Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2010
EF1 tornado, Shallow Water to Manning, Kansas, April 22, 2010
From Shallow Water to Manning, this EF1 tornado ran 7.2 miles across Scott County on April 22, 2010, touching down at 7:06 PM CDT and reaching 440 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $210,000 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
- April 22, 2010
- Touchdown
- 7:06 PM CDT (00:06 UTC)
- Lifted
- 7:19 PM CDT (00:19 UTC)
- On the ground
- 13 minutes
- Path length
- 7.2 miles (11.6 km)
- Path width
- 440 yards (402 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $210,000
- County
- Scott County
- Touchdown point
- 38.389, -100.965
- Lift-off point
- 38.453, -100.871
- Record number
- 1004221806-01
What the Weather Service recorded
A mid level s/wv trough lifted northeast across the area and produced widespread thunderstorms. A east/west frontal boundary was the focusing mechanism. Hail and tornadoes were reported.
This tornado quickly became a rain wrapped wedge but again there was very little for it to damage in the sparsely populated area.
This wedge tornado was witnessed by storm chasers and spotters and damaged several barns, sheds and 2 pivot irrigation sprinklers.
This was a smaller tornado that did not strike anything to damage.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
23 minutes of warning. NWS DDC issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:43 UTC, 23 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:15 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:35 UTC and running to 00:52 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18:35 UTC | 00:52 UTC | Tornado Watch | DDC |
| 22:44 UTC | 23:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | DDC |
| 23:16 UTC | 23:45 UTC | Tornado Warning | DDC |
| 23:43 UTC | 00:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | DDC |
| 00:15 UTC | 01:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | DDC |
| 00:44 UTC | 01:03 UTC | Tornado Warning | DDC |
| 00:52 UTC | 05:20 UTC | Tornado Watch | DDC |
| 01:50 UTC | 02:21 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:59 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.
Dodge City, (KDDC), 00:00Z
0.1 hours before the tornado, 115 km from the path. April 23, 2010.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 966 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -23 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 1672 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 773 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 64 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 29 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 320 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 401 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 2.4
- Supercell composite
- 12.4
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.1 K/km
Dodge City, (KDDC), 12:00Z
11.9 hours after it, 115 km from the path. April 23, 2010.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -91773 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1456 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 69 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 22 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 125 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 173 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.9 K/km
The radar
The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 111 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:05 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22:10 UTC | TORNADO | 2 Sw Lakin | Kearny, KS | |
| 22:39 UTC | TORNADO | 6 Nw Deerfield | Kearny, KS | |
| 22:55 UTC | HAIL 1 | 13 Wsw Friend | Kearny, KS | |
| 23:06 UTC | HAIL 2 | 13 Wsw Friend | Kearny, KS | |
| 23:11 UTC | TORNADO | 10 Wsw Friend | Finney, KS | |
| 23:13 UTC | TORNADO | 9 Ssw Friend | Finney, KS | STOVEPIPE TORNADO. |
| 23:22 UTC | TORNADO | 8 W Friend | Finney, KS | LARGE TORNADO WITH POSSIBLE SATELLITE TORNADO. |
| 23:26 UTC | TORNADO | 6 W Friend | Scott, KS | WEDGE TORNADO. |
| 23:32 UTC | TORNADO | 8 Wsw Shallow Water | Scott, KS | STORM CHASER REPORTED RAIN WRAPPED WEDGE TORNADO. |
| 23:44 UTC | TORNADO | 14 Nw Deerfield | Kearny, KS | STOVEPIPE TORNADO. |
| 00:07 UTC | TSTM WND GST 65 | Shallow Water | Scott, KS | |
| 00:07 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | Shallow Water | Scott, KS | |
| 00:09 UTC | HAIL 0.88 | W Scott City | Scott, KS | |
| 00:10 UTC | TSTM WND GST 82 | 1 Wnw Shallow Water | Scott, KS | FROM APRS WXNET. |
| 00:10 UTC | TORNADO | 4 S Scott City | Scott, KS | GRAIN BINS DAMAGED WITH TWO TOTALLY DESTROYED. BARN PARTIALLY COLLAPSED WITH PART OF ROOF TORN OFF. TREES AND POWERLINES DOWN TO THE RESIDENCE. |
| 00:12 UTC | HAIL 1.25 | W Scott City | Scott, KS | |
| 01:31 UTC | TSTM WND GST 60 | 4 W Garden City | Finney, KS | |
| 01:31 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | 4 W Garden City | Finney, KS | |
| 01:31 UTC | HAIL 0.88 | Holcomb | Finney, KS | |
| 01:37 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | Holcomb | Finney, KS |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2010 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of April 22, 2010
41 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 22 | 1:05 PM MDT | EF0 | Bent, CO | 4.7 | 100 | |||
| April 22 | 1:08 PM MDT | EF0 | Bent, CO | 2.5 | 50 | |||
| April 22 | 1:35 PM MDT | EF0 | Bent, CO | 0.6 | 50 | |||
| April 22 | 1:48 PM MDT | EF0 | Bent, CO | 1.9 | 150 | |||
| April 22 | 1:57 PM MDT | EF0 | Bent, CO | 0.6 | 50 | |||
| April 22 | 2:22 PM MDT | EF0 | Kiowa, CO | 3.4 | 50 | |||
| April 22 | 2:29 PM MDT | EF1 | Kiowa, CO | 7.2 | 200 | $1,000 | ||
| April 22 | 2:36 PM MDT | EF0 | Kiowa, CO | 0.4 | 50 | |||
| April 22 | 2:45 PM MDT | EF0 | Kiowa, CO | 2.6 | 50 | |||
| April 22 | 2:55 PM MDT | EF0 | Kiowa, CO | 0.7 | 25 | |||
| April 22 | 2:56 PM MDT | EF0 | Kiowa, CO | 1.4 | 50 | |||
| April 22 | 3:00 PM MDT | EF0 | Kiowa, CO | 1.2 | 75 | |||
| April 22 | 3:12 PM MDT | EF0 | Kiowa, CO | 1.2 | 50 | |||
| April 22 | 3:28 PM MDT | EF0 | Elbert, CO | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| April 22 | 3:38 PM MDT | EF0 | Adams, CO | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| April 22 | 4:48 PM CDT | EF1 | Kearny, KS | 9.4 | 1,760 | $180,000 | ||
| April 22 | 4:59 PM CDT | EF0 | Armstrong, TX | 1.8 | 50 | |||
| April 22 | 5:04 PM CDT | EF0 | Kearny, KS | 4.9 | 440 | |||
| April 22 | 5:10 PM CDT | EF0 | Donley, TX | 5.2 | 100 | |||
| April 22 | 5:20 PM CDT | EF1 | Armstrong, TX | 10.3 | 100 | $3,000 | ||
| April 22 | 4:24 PM MDT | EF0 | Cheyenne, CO | 2.3 | 75 | |||
| April 22 | 5:32 PM CDT | EF0 | Kearny, KS | 2.6 | 150 | |||
| April 22 | 5:38 PM CDT | EF0 | Gray, TX | 0.5 | 25 | |||
| April 22 | 4:40 PM MDT | EF0 | Cheyenne, CO | 1.4 | 50 | |||
| April 22 | 5:51 PM CDT | EF0 | Beaver, OK | 0.2 | 25 | |||
| April 22 | 6:07 PM CDT | EF0 | Donley, TX | 0.6 | 25 | |||
| April 22 | 6:10 PM CDT | EF1 | Finney, KS | 2.7 | 880 | $800 | ||
| April 22 | 5:12 PM MDT | EF0 | Cheyenne, CO | 2.6 | 75 | |||
| April 22 | 6:17 PM CDT | EF0 | Finney, KS | 0.9 | 75 | |||
| April 22 | 6:27 PM CDT | EF0 | Scott, KS | 3.3 | 440 | |||
| April 22 | 6:30 PM CDT | EF0 | Gray, TX | 4.0 | 440 | |||
| April 22 | 6:39 PM CDT | EF0 | Kearny, KS | 2.7 | 200 | |||
| April 22 | 6:40 PM CDT | EF0 | Gray, TX | 4.5 | 100 | |||
| April 22 | 5:52 PM MDT | EF0 | Cheyenne, CO | 1.1 | 25 | |||
| April 22 | 6:05 PM MDT | EF0 | Cheyenne, CO | 1.4 | 25 | |||
| April 22 | 7:20 PM CDT | EF2 | Motley, TX | 9.0 | 1,300 | $100,000 | ||
| April 22 | 7:40 PM CDT | EF0 | Scott, KS | 1.4 | 150 | |||
| April 22 | 7:46 PM CDT | EF3 | Cottle, TX | 12.3 | 975 | $300,000 | ||
| April 22 | 7:57 PM CDT | EF0 | Lane, KS | 3.7 | 150 | |||
| April 22 | 9:05 PM CDT | EF0 | Cottle, TX | 5.0 | 150 | |||
| April 22 | 9:21 PM CDT | EF0 | Gove, KS | 0.5 | 10 |
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.