWAY 171. THE TORNADO THEN TRACKED TO |
| 00:55 UTC | TORNADO 1 | 2 Se Asbury | Jasper, MO | NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STORM SURVEY CONCLUDED THAT A F1 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN 2 MILES SOUTH/SOUTHEAST OF ASBURY ON HIGHWAY 171. THE TORNADO THEN TRACKED TO 3 MILES EAST NORTHEAST OF ASBURY. THE TORNADO WAS APPROXIMATELY |
| 00:55 UTC | TORNADO | 4 Ne Asbury | Jasper, MO | TORNADO LOCATED AT THE INTERSECTION OF HIGHWAY 270 AND BASELINE ROAD. |
| 01:22 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 6 Nw Golden City | Barton, MO | TREE TOPS TAKEN OUT AND SMALL TREES DOWN. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2006 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of April 6, 2006
11 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 6 | 3:49 PM CDT | F0 | Osage, OK | 0.1 | 40 | |||
| April 6 | 3:53 PM CDT | F1 | Saline, KS | 2.6 | 200 | $70,000 | ||
| April 6 | 4:03 PM CDT | F1 | Dickinson, KS | 2.5 | 200 | $30,000 | ||
| April 6 | 4:13 PM CDT | F0 | Clay, KS | 1.0 | 100 | |||
| April 6 | 4:14 PM CDT | F0 | Clay, KS | 4.0 | 100 | $30,000 | ||
| April 6 | 4:40 PM CDT | F1 | Clay, KS | 9.0 | 880 | $100,000 | ||
| April 6 | 5:20 PM CDT | F2 | Washington, KS to NE | 17.3 | 440 | $750,000 | ||
| April 6 | 6:30 PM CDT | F0 | Gage, NE | 5.5 | 200 | $60,000 | ||
| April 6 | 7:05 PM CDT | F1 | Craig, OK to KS | 11.5 | 40 | 12 | $240,000 | |
| April 6 | 7:18 PM CDT | F0 | Haskell, OK | 0.1 | 40 | |||
| April 6 | 9:55 PM CDT | F0 | Newton, AR | 1.7 | 50 |
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.