EF1 tornado, Oak Hill to Fact, Kansas, June 5, 2008

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

June 5, 2008

Touchdown

4:19 PM CDT (21:19 UTC)

Lifted

4:33 PM CDT (21:33 UTC)

On the ground

14 minutes

Path length

14.3 miles (23.1 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Clay County

Touchdown point

39.249, -97.361

Lift-off point

39.408, -97.188

Record number

0806051519-01

A line of thunderstorms with embedded supercells developed along a dry line and cold front during the late aternoon hours of June 5th, and raced eastward across the forecast area. Favorable shear profiles allowed storms to quickly become severe, and several tornadoes were reported across the warning area. Damage up to the magnitude of EF-1 was noted by storm surveyors, with damage to homes, outbuildings, and power poles noted across Clay, Marshall, and Brown counties. Strong winds also caused damage across other portions of the forecast area. Newspapers reported that nearly 6,000 Topeka residents lost power at some point the night of the 5th as a result of the storms. Nearly 6,500 people lost power in the town of Junction City in Geary County. In Clay County, 15 farms were damaged by the three tornadoes. Beyond the tornado damage, hail also caused problems by denting siding and crushing crops. Local newspapers reported that several farmers were reported to say they may need to replant portions of their corn and soybean fields. A threatening forecast calling for a widespread severe weather outbreak came to fruition. Beforehand, counties across northeast Kansas prepared for the worst. Shelters were set-up, specifically in Shawnee County, for residents who wanted to take early shelter from the storms.

Several homes and outbuildings were damaged when a tornado touched down northwest of Oak Hill. Porches, roofs, and windows were observed to have sustained the most damage at several of the residences. At one farm, the center pivot of an irrigation system was knocked over, as were several trees and power lines. One home was deemed a total loss, two camping trailers were completely destroyed, and four outbuildings were completely destroyed.

A second tornado struck when it touched down to the west southwest of Clay Center. Damage surveys indicated that the primary damage that occurred was to powerlines and outbuildings.

A third tornado touched down in Clay County the night of the 5th. The weak tornado caused window, roof, and siding damage to several homes along it's path. Storm surveyors also noted that several trees and outbuildings had also been damaged or destroyed.

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

9 minutes of warning. NWS TOP issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:10 UTC, 9 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 16:52 UTC and running to 00:19 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 High 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 20:18 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.

Concordia (CNK), 41 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Topeka radar (KTWX), 97 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:59 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 2008 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are

40 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.