EF1 tornado, Phillipsburg, Kansas, May 4, 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 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

EF1

Date

May 4, 2007

Touchdown

11:20 PM CDT (04:20 UTC)

Lifted

11:30 PM CDT (04:30 UTC)

On the ground

10 minutes

Path length

0.5 miles (0.8 km)

Path width

75 yards (69 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$75,000

County

Phillips County

Touchdown point

39.745, -99.337

Lift-off point

39.750, -99.344

Record number

0705042220-01

Thunderstorms rolled across northern Kansas during the evening. The storms mainly produced some gusty winds and hail up to the size of quarters. There were 2 tornadoes from these storms. The first happened near Gaylord where a twister briefly sat down. It picked up and damaged a center pivot. The other tornado took place in Phillipsburg. The tornado sat down on the west side of town and moved north-northwest. Damage was confined to roofs, trees, and outbuildings. Reports show that no injuries occurred.

The storm initially caused damage at the Phillipsburg airport to the windsock and supporting bracket. It then moved NNW resulting in damage to the western parts of the town. It is believed that the initial damage was due to straight-line winds from the airport to just east of the swimming pool (West H Street and West Park Street). At that point, evidence of a tornado was ascertained with damage continuing for approximately one-quarter mile. The width of the tornado damage was narrow, ranging from 30 to 75 yards. The tornado was rated EF-0 at the initial point of touchdown, and then increased to EF-1 near the intersection of Oak and West E Streets. The tornado damaged a few rooftops, a children���s outdoor play set, fencing, and broke a few windows. A few trees were uprooted near the Robinson Greenhouse.

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

7 minutes of warning. NWS GID issued a tornado warning for this county at 04:13 UTC, 7 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 04:40 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 00:26 UTC and running to 06:31 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 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 00:46 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.

Phillipsburg (PHG), 2 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 100 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 04:19 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

28 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.