Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2007

EF0 tornado, Clinton, Kansas, March 30, 2007

This EF0 tornado ran 2.0 miles across Douglas County on March 30, 2007, touching down at 10:39 PM CDT and reaching 30 yards wide. It killed nobody.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

    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 mph

    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.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
March 30, 2007
Touchdown
10:39 PM CDT (03:39 UTC)
Lifted
10:41 PM CDT (03:41 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
2.0 miles (3.2 km)
Path width
30 yards (27 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Douglas County
Touchdown point
38.859, -95.459
Lift-off point
38.879, -95.433
Record number
0703302139-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Thunderstorms embedded within an MCS slid across northeast Kansas during the evening hours of March 30. Storms produced two tornadoes and some flash flooding but heavy rain, small hail, and gusty thunderstorm winds were the primary result of the evening convection.

One home was damaged by the tornado. Two large cedar trees snapped and fell onto the home. The garage door on the south side of the home failed, and the roof over the garage was lifted off the home. Additional tree damage was observed as the tornado moved northward. |The tornado was on the ground for about 2 miles and averaged 30 yards wide. The tornado was rated EF0 and was generated by a supercell thunderstorm.

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

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 00:57 UTC and running to 06:13 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
00:00 UTC08:51 UTCFlash Flood WatchTOP
00:57 UTC06:13 UTCTornado WatchTOP
03:58 UTC04:07 UTCTornado WarningTOP
04:03 UTC08:00 UTCFlash Flood WarningTOP
04:06 UTC08:00 UTCFlash Flood WarningTOP

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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:56 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.

Topeka, KS (KTOP), 00:00Z

3.7 hours before the tornado, 22 km from the path. March 31, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Topeka, KS at 00:00Z on 2007-03-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 312 joules per kilogram, CIN -53, lifted condensation level 786 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Topeka, KS at 00:00Z on 2007-03-31The 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 61 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 44 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
312 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-53 J/kg
Surface CAPE
583 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
786 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
44 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
8 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
61 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
154 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
0.5
0-3 km lapse rate
6.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Topeka, KS (KTOP), 12:00Z

8.3 hours after it, 22 km from the path. March 31, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Topeka, KS at 12:00Z on 2007-03-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 24 joules per kilogram, CIN -74, lifted condensation level 692 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Topeka, KS at 12:00Z on 2007-03-31The 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 169 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 46 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
24 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-74 J/kg
Surface CAPE
69 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
692 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
46 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
169 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
109 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Topeka (Foe) (FOE), 21 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
01:44 UTC62.660.8120° 10 kt171013.5RA BR
01:53 UTC636160° 16 kt201011.9RA BR
01:55 UTC62.660.850° 14 kt201011.5RA BR
02:02 UTC62.660.890° 13 kt181012.2-RA
02:39 UTC62.660.8100° 10 kt1012.5-RA
02:51 UTC62.660.890° 10 kt1012.2RA BR
02:53 UTC636190° 9 kt171012.2RA BR
03:16 UTC62.662.6140° 7 kt171012.5VCTS RA BR
03:24 UTC62.662.6130° 8 kt1012.9VCTS +RA BR
03:43 UTC60.853.6160° 13 kt281011.9-TSRA
03:50 UTC60.853.6170° 10 kt1011.5-TSRA
03:53 UTC6055180° 8 kt1011.2-TSRA
04:11 UTC57.255.4100° 5 kt1011.2-RA
04:23 UTC57.255.4110° 4 kt1011.2-TSRA
04:42 UTC5957.2240° 3 kt1011.2-RA
04:50 UTC60.857.2230° 4 kt1010.8-RA
04:53 UTC6057230° 3 kt1010.8-RA
05:29 UTC60.857.2130° 3 kt1009.8-RA
05:37 UTC60.857.2100° 5 kt1009.5-RA

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

The radar

The Topeka radar (KTWX), 70 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:39 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
01:01 UTCHAIL 0.758 Sw OsawatomieMiami, KS
03:12 UTCFLASH FLOODN Osage CityOsage, KSWATER 2 FEET DEEP REPORTED RUNNING OVER HWY 56 BETWEEN OSAGE CITY AND BURLINGAME
04:08 UTCFLASH FLOODTopekaShawnee, KSCOUPLE CARS STALLED IN WATER AT 200TH BLOCK SE GOLDEN IN TOPEKA.

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

This ground now

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

The other tornadoes of March 30, 2007

11 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 3010:03 AM CDTEF0Hays, TX0.250
March 3010:25 AM CDTEF0Hays, TX0.350
March 3011:20 AM CDTEF0Eastland, TX1.030
March 3012:02 PM CDTEF0Nolan, TX7.2751$14,000
March 3012:43 PM CDTEF0Erath, TX1.030
March 303:55 PM CDTEF0Bell, TX2.530
March 304:36 PM CDTEF1Coryell, TX3.130$35,000
March 304:40 PM CDTEF1McLennan, TX2.030$500,000
March 306:00 PM CDTEF0McLennan, TX0.530
March 309:20 PM CDTEF0Collin, TX0.840$500,000
March 309:28 PM CDTEF0Morris, KS2.820

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.