Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2010

EF0 tornado, Gridley, Kansas, June 8, 2010

Name: EF0 tornado, Gridley, Kansas, June 8, 2010
Start: 2010-06-09T00:29:00.000Z
End: 2010-06-09T00:32:00.000Z
Location: Gridley, Kansas

This EF0 tornado ran 0.0 miles across Coffey County on June 8, 2010, touching down at 7:29 PM CDT and reaching 25 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 8, 2010
Touchdown: 7:29 PM CDT (00:29 UTC)
Lifted: 7:32 PM CDT (00:32 UTC)
On the ground: 3 minutes
Path length: 0.0 miles (0.0 km)
Path width: 25 yards (23 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
County: Coffey County
Touchdown point: 38.080, -95.880
Lift-off point: 38.080, -95.880
Record number: 1006081829-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Supercell T-storms developed late in the afternoon ahead of a cold front and along a warm front. The supercell storms produced very heavy rains and some strong wind reports. The storms also produced several weak tornadoes, however, little or no damage was reported. In fact, no photos exist of the tornadoes due to the small, short lived nature of the EF0 tornadoes. The moist air mass and relatively slow storm motion provided a favorable situation for thunderstorms to produce very heavy rainfall as well. Rainfall rates were estimated at 1 to 2 inches per hour with the heavier activity. Meanwhile, the very slow movement of the cold front allowed storms to repeatedly move over the same areas. This caused some extreme rainfall amounts estimated as high as 8 inches, and widespread flash flooding over much of east central Kansas.

A tornado was reported by the Gridley Fire Chief who relayed the report through county emergency management. The eyewitness account states that the circulation was on visible on the ground in a field for approximately 3 to 5 minutes while moving slowly east northeast. No damage was reported.

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 Topeka, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Jun 8, 3:04 PM CDT, 4 hours 25 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 8, 3:04 PM CDT, 4 hours 25 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
304 PM CDT TUE JUN 8 2010

.DISCUSSION...

FRONT SLIDING INTO THE CWA ATTM...WITH NW WIND SHIFTS NOTED AT FNB
SOUTHWEST THROUGH CNK AND K9K7 BACK THROUGH DDC.  WEAKER LEADING
IMPULSE ACROSS NC KS ATTM IS AHEAD OF STRONGER PUSH ACROSS THE
DAKOTAS.  DEWPOINTS IN THE LOWER 70S HAVE MADE IT NORTHWARD TO
AROUND I70 WITH SOME SHOWERS STARTING TO FORM I70 NORTHWARD. LAPS
INSTABILITY SUGGESTS CAPES AROUND 2500 INCREASE TO 3500 AND STILL
RISING. BULK SHEAR PROGGED AROUND 40KTS 0-6KM WITH 20KTS 0-1KM ALSO
NOTED.

ELEVATED ECHOES HAVE BEGUN WITH SURFACE BASED CELLS ANTICIPATED
WITHIN THE NEXT HOUR OR SO. INITIAL CONCERNS WITH STORM DEVELOPMENT
WILL BE HAIL AND ISOLD TORNADO THREAT CONSIDERING STEEP UPPER LAPSE
RATES...STRONG INSTABILITY AND LOW LCL HEIGHTS. AS FRONT MOVES ESE
EXPECT CELLS TO BECOME LINEAR IN NATURE AND WIND THREAT TO
INCREASE.  STILL SOMEWHAT PROGRESSIVE SO ANTICIPATE MOST SEVERE
THREAT TO END LATE EVENING WITH STRATIFORM PRECIP BEHIND THE FRONT
DECREASING INTO THE OVERNIGHT HOURS.

67

WEDNESDAY...SFC FRONT DROPS SOUTH OF THE FORECAST AREA...AND
ALLOWS FOR COOLER TEMPS AND LOWER TDS TO SLIDE INTO NORTHEAST
KANSAS. LEFT IN SLIGHT CHANCE POPS SOUTH OF A COUNCIL GROVE TO
OTTAWA LINE NEAREST THE POTENTIAL INFLUENCE OF SFC FRONT.
WEDNESDAY NIGHT...AFTERNOON CONVECTION OVER WY/CO/NE 3 STATE AREA
EXPECTED TO CONGEAL INTO ANOTHER MCS. PENDING INITIAL DEVELOPMENT
AREA...FORWARD PROPOGATING CORFIDI VECTORS STEER THE COMPLEX EAST-
SOUTHEASTWARD...WITH THE GFS WIND FIELD A BIT MORE VEERED THAN THE
NAM AFTER 09Z. WILL MAINTAIN LOW CHANCE POPS...BEST NORTH WHERE
MEDIUM RANGE MODEL GUIDANCE CURRENTLY DEPICTS THE COMPLEX
TRACKING.

THURSDAY...LINGERING POST-MCS PRECIP POSSIBLE DURING THE MORNING
HOURS. BY LATE MORNING/AFTERNOON...H5 RIDGING BUILDS ALOFT. WELL
CAPPED ATMOSPHERE AND NO DISCERNIBLE FEATURE TO PROVIDE FORCING FOR
ASCENT WILL KEEP THE DAY DRY. STRONG SOUTHERLY FLOW AHEAD OF
DEVELOPING LEE TROUGH BOOSTS MAX TEMPS BACK TO NEAR 90 AREA-WIDE.
THURSDAY NIGHT...DEVELOPING 850MB LLJ NOSING INTO NORTH CENTRAL KS
AND SOUTH CENTRAL NE SHOULD BRING WIDESPREAD TSRA TO THE AREA.
TRENDED BEST POPS NORTH OF I-70 WHERE COOLER 700MB TEMPS AND STEEPER
MIDLEVEL LAPSE RATES WILL BE IN PLACE.

FRIDAY THROUGH SATURDAY...H5 TROUGH CONTINUES TO DIG INTO THE DESERT
SW. MEANWHILE...CLOSED CIRCULATION OVER TEXAS THAT HAS BEEN NEARLY
STATIONARY AS OF LATE WILL LIFT NORTHWARD INTO WESTERN MISSOURI
FRIDAY MORNING. MAINTAINED SLIGHT CHANCE POPS TO ACCOUNT FOR THIS
FEATURE...ALTHOUGH 08/12Z MODELS HAVE EJECTED THE LOW A BIT
FURTHER EAST THAN PREVIOUSLY NOTED. SEVERAL LOBES OF ENERGY LIFT
NORTHEASTWARD THROUGH THE MEAN SWERY FLOW OVER THE CENTRAL PLAINS
STATES...MAINLY IMPACTING WESTERN KS/NE. LEE TROUGH/SFC SFC LOW
SIMILARLY REMAIN OVER WESTERN KANSAS. AS HEIGHT FALLS SHIFT
EASTWARD...EXPECT TO SEE A GRADUAL SHIFT OF SHORTWAVE ENERGY AND
SFC FEATURES INTO THE LOCAL AREA AS WELL. INTRODUCED POPS...MAINLY
NORTH...OVERNIGHT FRIDAY INTO SATURDAY MORNING...AND ACROSS THE
ENTIRE AREA SATURDAY AS THE SFC TROUGH AXIS SETS-UP FROM SFC LOW
OVER SW KS THROUGH CENTRAL IOWA. HIGHEST POPS SATURDAY NIGHT AGAIN
ON NOSE OF NOCTURNAL JET.

LONG RANGE...MUCH UNCERTAINTY IN LOW CONFIDENCE FORECAST. GENERAL
SET-UP ALLOWS H5 CLOSED LOW TO DEVELOP IN THE BASE OF THE WESTERN
CONUS LONGWAVE TROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT. THEREAFTER...HPC PREFERRED
08/00Z ECMWF HOLDS BACK ENERGY OVER NV/UT BEFORE SLOWLY LIFTING IT
NEARLY NORTHWARD AS A NEGATIVELY TILTED TROUGH INTO MONTANA AND THE
NORTHERN PLAINS...WHILE THE 08/06Z GFS EJECTS A MORE DAMPENED
POSITIVELY TILTED TROUGH THE CENTRAL CONUS. NOTABLY...08/12Z GFS
MUCH MORE IN LINE WITH ECMWF. EITHER WAY...850MB BAROCLINIC ZONE AND
SFC FRONT MOVE INTO THE STATE EARLY SUNDAY...AND HANG UP OVER THE
SOUTHERN PLAINS STATES BEFORE LIFTING BACK NORTHWARD LATE MONDAY OR
TUESDAY.  CHANGES TO THE GOING FORECAST ARE AS FOLLOWS: ADDED CHANCE
POPS SATURDAY...AND UPPED POPS SATURDAY NIGHT. WILL HAVE TO KEEP A
CLOSE EYE ON RAINFALL...ESPECIALLY WITH SOGGY WEATHER OBSERVED
LATELY LOCALLY. HIGH MOISTURE ENVIRONMENT WITH PWATS EXCEEDING 2
INCHES SATURDAY WILL MAKE FOR EFFICIENT RAIN PRODUCTION. BEST CHANCE
FOR RAIN...AS REFLECTED BY POPS...WILL BE WITH STRENGTHENING 850MB
NOCTURNAL JET SATURDAY NIGHT. LOWERED HIGHS A FEW DEGREES TO
NEAR...OR 3-5 DEGREES BELOW CLIMO. CLOUDS...CONVECTION...AND SFC
FRONT DROPPING SOUTH OF THE FORECAST AREA ALL INFER COOLER THAN
AVERAGE TEMPS...AND ADJUSTED ACCORDINGLY.

LUNDE

&&

.AVIATION...

PUT STRONG TEMPO GR0UPS IN THE TOP/FOE SITES WITH FRONT NEARBY AT
TIME STORMS ARE PROGGED TO DEVELOP. CONDITIONS OUTSIDE CONVECTION
VFR AT THIS TIME BUT WILL KEEP EYE OUT FOR LOW STRATUS BEHIND
STORMS. SOUTH WINDS BECOME NORTH THEN EAST THROUGH THE TAF PERIOD
AND ARE GUSTY AND ERRATIC NEAR STORMS. 67

&&

.TOP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE.

&&

Hazardous weather outlook, Jun 8, 10:00 AM CDT, 9 hours 29 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
1000 AM CDT TUE JUN 8 2010

KSZ008>012-020>024-026-034>040-054>056-058-059-091200-
REPUBLIC-WASHINGTON-MARSHALL-NEMAHA-BROWN-CLOUD-CLAY-RILEY-
POTTAWATOMIE-JACKSON-JEFFERSON-OTTAWA-DICKINSON-GEARY-MORRIS-
WABAUNSEE-SHAWNEE-DOUGLAS-LYON-OSAGE-FRANKLIN-COFFEY-ANDERSON-
1000 AM CDT TUE JUN 8 2010

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EAST CENTRAL...NORTH
CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST KANSAS.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE LATER THIS AFTERNOON
AND TONIGHT...GENERALLY ALONG AND SOUTH OF A SENECA TO COUNCIL
GROVE LINE. SOME LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL IS POSSIBLE AS WELL AS
DAMAGING WINDS...LARGE HAIL. ISOLATED TORNADOES ARE ALSO POSSIBLE.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY

THERE IS A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 70 ON
WEDNESDAY...ACROSS THE ENTIRE AREA WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND EAST OF
HIGHWAY 77 ON FRIDAY.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTERS WILL LIKELY BE NEEDED LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jun 8, 6:33 PM CDT, 56 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
633 PM CDT TUE JUN 08 2010

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

0406 PM     HEAVY RAIN       SCRANTON                38.78N 95.74W
06/08/2010  M3.52 INCH       OSAGE              KS   TRAINED SPOTTER

            24 HOUR TOTAL

&&

BYRNE

Local storm report, Jun 8, 6:42 PM CDT, 47 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
642 PM CDT TUE JUN 08 2010

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

0635 PM     FLOOD            1 S PRINCETON           38.47N 95.28W
06/08/2010                   FRANKLIN           KS   LAW ENFORCEMENT

            SEVERAL COUNTY ROADS SOUTHWEST AND SOUTH OF PRINCETON HAD
            WATER OVER THEM. THE DEPTH OF THE WATER WAS UNKNOWN.

&&

GARGAN

Special weather statement, Jun 8, 7:03 PM CDT, 26 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
703 PM CDT TUE JUN 8 2010

KSZ055-058-090030-
COFFEY-OSAGE-
703 PM CDT TUE JUN 8 2010

...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ALERT FOR SOUTHERN OSAGE AND NORTHERN COFFEY
COUNTIES...

THROUGH 730 PM CDT...A STRONG THUNDERSTORM WILL MOVE EAST AT 30 MPH
ACROSS PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN OSAGE AND NORTHERN COFFEY COUNTIES.
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED THIS STORM IS
CAPABLE OF PRODUCING NICKEL SIZE HAIL AND TORRENTIAL RAINFALL. SOME
LOCATIONS THAT COULD BE AFFECTED INCLUDE OLIVET...BETO JUNCTION AND
WAVERLY. MOTORISTS ALONG INTERSTATE 35 BETWEEN MILE MARKERS 144 AND
168 COULD ALSO BE AFFECTED.

A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT.

Local storm report, Jun 8, 7:17 PM CDT, 12 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
717 PM CDT TUE JUN 08 2010

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

0615 PM     HEAVY RAIN       4 SSW QUENEMO           38.53N 95.56W
06/08/2010  M5.27 INCH       OSAGE              KS   TRAINED SPOTTER

            24 HOUR TOTAL

&&

BYRNE

Local storm report, Jun 8, 7:18 PM CDT, 11 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
718 PM CDT TUE JUN 08 2010

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

0615 PM     FLASH FLOOD      4 SSW QUENEMO           38.53N 95.56W
06/08/2010                   OSAGE              KS   TRAINED SPOTTER

            OBSERVER REPORTED NUMEROUS ROADWAYS WITH WATER FLOWING
            OVER. REPORTED SOME ROADS WITH UP TO 1 FOOT OF FLOWING
            WATER AROUND SHAWNEE HEIGHTS ROAD AND 301ST IN OSAGE
            COUNTY.

&&

BYRNE

Local storm report, Jun 8, 7:27 PM CDT, 2 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
727 PM CDT TUE JUN 08 2010

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

0615 PM     BLIZZARD         1 W QUENEMO             38.58N 95.55W
06/08/2010                   OSAGE              KS   LAW ENFORCEMENT

            OSAGE CTY SHERRIF REPORTED K68 HWY JUST WEST OF QUENEMO
            HAD UP TO 1 FOOT OF WATER FLOWING OVER IT AND WAS
            IMPASSABLE. ALSO REPORTED SEVERAL ROADS IN THE QUENEMO
            AND MELVERN AREAS WERE IMASSABLE AND CLOSED DUE TO FLASH
            FLOODING.

&&

BYRNE

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

0.5 hours before the tornado, 104 km from the path. June 9, 2010.

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: 1130 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -4 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 1670 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 587 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 47 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -102 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 55 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.2
Supercell composite: 1.0
0-3 km lapse rate: 5.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Burlington (UKL), 28 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 Topeka radar (KTWX), 106 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:29 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 2010 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 8, 2010

8 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 8	10:57 AM CDT	EF0	Harris, TX	0.1	10	$250,000
June 8	4:55 PM CDT	EF0	Osage, KS	0.4	30
June 8	5:39 PM CDT	EF0	Cass, MO	2.1	20	$10,000
June 8	5:55 PM CDT	EF0	Franklin, KS	0.0	25
June 8	6:02 PM CDT	EF0	Story, IA	0.4	20
June 8	6:34 PM CDT	EF0	Story, IA	0.2	20
June 8	7:47 PM CDT	EF0	Anderson, KS	0.1	25	$500
June 8	8:29 PM MDT	EF0	Elbert, CO	0.1	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.