Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2009

EF1 tornado, Windom to Mc Pherson, Kansas, June 20, 2009

Name: EF1 tornado, Windom to Mc Pherson, Kansas, June 20, 2009
Start: 2009-06-21T00:55:00.000Z
End: 2009-06-21T00:59:00.000Z
Location: Windom to Mc Pherson, Kansas

From Windom to Mc Pherson, this EF1 tornado ran 0.9 miles across McPherson County on June 20, 2009, touching down at 7:55 PM CDT and reaching 75 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $75,000 of property damage.

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 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado
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: EF1
Date: June 20, 2009
Touchdown: 7:55 PM CDT (00:55 UTC)
Lifted: 7:59 PM CDT (00:59 UTC)
On the ground: 4 minutes
Path length: 0.9 miles (1.4 km)
Path width: 75 yards (69 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $75,000
County: McPherson County
Touchdown point: 38.364, -97.845
Lift-off point: 38.367, -97.830
Record number: 0906201855-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Strong to severe thunderstorms ignited across portions of central, south-central and east-central Kansas during the afternoon and evening hours on the 20th, along and north of a warm front. The thunderstorms became supercellular as they moved north of the warm front, producing a handful of tornadoes across portions of Barton, McPherson and Marion counties. Severe straight-line winds also slammed the community of McPherson, producing some damage across town.

Tornado moved across a farmstead and destroyed a barn, toppled a tractor trailer, and threw two grain bins out into the wheat field.

Three barns were completely destroyed, a silo was blown into a cornfield, a center-pivot irrigation system was destroyed, and 26 power poles were downed. Additionally, an SUV was thrown into a wheat field. The McPherson Sentinel contributed to this report.

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

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 20, 6:47 PM CDT, 1 hour 8 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 20, 6:47 PM CDT, 1 hour 8 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
647 PM CDT SAT JUN 20 2009

.AVIATION...00Z TAFS KRSL/KSLN/KHUT/KICT/KCNU

AREA OF CONVECTION ACROSS SOUTHWEST KS CONTINUES TO MOVE RAPIDLY TO
THE NORTH TOWARDS KRSL AND KSLN TAF SITES AT THIS TIME.  THIS AREA
OF TSRA IS ALONG A MESOSCALE CONVECTIVE VORTICITY (MCV) MAX
CURRENTLY MOVING NORTH INTO KS AT THIS TIME OUT OF OK. EXPECT THIS
AREA OF CONVECTION TO AFFECT THE KRSL/KSLN AND KHUT TAF SITES FOR
THE FIRST 4 TO 5 HOURS OF THE TAF TIME FRAME WITH A VCTS GROUP AND A
TEMPO GROUP FOR SOME MVFR VISIBILITIES AND CEILINGS AS THIS AREA OF
CONVECTION MOVES ACROSS. MOST OF THE CONVECTION WILL END AFTER
04-05Z/SUN ACROSS CENTRAL KS AS MAIN WARM FRONT AND MCV CONTINUE TO
TREK TO THE NORTH OF THE AREA.

THE REST OF THE AREA WILL SEE GENERALLY IMPROVING TAF CONDITIONS TO
VFR AS THE OVERNIGHT PROGRESSES.

KETCHAM

&&

.PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 306 PM CDT SAT JUN 20 2009/

DISCUSSION...

MAIN FORECAST CHALLENGE WILL BE PRECIP CHANCES TONIGHT INTO SUN.

TONIGHT-SUN:
WATER VAPOR IMAGERY SHOWS A PRONOUNCED UPPER WAVE LIFTING NORTH OVER
EASTERN CO WITH ANOTHER PIECE OF ENERGY ROTATING ACROSS SOUTHERN NV.
THE LARGE AREA OF RAIN THIS MORNING/AFTERNOON WAS THE RESULT OF THE
UPPER WAVE LIFTING ACROSS EASTERN CO COMBINED WITH PLENTY OF
DIFFLUENCE ACROSS THE AREA. SOME ADDITIONAL CONVECTION HAS DEVELOPED
ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL KS AS THE AIRMASS SOUTH OF THE PRECIP HAS
QUICKLY RECOVERED AND BECOME UNCAPPED. FEEL THAT AFTER SUNSET ANY
CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY WILL BE ON THE DECREASE WITH CENTRAL KS HAVING
THE BEST SHOT AT PRECIP THIS EVENING. ONE OF THE FEW CHANGES TO THE
GOING FORECAST WAS TO INSERT A SLIGHT CHANCE FOR STORMS OVER SE KS
FOR SUN AFTERNOON. NAM...GFS...UKMET AND LOCALLY RUN WRF HAS BEEN
CONSISTENT IN PRODUCING SOME LIGHT PRECIP IN THIS AREA OVER THE LAST
FEW RUNS. THIS AREA LOOKS TO BE UNDER THE RIGHT ENTRANCE REGION OF
AN UPPER JET WITH THE NAM SHOWING A NICE AREA OF UPPER DIFFLUENCE.
WITH SURFACE CONVERGENCE BASICALLY NIL...NOT EXPECTING MUCH IN THE
WAY OF PRECIP COVERAGE.

A WARMING TREND WILL COMMENCE ON SUN WITH 1000-850MB THICKNESSES
SUPPORTING 95-100 DEGREES. HOWEVER WITH SATURATED GROUND WILL STICK
CLOSER TO THE LOWER END OF GUIDANCE.

MON-TUE:
MODELS HAVE BEEN CONSISTENT OVER THE LAST SEVERAL DAYS IN
BUILDING-IN AN UPPER RIDGE THROUGH THESE PERIODS AND THIS CONTINUES
TO LOOK LIKE THE CASE. THE AIRMASS WILL CONTINUE TO WARM THROUGH
THESE PERIODS WITH AT LEAST THE WESTERN HALF OF THE FORECAST AREA
HAVING A DECENT SHOT TO REACH THE CENTURY MARK ON BOTH DAYS.

WED-SAT:
BOTH THE ECMWF AND GFS DROP DOWN SOME SHORTWAVE ENERGY OVER THE
DESERT SOUTHWEST ON THU WHICH WILL HELP TO WEAKEN THE UPPER RIDGE
SLIGHTLY. THE GFS IS A BIT MORE AGGRESSIVE THAN THE ECMWF IN
BREAKING DOWN THE RIDGE TOWARD THE END OF THE WEEK WHICH IS A RESULT
OF TRACKING A STRONGER SHORTWAVE OVER THE NORTHERN ROCKIES. MEDIUM
RANGE MODELS BOTH AGREE ON TRANSITIONING TO MORE OF A NW FLOW
PATTERN BY THE WEEKEND BUT AT THIS POINT DO NOT FEEL CONFIDENT
ENOUGH TO START INSERTING PRECIP CHANCES. CONFIDENCE REMAINS HIGH
THAT ABOVE NORMAL TEMPS WILL REMAIN IN PLACE THROUGH AT LEAST FRI.

LAWSON

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
WICHITA-KICT    73  94  74  98 /  30  10  10  10
HUTCHINSON      71  95  73  99 /  40  10  10  10
NEWTON          72  94  73  98 /  30  10  10  10
ELDORADO        73  93  73  98 /  20  10  10  10
WINFIELD-KWLD   74  94  74  98 /  20  10  10  10
RUSSELL         67  95  71 100 /  50  10  10  10
GREAT BEND      68  95  72 100 /  50  10  10  10
SALINA          72  97  73  99 /  40  10  10  10
MCPHERSON       72  95  73  99 /  40  10  10  10
COFFEYVILLE     74  92  74  97 /  20  20  10  10
CHANUTE         73  92  74  96 /  20  20  10  10
IOLA            73  92  73  96 /  20  20  10  10
PARSONS-KPPF    74  92  74  96 /  20  20  10  10

&&

.ICT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NONE.
&&

Hazardous weather outlook, Jun 20, 5:55 PM CDT, 2 hours before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
555 PM CDT SAT JUN 20 2009

KSZ032-033-047>053-067>072-082-083-091>096-098>100-211800-
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-
555 PM CDT SAT JUN 20 2009

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

.DAY ONE...TONIGHT

STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE THIS EVENING FOR LOCATIONS
GENERALLY ALONG AND WEST OF INTERSTATE 135. NICKLE SIZE HAIL AND
WINDS TO 50 MPH WILL BE THE MAIN THREATS. IN ADDITION...DUE TO THE
EXTREMELY MOIST LOW LEVELS...A FEW OF THE STRONGER STORMS MAY
PRODUCE SOME BRIEF FUNNEL CLOUDS. BRIEF HEAVY RAINFALL WILL ALSO
ACCOMPANY MOST OF THE STORMS THIS EVENING WHICH MAY CAUSE SOME
LOCALIZED FLOODING.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY

THERE WILL BE A SLIGHT CHANCE FOR ISOLATED STRONG STORMS ON SUNDAY
AFTERNOON FOR SOUTHEAST KANSAS. HEAT INDICES AREAWIDE ON SUNDAY
AFTERNOON WILL BE NEAR 100 DEGREES.

HIGHER LEVELS OF HEAT AND HUMIDITY WILL AFFECT MUCH OF REGION FOR
NEXT WEEK...WITH HEAT INDICES AROUND 100 DEGREES FOR SUNDAY AND
MONDAY. THE HEAT INDICES COULD APPROACH 105 DEGREES FOR TUESDAY
AND WEDNESDAY AFTERNOONS.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED TONIGHT.

&&

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

KED/CJ/LAWSON

In the hours before

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Local storm report, Jun 20, 7:15 PM CDT, 40 minutes before

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Special weather statement, Jun 20, 7:31 PM CDT, 24 minutes before

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Local storm report, Jun 20, 7:34 PM CDT, 21 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
734 PM CDT SAT JUN 20 2009

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

0725 PM     TSTM WND GST     13 E STERLING           38.21N 97.97W
06/20/2009  E60 MPH          RICE               KS   EMERGENCY MNGR

            SMALL TREE LIMBS DOWN.

&&

LFW

Local storm report, Jun 20, 7:52 PM CDT, 3 minutes before

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The surface observations

Hutchinson (HUT), 33 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.

The radar

The Wichita radar (KICT), 86 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:55 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.

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 20, 2009

14 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
June 20	3:31 PM EDT	EF0	Harford, MD	1.0	100
June 20	3:44 PM EDT	EF1	Baltimore, MD	5.0	150
June 20	2:40 PM PDT	EF0	Elko, NV	0.2	50
June 20	3:00 PM PDT	EF0	Elko, NV	0.3	50
June 20	5:44 PM CDT	EF0	Kiowa, KS	1.0	50
June 20	6:10 PM CDT	EF0	Coffey, KS	1.4	25
June 20	6:17 PM CDT	EF1	Pawnee, KS	5.0	100		$50,000
June 20	7:11 PM CDT	EF0	Franklin, KS	0.3	25
June 20	7:22 PM CDT	EF0	Lane, KS	4.2	50
June 20	7:44 PM CDT	EF0	Barton, KS	1.2	50	2	$75,000
June 20	8:05 PM CDT	EF0	McPherson, KS	4.5	100		$200,000
June 20	8:45 PM CDT	EF0	Marion, KS	0.9	75		$100,000
June 20	9:10 PM CDT	EF0	Lincoln, KS	1.2	55
June 20	9:12 PM CDT	EF0	Lincoln, KS	0.4	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.