Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2009

EF0 tornado, Cedar Pt, Kansas, June 15, 2009

Name: EF0 tornado, Cedar Pt, Kansas, June 15, 2009
Start: 2009-06-16T00:20:00.000Z
End: 2009-06-16T00:23:00.000Z
Location: Cedar Pt, Kansas

This EF0 tornado ran 1.3 miles across Chase County on June 15, 2009, touching down at 7:20 PM CDT and reaching 75 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: June 15, 2009
Touchdown: 7:20 PM CDT (00:20 UTC)
Lifted: 7:23 PM CDT (00:23 UTC)
On the ground: 3 minutes
Path length: 1.3 miles (2.1 km)
Path width: 75 yards (69 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
County: Chase County
Touchdown point: 38.280, -96.850
Lift-off point: 38.291, -96.831
Record number: 0906151820-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A significant severe weather episode developed across portions of Kansas on the evening of June 15th, 2009, into the early morning hours of June 16th. Supercells developed in the warm sector across South Central and Central Kansas as a warm front moved to the north into northern Kansas. This event was highlighted by several tornado touchdowns across Butler County, Kansas, that fortunately produced little damage. The storms eventually turned into prolific wind damage producers as the overnight continued, as the high precipitation supercells moved into Hutchinson and Wichita. This was the second time within a two week period (the other, June 7th, 2009) that Hutchinson received significant wind damage, with some areas getting hit from both storms.

The tornado moved over open country and caused no damage.

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

The forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Moderate Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:52 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.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Wichita, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Jun 15, 7:04 PM CDT, 16 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 15, 7:04 PM CDT, 16 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
704 PM CDT MON JUN 15 2009

.AVIATION...00Z TAFS KRSL/KSLN/KHUT/KICT/KCNU
THE MAIN CONCERN WITH THIS TAF ISSUANCE IS THE TIMING OF WHEN THE
THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE INTO THE AREA. LATEST RADAR LOOP WAS
SHOWING NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS MOVING THROUGH CENTRAL AND SOUTH
CENTRAL KANSAS. THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO PUSH EAST AND
AFFECT THE MAJORITY OF THE TAF SITES THIS EVENING. THIS COMPLEX
MAY STILL ORGANIZE INTO AN MESOSCALE CONVECTIVE SYSTEM AS THE
EVENING PROGRESSES AND INCREASE THE POTENTIAL FOR WIND DAMAGE.
AFTER THIS COMPLEX OF STORMS MOVES THROUGH WE ARE LOOKING AT
CLEARING SKIES WITH SOME SCATTERED 1500FT STRATUS POSSIBLE TOWARDS
DAYBREAK.

COX
&&

.PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 316 PM CDT MON JUN 15 2009/

DISCUSSION...

THE MAIN CONCERN WITH THIS FORECAST PACKAGE WILL BE THE SEVERE STORM
POTENTIAL THIS EVENING...THEN AGAIN ON THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY.

TONIGHT:
LATEST VISIBLE IMAGERY WAS SHOWING A CLUSTER OF SHOWERS AND ISOLATED
THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING OVER WESTERN OKLAHOMA. THIS ACTIVITY LOOKS
TO BE RATHER CAPPED AND ELEVATED AT THIS TIME...AND MAY REMAIN THAT
WAY THROUGH MUCH OF THE AFTERNOON. HOWEVER...LOOKING AT THE LATEST
LAPS ANALYSIS IT APPEARS LIKE THE MIXED LAYER CONVECTIVE INHIBITION
IS LESS ACROSS AREAS EAST OF THE TURNPIKE. IF THIS CLUSTER CAN HOLD
TOGETHER...THEN IT MAY BE ABLE TO BECOME SEVERE ONCE IT MOVES INTO
AREAS OF THE TURNPIKE. ALTHOUGH...WE ARE NOT REAL CONFIDENT IN THIS
OCCURRING.  THE MAIN FOCUS APPEARS TO BE IN SOUTHWEST KANSAS
STRETCHING INTO THE TEXAS PANHANDLE WHERE QUITE A BIT OF CUMULUS
DEVELOPMENT IS TAKING PLACE IN ASSOCIATION WITH AN UPPER LEVEL
POTENTIAL VORTICITY ANOMALY. THIS POTENTIAL VORTICITY ANOMALY SHOULD
STIR UP QUITE A BIT CONVECTION THIS AFTERNOON IN WESTERN KANSAS AND
THE OKLAHOMA PANHANDLE THIS AFTERNOON. PUTTING ALL OF THIS TOGETHER
IT APPEARS LIKE WE COULD SEE A FEW ISOLATED STORMS LATE THIS
AFTERNOON...EARLY THIS EVENING. IF THESE STORMS DEVELOP...THEY WILL
MOST LIKELY BE SUPERCELLULAR WITH EVEN AN ISOLATED TORNADO
THREAT...ESPECIALLY IF THE LOW LEVEL FLOW BACKS AHEAD OF THE CELLS.
LATER TONIGHT IS A TOUGH CALL ON THE TRACK OF THE MESOSCALE
CONVECTIVE SYSTEM (MCS). AT THIS POINT...WE DO NOT FEEL COMFORTABLE
ENOUGH TO FOCUS ON ANY PARTICULAR AREA. ALTHOUGH...THE BEST CHANCE
FOR A LONG LIVED MCS APPEARS TO BE IN CENTRAL KANSAS ON THE SOUTHERN
EDGE OF WESTERLIES. SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST KANSAS ON THE OTHER
HAND IS NOT OUT OF THE WOODS ESPECIALLY WITH SUCH HIGH INSTABILITY
IN PLACE...GOOD 850MB STORM RELATIVE FLOW. A STRONG COLD POOL COULD
ALSO DEVELOP WHICH MAY CAUSE A PROLONGED WIND EVENT. WE ALSO WENT
AHEAD AND ISSUED A FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR THE ENTIRE AREA
TONIGHT...DUE TO HIGH PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES IN PLACE.

TUESDAY-TUESDAY NIGHT:
THE BULK OF THE CONVECTION SHOULD MOVE OUT OF THE PICTURE MAINLY
BEFORE DAYBREAK ON TUESDAY...BUT THERE MAY BE A FEW LINGERING
SHOWERS AND STORMS IN SOUTHEAST KANSAS. THE REMAINDER OF THE AREA
WILL SEE A FAIRLY NICE DAY WITH COOLER CONDITIONS. THERE IS A SMALL
CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS LATE TUESDAY NIGHT AS SOME
ISENTROPIC LIFT DEVELOPS ALONG A BAROCLINIC ZONE BETWEEN 310-315K.
HOWEVER... THERE IS NOT MUCH IN THE WAY OF UPPER LEVEL SUPPORT. WITH
SOME INSTABILITY IN PLACE...WE PLAN ON KEEPING SMALL CHANCES OF
THUNDERSTORMS MAINLY AFTER MIDNIGHT.

WEDNESDAY-MONDAY:
THE NEXT STORM SYSTEM APPEARS TO MOVE OUT OF THE ROCKIES THURSDAY
NIGHT AND FRIDAY MORNING. THIS STORM SYSTEM WILL PUSH THE FRONTAL
BOUNDARY SOUTH THROUGH THE AREA. AS A RESULT...MORE STRONG TO SEVERE
STORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE DURING THIS TIMEFRAME. BEYOND THIS
PERIOD...THE UPPER LEVEL RIDGE IS EXPECTED TO BUILD OVER THE AREA
AND BRING BACK HOT AND HUMID CONDITIONS THIS WEEKEND.

COX

AVIATION...18Z TAFS KRSL/KSLN/KHUT/KICT/KCNU
A STATIONARY BOUNDARY SPANS MUCH OF THE NORTHERN SECTIONS OF THE
FORECAST AREA. THIS AREA WILL BE THE FOCUS OF A DECENT CUMULUS
FIELD. ELSEWHERE...WARM TEMPERATURES AND AN APPROACHING LOW
PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL PROVIDE THE POTENTIAL FOR THUNDERSTORMS LATE
THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS PORTIONS OF SOUTH CENTRAL AND CENTRAL
KANSAS. THESE STORMS COULD BE SEVERE WITH LARGE HAIL AND POSSIBLY
A TORNADO. LATER THIS EVENING AND OVERNIGHT...THE SURFACE LOW
CURRENTLY IN SW KANSAS WILL MOVE EASTWARD A KICK OFF ANOTHER ROUND
OF NOCTURNAL STORMS. ONCE AGAIN...LARGE HAIL WILL BE THE PRIMARY CULPRIT.

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
WICHITA-KICT    67  92  69  98 /  70  10  20  10
HUTCHINSON      65  91  68  98 /  70  10  20  10
NEWTON          66  91  68  95 /  70  20  20  20
ELDORADO        66  91  69  95 /  70  20  20  20
WINFIELD-KWLD   69  92  70  98 /  60  10  20  10
RUSSELL         64  88  66  98 /  80  10  20  10
GREAT BEND      64  89  67  99 /  80  10  20  10
SALINA          65  89  67  97 /  80  10  20  20
MCPHERSON       65  90  68  97 /  80  10  20  10
COFFEYVILLE     70  90  70  97 /  70  20  20  20
CHANUTE         68  89  69  94 /  70  20  20  20
IOLA            66  89  69  93 /  80  20  20  20
PARSONS-KPPF    69  90  70  95 /  70  20  20  20

&&

.ICT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
FLASH FLOOD WATCH THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING FOR KSZ032-033-047>053-
067>072-082-083-091>096-098>100.

&&

Hazardous weather outlook, Jun 15, 4:33 PM CDT, 2 hours 47 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
433 PM CDT MON JUN 15 2009

KSZ032-033-047>053-067>072-082-083-091>096-098>100-161000-
RUSSELL-LINCOLN-BARTON-ELLSWORTH-SALINE-RICE-MCPHERSON-MARION-CHASE-
RENO-HARVEY-BUTLER-GREENWOOD-WOODSON-ALLEN-KINGMAN-SEDGWICK-HARPER-
SUMNER-COWLEY-ELK-WILSON-NEOSHO-CHAUTAUQUA-MONTGOMERY-LABETTE-
433 PM CDT MON JUN 15 2009

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL...SOUTH
CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST KANSAS.

.DAY ONE...TONIGHT

A FEW ISOLATED SEVERE STORMS WILL DEVELOP OVER PORTIONS OF CENTRAL
AND SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS THIS EVENING. SOME OF THESE STORMS WILL BE
CAPABLE OF PRODUCING LARGE HAIL UP TO BASEBALL SIZE...DAMAGING
WINDS AND POSSIBLY A COUPLE OF TORNADOES. LATER TONIGHT A CLUSTER OF
STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP ACROSS
WESTERN KANSAS AND MOVE EAST THROUGH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST KANSAS.
THE PRIMARY THREAT WITH THIS CLUSTER OF STORMS WILL BE DAMAGING
WINDS AND LARGE HAIL. THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL ALSO PRODUCE HIGH
RAINFALL RATES WHICH MAY YIELD TO FLASH FLOODING. SEE THE LATEST
FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR FURTHER DETAILS.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY

A FEW STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE OVER THE AREA TUESDAY NIGHT.
THE MAIN THREAT WITH THESE STORMS WILL BE DIME SIZE HAIL AND GUSTY
WINDS UP TO 50 MPH. THE CHANCES ARE INCREASING THAT STRONG TO SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS WILL RETURN TO KANSAS THURSDAY NIGHT AS A COLD FRONT
SURGES SOUTHEAST ACROSS THE STATE. THEREFORE...ONE SHOULD MONITOR
LATER FORECASTS FOR FURTHER UPDATES.

HOT & VERY HUMID WEATHER WILL PESTER THE REGION THE MIDDLE OF THE
WEEK...ESPECIALLY WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY...WHEN AFTERNOON HEAT
INDICES ARE LIKELY TO REACH 100 TO 105.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED THIS EVENING AND
OVERNIGHT.

&&

FOR A GRAPHICAL VERSION OF THIS INFORMATION...SEE OUR WEBPAGE AT
(LOWERCASE) HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/WICHITA/HWO/HWO.PHP

COX/ES

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jun 15, 7:09 PM CDT, 11 minutes before

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Local storm report, Jun 15, 7:13 PM CDT, 7 minutes before

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Local storm report, Jun 15, 7:15 PM CDT, 5 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
715 PM CDT MON JUN 15 2009

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0708 PM     HAIL             1 W COTTONWOOD FALLS    38.37N 96.56W
06/15/2009  M1.00 INCH       CHASE              KS   TRAINED SPOTTER

            ALSO HAD 60 MPH WINDS

&&

MAH

Local storm report, Jun 15, 7:17 PM CDT, 3 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
717 PM CDT MON JUN 15 2009

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0708 PM     FLOOD            ELLINWOOD               38.36N 98.58W
06/15/2009                   BARTON             KS   EMERGENCY MNGR

            ON US 56 AND ON SOUTH MAIN ST IN ELLINWOOD

&&

MAH

Local storm report, Jun 15, 7:18 PM CDT, 2 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
718 PM CDT MON JUN 15 2009

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0716 PM     TSTM WND GST     5 E SYLVIA              37.97N 98.31W
06/15/2009  E70 MPH          RENO               KS   TRAINED SPOTTER

&&

REC

Local storm report, Jun 15, 7:20 PM CDT, 0 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
720 PM CDT MON JUN 15 2009

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0718 PM     TSTM WND GST     5 E SYLVIA              37.97N 98.31W
06/15/2009  E80 MPH          RENO               KS   TRAINED SPOTTER

&&

REC

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

0.3 hours before the tornado, 131 km from the path. June 16, 2009.

Skew-T log-p

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.

Hodograph

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: 3104 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -5 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 3738 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1259 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 43 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 7 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 49 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 134 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.4
Supercell composite: 8.6
0-3 km lapse rate: 7.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Newton (EWK), 46 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)	Temp (°F)	Dew point (°F)	Wind	Gust (kt)	Pressure (mb)	Weather
00:00 UTC

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

This ground now

The live radar over the track Every 2009 tornado in Kansas Every tornado in Kansas since 1950 Warnings in force in Kansas now The forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 15, 2009

30 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 15	1:49 AM CDT	EF0	Cowley, KS	2.7	100	$150,000
June 15	1:35 PM MDT	EF2	Elbert, CO	4.0	440	$100,000
June 15	2:04 PM MDT	EF0	Elbert, CO	0.1	50	$75,000
June 15	2:10 PM MDT	EF0	Elbert, CO	0.1	50
June 15	4:26 PM CDT	EF0	Ford, KS	0.6	75
June 15	4:32 PM CDT	EF0	Lincoln, NE	0.1	20
June 15	5:25 PM CDT	EF0	Edwards, KS	2.6	100
June 15	5:26 PM CDT	EF1	Ford, KS	0.5	100	$65,000
June 15	5:27 PM CDT	EF1	Ford, KS	1.7	250	$150,000
June 15	5:37 PM CDT	EF0	Edwards, KS	3.9	100
June 15	5:40 PM CDT	EF1	Edwards, KS	2.8	125	$1.5 million
June 15	5:56 PM CDT	EF1	Edwards, KS	3.4	350
June 15	6:03 PM CDT	EF2	Edwards, KS	11.6	1,400
June 15	6:23 PM CDT	EF0	Ochiltree, TX	0.3	50
June 15	6:45 PM CDT	EF0	Butler, KS	0.7	75
June 15	6:47 PM CDT	EF0	Butler, KS	0.8	75
June 15	6:50 PM CDT	EF0	Butler, KS	0.9	65
June 15	6:55 PM CDT	EF0	Butler, KS	0.8	50
June 15	6:58 PM CDT	EF0	Butler, KS	0.5	50
June 15	7:01 PM CDT	EF0	Butler, KS	0.8	65
June 15	7:04 PM CDT	EF0	Butler, KS	0.6	55
June 15	7:08 PM CDT	EF0	Butler, KS	0.7	50
June 15	7:17 PM CDT	EF0	Reno, KS	0.4	50
June 15	7:37 PM CDT	EF1	Stafford, KS	2.0	125
June 15	8:18 PM CDT	EF0	Adams, NE	0.7	250	$50,000
June 15	8:37 PM CDT	EF0	Buffalo, NE	0.1	20
June 15	8:40 PM CDT	EF0	Greenwood, KS	0.7	55
June 15	9:05 PM MDT	EF0	Stanley, SD	1.0	50
June 15	9:20 PM MDT	EF0	Stanley, SD	0.4	50
June 15	9:30 PM MDT	EF0	Stanley, SD	0.7	50

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.