Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2007
EF0 tornado, Hardtner to Uppdegraff, Kansas, May 6, 2007
From Hardtner to Uppdegraff, this EF0 tornado ran 1.3 miles across Barber County on May 6, 2007, touching down at 4:33 PM CDT and reaching 50 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.
EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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 6, 2007
- Touchdown
- 4:33 PM CDT (21:33 UTC)
- Lifted
- 4:37 PM CDT (21:37 UTC)
- On the ground
- 4 minutes
- Path length
- 1.3 miles (2.2 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Barber County
- Touchdown point
- 37.121, -98.667
- Lift-off point
- 37.140, -98.662
- Record number
- 0705061533-01
What the Weather Service recorded
Yet another day of severe weather and tornadoes occurred in south central Kansas. However, there were few tornadoes reported.
This rain wrapped tornado was over open range land. It may have damaged trees but the area was not accessible to a survey.
This was a separate tornado near a rain wrapped tornado. It was over open range land and did not strike anything. It was clearly away from trees or any objects to damage.
This was a rope shaped tornado that was over range land and did not damage anything.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
12 minutes of warning. NWS DDC issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:21 UTC, 12 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:45 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:40 UTC and running to 23:59 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15:48 UTC | 16:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DDC |
| 16:42 UTC | 17:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DDC |
| 19:40 UTC | 23:59 UTC | Tornado Watch | DDC |
| 21:21 UTC | 21:45 UTC | Tornado Warning | DDC |
| 21:45 UTC | 22:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | DDC |
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 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 20:01 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.
Lamont, OK (KLMN), 12:00Z
9.6 hours before the tornado, 120 km from the path. May 6, 2007.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 2828 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -8 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 2705 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 674 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 44 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 34 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 227 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 193 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 2.7
- Supercell composite
- 11.6
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.3 K/km
Lamont, OK (KLMN), 00:00Z
2.4 hours after it, 120 km from the path. May 7, 2007.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 2404 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -8 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 3545 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1058 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 32 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 17 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 116 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 129 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.9
- Supercell composite
- 6.1
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.6 K/km
The surface observations
Medicine_lodge (P28), 20 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19:56 UTC | 69 | 65 | 100° 10 kt | 1009.8 | ||
| 20:56 UTC | 72 | 66 | 120° 7 kt | 1008.5 | ||
| 21:56 UTC | 61 | 58 | 310° 15 kt | 35 | 1008.5 | |
| 22:25 UTC | 60.8 | 57.2 | 220° 18 kt | 40 | 1010.5 | SQ |
| 22:56 UTC | 62 | 57 | 190° 8 kt | 1009.1 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Vance AFB radar (KVNX), 64 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:32 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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18:50 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | Harper | Harper, KS | IN THE PROCESS OF DOING SOME EVACUATIONS IN THE CITY OF HARPER |
| 18:55 UTC | HAIL 0.88 | Anthony | Harper, KS | |
| 18:56 UTC | TSTM WND GST 0 | Anthony | Harper, KS | WINDS GUSTING TO 40 TO 50 MPH. |
| 18:56 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | Anthony | Harper, KS | GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL. |
| 21:25 UTC | TSTM WND GST 60 | 20 Ssw Medicine Lodge | Barber, KS | |
| 21:27 UTC | TORNADO | 15 Ssw Medicine Lodge | Barber, KS | LARGE TORNADO INITIALLY RAIN WRAPPED. |
| 21:32 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | 21 Wsw Medicine Lodge | Barber, KS | SMALL FUNNELS WENT DOWN AND BACK UP |
| 21:32 UTC | HAIL 0.88 | 21 Wsw Medicine Lodge | Barber, KS | |
| 21:40 UTC | TSTM WND GST 83 | 6 W Medicine Lodge | Barber, KS | |
| 21:40 UTC | TORNADO | 6 W Medicine Lodge | Barber, KS | ROPE TORNADO. |
| 22:52 UTC | HEAVY RAIN 4.9 | 2 Wsw Attica | Harper, KS | 4.9 INCHES MEASURED SINCE 5 THIS MORNING. |
| 00:23 UTC | HEAVY RAIN 2.78 | Anthony | Harper, KS | 2.78 INCHES OF RAIN SINCE 7 THIS MORNING. |
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 6, 2007
15 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 6 | 2:21 AM CDT | EF1 | Montgomery, IA | 7.4 | 300 | |||
| May 6 | 2:40 AM CDT | EF2 | Cass, IA | 7.4 | 830 | $1.0 million | ||
| May 6 | 4:37 AM CDT | EF1 | Guthrie, IA | 1.2 | 50 | $50,000 | ||
| May 6 | 4:45 AM CDT | EF0 | Union, IA | 4.2 | 50 | $75,000 | ||
| May 6 | 10:20 AM CDT | EF0 | Harper, KS | 1.0 | 50 | |||
| May 6 | 4:27 PM CDT | EF0 | Barber, KS | 3.0 | 300 | |||
| May 6 | 4:40 PM CDT | EF0 | Barber, KS | 1.4 | 50 | |||
| May 6 | 5:10 PM CDT | EF0 | Coke, TX | 1.9 | 30 | |||
| May 6 | 5:30 PM CDT | EF0 | Reno, KS | 4.2 | 75 | |||
| May 6 | 6:00 PM CDT | EF0 | Reno, KS | 0.5 | 40 | |||
| May 6 | 7:00 PM EDT | EF0 | Broward, FL | 1.9 | 75 | |||
| May 6 | 6:42 PM CDT | EF0 | Irion, TX | 0.4 | 25 | |||
| May 6 | 7:50 PM CDT | EF0 | Jefferson, NE | 1.0 | 300 | |||
| May 6 | 9:23 PM CDT | EF0 | Seminole, OK | 0.2 | 20 | $40,000 | ||
| May 6 | 9:38 PM CDT | EF0 | Seminole, OK | 0.2 | 20 | $15,000 |
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.