Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2007

EF0 tornado, Hargrave, Kansas, May 31, 2007

This EF0 tornado ran 0.5 miles across Rush County on May 31, 2007, touching down at 8:25 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
May 31, 2007
Touchdown
8:25 PM CDT (01:25 UTC)
Lifted
8:26 PM CDT (01:26 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.5 miles (0.9 km)
Path width
30 yards (27 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Rush County
Touchdown point
38.590, -99.380
Lift-off point
38.590, -99.370
Record number
0705311925-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Severe thunderstorms produced high winds, hail and isolated tornadoes.

Brief tornado.

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

The warnings

4 minutes of warning. NWS DDC issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:21 UTC, 4 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 22:25 UTC and running to 03:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
22:25 UTC03:00 UTCTornado WatchDDC
23:18 UTC00:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningDDC
23:39 UTC00:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningDDC
00:00 UTC06:50 UTCFlood WatchDDC
00:29 UTC01:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningDDC
01:18 UTC02:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningDDC
01:21 UTC02:15 UTCTornado WarningDDC
01:21 UTC02:00 UTCTornado WarningDDC

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 01:09 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.

Dodge City, (KDDC), 00:00Z

1.4 hours before the tornado, 102 km from the path. June 1, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dodge City, at 00:00Z on 2007-06-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1853 joules per kilogram, CIN -8, lifted condensation level 1277 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, Dodge City, at 00:00Z on 2007-06-01The 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 74 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 41 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
1853 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-8 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3008 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1277 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
41 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
9 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
74 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
184 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.7
Supercell composite
6.4
0-3 km lapse rate
7.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Dodge City, (KDDC), 12:00Z

10.6 hours after it, 102 km from the path. June 1, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dodge City, at 12:00Z on 2007-06-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 32 joules per kilogram, CIN -224, lifted condensation level 847 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, Dodge City, at 12:00Z on 2007-06-01The 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 74 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 35 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
32 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-224 J/kg
Surface CAPE
66 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
847 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
74 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
287 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.6
0-3 km lapse rate
4.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 106 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:25 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
23:37 UTCHAIL 0.883 S EllisEllis, KS
23:39 UTCHAIL 0.883 S EllisEllis, KS
23:40 UTCHAIL 1.751 Nne Cedar BluffTrego, KS
23:59 UTCHAIL 111 S EllisEllis, KS
00:00 UTCHAIL 18 S HaysEllis, KS
00:05 UTCHAIL 2.753 S AntoninoEllis, KS
00:18 UTCHAIL 13 N Trego CenterTrego, KS
00:27 UTCHAIL 0.754 W LiebenthalRush, KS
00:28 UTCHAIL 1LiebenthalRush, KS
00:33 UTCHAIL 0.882 Wnw LiebenthalRush, KS
00:33 UTCHAIL 11 Nne LiebenthalRush, KS
00:34 UTCHAIL 0.753 E SchoenchenEllis, KS
00:43 UTCHAIL 18 S GorhamRussell, KSWINDS BETWEEN 55 AND 60 MILES AN HOUR
00:45 UTCTSTM WND GST 606 Nw GalatiaEllis, KS
01:01 UTCHAIL 0.753 N OtisRush, KS
01:03 UTCHAIL 0.754 Wnw GalatiaRush, KS
01:20 UTCTSTM WND GST 60SusankBarton, KS
01:25 UTCTORNADO4 Ne HargraveRush, KSRELAYED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT
01:30 UTCHAIL 1LiebenthalRush, KS
01:30 UTCHAIL 1.75HoisingtonBarton, KS
01:40 UTCTSTM WND GST 70HoisingtonBarton, KS
01:42 UTCHAIL 1OlmitzBarton, KS
01:50 UTCHAIL 2.751 N OtisRush, KS
02:17 UTCHAIL 110 Nw Great BendBarton, KS
02:25 UTCHAIL 0.7510 W Great BendBarton, KS
02:27 UTCHAIL 15 W Great BendBarton, KS
02:27 UTCHAIL 1Sw Great BendBarton, KS
02:47 UTCHAIL 0.52 E Great BendBarton, KS

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 May 31, 2007

10 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 313:10 PM CDTEF0Phillips, KS0.325
May 316:55 PM CDTEF0Cimarron, OK0.1100
May 317:11 PM CDTEF0Cimarron, OK0.3100
May 317:42 PM CDTEF0Texas, OK0.150
May 317:49 PM CDTEF0Texas, OK0.175
May 317:58 PM CDTEF0Texas, OK0.5150
May 318:06 PM CDTEF1Texas, OK5.3300$18,000
May 318:18 PM CDTEF0Hale, TX0.550
May 318:24 PM CDTEF0Texas, OK0.175
May 318:27 PM CDTEF0Floyd, TX0.350

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.