EF3 tornado, Jetmore to Laird, Kansas, March 28, 2007

1. EF065 to 85 mph

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. EF186 to 110 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 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. EF3136 to 165 mphthis tornado

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. EF4166 to 200 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. EF5over 200 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.

Rating

EF3

Date

March 28, 2007

Touchdown

9:01 PM CDT (02:01 UTC)

Lifted

9:50 PM CDT (02:50 UTC)

On the ground

49 minutes

Path length

29.1 miles (46.8 km)

Path width

1,320 yards (1207 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$535,000

Counties

Hodgeman and Ness counties

Touchdown point

38.080, -100.074

Lift-off point

38.493, -100.109

Record number

0703282001-01

Major tornado outbreak and severe weather swept across parts of western Kansas. Fortunately, there were no injuries or fatalities despite major destruction.

This large tornado destroyed three homes and did damage to one other. Hundreds of power poles were broken along with a handful of pivot irrigation sprinklers and barns. Trees also sustained major damage. There were also at least 50 head of cattle dead from this tornado in Hodgeman county. Parts of the debris from a shed were found 40 miles north. A wedding book registry was found intact 34 miles from the original location in a home that was destroyed. This tornado continued into Ness county at 925 PM CDT.

This tornado originated in Hodgeman county and entered Ness county at 925 PM. This large tornado destroyed or heavily damaged 5 homes in Ness county. Hundreds of power poles were broken along with 7 pivot irrigation sprinklers and lots of damage to trees. There were also at least 20 head of cattle dead from this tornado in Ness county.

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

17 minutes of warning. NWS DDC issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:44 UTC, 17 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 21:00 UTC and running to 04:51 UTC.

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 Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 00:42 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 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 (DDC), 59 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 59 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:59 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.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

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

The live radar over the trackEvery 2007 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are

65 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 66 of them

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.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.