Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2006

F0 tornado, Garland to Nevada, Kansas, May 3, 2006

From Garland to Nevada, this F0 tornado ran 11.0 miles across Bourbon and Vernon counties on May 3, 2006, touching down at 3:53 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
May 3, 2006
Touchdown
3:53 PM CDT (20:53 UTC)
Path length
11.0 miles (17.7 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Counties
Bourbon and Vernon counties
Touchdown point
37.730, -94.700
Lift-off point
37.700, -94.520
Record number
460

What the Weather Service recorded

A National Weather Service storm survey revealed that a tornado touched down west of Garland and tracked across the Kansas and Missouri state line near Garland, eventually tracking to near Bronaugh Misosuri. This tornado caused weak intermittent damage to trees along its path.

This tornado is a continuation of the Bourbon County, Kansas tornado. A National Weather Service storm survey revealed that a weak tornado tracked out of Kansas and into rural western Vernon County. The tornado caused weak intermittent tree damage along its path.

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

The warnings

64 minutes of warning. NWS SGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 19:49 UTC, 64 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:00 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 20:00 UTC and running to 02:03 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
19:49 UTC21:00 UTCTornado WarningSGF
20:00 UTC02:03 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchSGF
22:54 UTC23:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSGF
23:04 UTC23:43 UTCTornado WarningSGF

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, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:03 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), 12:00Z

8.9 hours before the tornado, 116 km from the path. May 3, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2006-05-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1602 joules per kilogram, CIN -87, lifted condensation level 1017 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 2006-05-03The 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 100 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 18 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
1602 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-87 J/kg
Surface CAPE
245 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1017 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
100 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
133 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.9
0-3 km lapse rate
4.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Springfield, MO (KSGF), 00:00Z

3.1 hours after it, 116 km from the path. May 4, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 2006-05-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1050 joules per kilogram, CIN -6, lifted condensation level 1499 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 2006-05-04The 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 10 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 31 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
1050 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-6 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1671 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1499 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
5 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
10 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
67 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
0.8
0-3 km lapse rate
7.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Joplin (JLN), 63 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
18:53 UTC8260200° 7 kt1014.2
19:53 UTC8361190° 11 kt1013.2
20:53 UTC8260230° 7 kt1012.5
21:53 UTC8361190° 8 kt1012.2

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

The radar

The Springfield radar (KSGF), 119 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:55 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
20:12 UTCHAIL 0.88RedfieldBourbon, KS
20:25 UTCHAIL 13 Se RedfieldBourbon, KS
20:25 UTCHAIL 2.5Fort ScottBourbon, KSTENNIS BALL SIZE HAIL DAMAGED VEHICLE WINDOWS AT THE KDOT PARKING LOT SOUTH OF FORT SCOTT. A WALL CLOUD WAS ALSO OBSERVED WITH THIS STORM.
20:35 UTCHAIL 1.753 Sse Fort ScottBourbon, KS
20:45 UTCHAIL 14 Sw DeerfieldVernon, MO
20:53 UTCTORNADO4 W GarlandBourbon, KSNWS SURVEY REVEALED THAT AN F0 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN IN RURAL BOURBON COUNTY KANSAS AND TRACKED INTO VERNON COUNTY MISSOURI. MINOR DAMAGE TO TREES OCCURRED.
21:16 UTCHAIL 12 S DeerfieldVernon, MO
23:17 UTCHAIL 1.75Pawnee StationBourbon, KS
23:22 UTCTORNADO2 W FarlingtonCrawford, KSTRAINED SPOTTER OBSERVED TWO BRIEF TOUCHDOWNS JUST WEST OF FARLINGTON THE FUNNEL IS STILL VISIBLE.
23:35 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD2 S LiberalBarton, MOEMERGENCEY MANAGER OBSERVED FUNNEL CLOUD 2 MILES SOUTH OF LIBERAL
23:35 UTCTSTM WND GST 01 N LiberalBarton, MOESTIMATED WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH

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 May 3, 2006

4 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 31:57 PM CDTF0Oregon, MO2.020
May 36:09 PM CDTF0Crawford, KS0.130
May 36:25 PM CDTF0Barton, MO16.050
May 37:56 PM CDTF0Dade, MO8.025

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.