Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2006

F0 tornado, Wallace, Kansas, May 7, 2006

This F0 tornado ran 0.3 miles across Wallace County on May 7, 2006, touching down at 3:12 PM MDT and reaching 15 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 7, 2006
Touchdown
3:12 PM MDT (21:12 UTC)
Path length
0.3 miles (0.5 km)
Path width
15 yards (14 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Wallace County
Touchdown point
38.880, -101.620
Lift-off point
38.880, -101.620
Record number
491

What the Weather Service recorded

Tornado occurred over open fields...no known damage.

Tornado described as a thin rope and nearly stationary. Tornado occurred mostly over open fields but crossed near intersection of Road G and Road 26 in extreme eastern Wallace county. Tree limb debris was caught in power lines at this location.

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

The warnings

4 minutes of warning. NWS GLD issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:08 UTC, 4 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:45 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
20:59 UTC21:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLD
21:08 UTC21:45 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 Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:32 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.

Denver, CO (KDNR), 12:00Z

9.2 hours before the tornado, 177 km from the path. May 7, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Denver, CO at 12:00Z on 2006-05-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 6 joules per kilogram, CIN -130, lifted condensation level 2233 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 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, Denver, CO at 12:00Z on 2006-05-07The 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 11 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 25 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
6 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-130 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2233 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
25 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
7 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
11 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
30 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
6.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Denver, CO (KDNR), 00:00Z

2.8 hours after it, 177 km from the path. May 8, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Denver, CO at 00:00Z on 2006-05-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -35875, lifted condensation level 3314 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Denver, CO at 00:00Z on 2006-05-08The 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 37 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 15 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-35875 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
3314 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
15 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
10 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
37 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
35 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
7.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Goodland (GLD), 55 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
19:28 UTC55.448.2250° 16 kt321010.8+TSRA
19:32 UTC55.446.460° 15 kt321009.8+TSRA
19:38 UTC57.242.860° 16 kt261009.5TSRA
19:40 UTC55.442.840° 11 kt261009.5TSRA
19:53 UTC5744110° 9 kt1009.5TS
20:21 UTC5951.890° 8 kt1009.1
20:28 UTC595090° 8 kt1009.1VCTS
20:53 UTC565040° 9 kt151009.5-TSRA
21:14 UTC55.451.8 3 kt1009.5+TSRA BR
21:18 UTC60.844.6 3 kt1009.1VCTS +RA
21:27 UTC57.250130° 5 kt1008.8VCTS -RA
21:31 UTC57.251.8110° 7 kt1008.8VCTS -RA
21:53 UTC6153130° 11 kt151008.1
22:53 UTC5950140° 7 kt1007.5

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

The radar

The Goodland radar (KGLD), 55 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:11 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
21:12 UTCHAIL 1.751 Se WallaceWallace, KS
21:15 UTCTSTM WND DMG8 S WallaceWallace, KSPOWER POLES DOWN.
21:15 UTCTORNADO3 Sw WallaceWallace, KSTORNADO OBSERVED FROM 412 PM CDT TO 415 PM CDT
21:29 UTCTORNADO6 Sse WallaceWallace, KSTORNADO OBSERVED FROM 322 PM MDT TO 329 PM MDT. DESCRIBED AS A THIN ROPE AND NEARLY STATIONARY.
21:50 UTCHAIL 1.7512 Ssw Russell SpringsLogan, KS5 MILE STRETCH OF GOLF BALL HAIL ON HIGHWAY 25.
21:54 UTCHAIL 1.259 W Russell SpringsLogan, KSON HIGHWAY 40.
22:01 UTCHAIL 19 Sw Russell SpringsLogan, KSHAIL COMPLETELY COVERING THE GROUND
22:35 UTCHAIL 0.7514 Nw Scott CityScott, KS

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 7, 2006

10 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 71:23 PM EDTF0Orangeburg, SC12.060
May 71:35 PM EDTF0Bamberg, SC1.060
May 72:00 PM EDTF0Berkeley, SC0.130$10,000
May 73:22 PM MDTF0Wallace, KS0.625
May 76:53 PM CDTF0Finney, KS1.0150
May 78:40 PM CDTF1Haskell, KS3.5150
May 78:51 PM CDTF1Haskell, KS1.075
May 710:17 PM CDTF0Polk, MN0.225
May 710:40 PM CDTF0Cass, ND0.225
May 711:40 PM CDTF1Polk, MN0.550

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.