Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2010
EF0 tornado, Wright to Windthorst, Kansas, May 11, 2010
From Wright to Windthorst, this EF0 tornado ran 9.0 miles across Ford County on May 11, 2010, touching down at 11:58 PM CDT and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $10,000 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 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
- May 11, 2010
- Touchdown
- 11:58 PM CDT (04:58 UTC)
- Lifted
- 12:12 AM CDT (05:12 UTC)
- On the ground
- 14 minutes
- Path length
- 9.0 miles (14.4 km)
- Path width
- 100 yards (91 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $10,000
- County
- Ford County
- Touchdown point
- 37.781, -99.852
- Lift-off point
- 37.800, -99.690
- Record number
- 1005112258-01
What the Weather Service recorded
Isentropic lifting and warm air advection north of a warm front helped to generate elevated thunderstorms late in the evening and into the overnight hours.
This weak tornado traveled quickly east/northeast and damaged a roof, trees, grain bin, feed bunk and flipped an implement.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.
The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 04:24 UTC and running to 08:44 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 04:24 UTC | 08:44 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | DDC |
| 04:54 UTC | 06:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DDC |
| 05:39 UTC | 06:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DDC |
| 06:11 UTC | 06:47 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DDC |
| 12:00 UTC | 16:00 UTC | Dense Fog Advisory | 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. The outlook in force was issued at 00:54 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 Dodge City, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at May 11, 3:36 PM CDT, 8 hours 22 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 11, 3:36 PM CDT, 8 hours 22 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS 336 PM CDT TUE MAY 11 2010 .DISCUSSION... DAYS 1-2... ISENTROPIC LIFT, WAA AND 8H FGEN ALL IMPROVE OVER SW KS EARLY TONIGHT AS A WARM FRONT BEGINS MOVES OUT OF NW OK AND INTO SOUTHERN KS. THIS CONTINUES TO SUPPORT KEEPING AT POPS AS IS...MAY EVEN BUMP POPS UP SOME OVER THE NORTHERN CWA GIVEN THE IMPRESSIVE LIFT ADVERTISED LATER TONIGHT. IN ADDITION THERE WILL BE DECENT ELEVATED CAPES AND SHEAR PROGGED OVERNIGHT AS LLVL JET INCREASES ACROSS OUR CWA WHICH SUPPORTS THE PREVIOUS SHIFTS IDEAS THAT SOME STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF BECOMING STRONG OR EVEN SEVERE. PRIMARY HAZARD STILL LOOKS TO BE LARGE HAIL BUT SOME STRONG GUSTY WINDS WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE. WILL THEREFORE KEEP A MENTION SEVERE WORDING IN THE GRIDS. TOWARDS DAYBREAK THE BETTER ELEVATED INSTAB EXITS THE CWA AS AN AREA OF LOW PRESSURE STARTS TO CROSS SW KS. NW OF THIS LOW BOTH MODELS INDICATED GOOD LLVL MOISTURE AND 925-85H FGEN DEVELOPING AS COLD FRONT MOVES INTO THE CWA. THIS COLD FRONT AND ASSOCIATED LIFT/MOISTURE WILL CONTINUE TO TRACK SOUTHEAST ACROSS THE REMAINDER OF THE CWA ON WEDNESDAY. INITIAL THOUGHTS WILL BE TO KEEP CLOUDS AND LOW POPS GOING ALONG AND BEHIND THE COLD FRONT WHERE BETTER LLVL MOISTURE AND FGEN WILL BE PRESENT EARLY WEDNESDAY. ALSO BASED ON THE EXPECTED CLOUDS, POSSIBLY PCPN AND COOLER AIR RETURNING TO OUR NRN CWA WILL FOLLOW THE COOLER NAM AS A GUIDE FOR TEMPS ON WEDNESDAY. IN OUR S/SE CWA THE TIMING OF THE FRONT WILL BE THE KEY BUT HAVE OPTED TO KEEP TEMPS ON THE WARM SIDE TRENDING MORE TOWARDS THE WARMER GFS. THE COLD FRONT IS CURRENTLY PROGGED TO BE LOCATED NEAR THE OK/KS BORDER AROUND 00Z THURSDAY. A DRY LINE IS FORECAST TO EXTEND SOUTH OF THE FRONT (AROUND COMANCHE/BARBER). IN THIS AREA LATE DAY BL CAPES ARE PROGGED TO RANGE FROM 2000-3500J/KG ALONG AND AHEAD OF THIS FRONT SO GIVEN THIS WILL GO AHEAD AND RAISE POPS IN OUR SE CWA LATE WED AFTERNOON AND EARLY WEDNESDAY NIGHT. BY THURSDAY MORNING OUR FRONT IS PROGGED TO EXTEND FROM SE KS INTO SW OK. BEHIND THIS FRONT SFC HIGH WILL BEGIN TO SETTLE INTO THE CNTL PLAINS. DAYS 3-7... THE NEXT UPPER TROUGH WILL BE APPROACHING BY LATE FRIDAY AND SATURDAY. GIVEN THE WEAK MID TO HIGH LEVEL FLOW AND LACK OF CAPPING, CONVECTIVE EVOLUTION IS EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO PINPOINT THIS FAR OUT. I AM SKEPTICAL OF THE INTENSE CONVECTIVE CLUSTERS THE GFS IS ADVERTISING SINCE ALL THE MODELS SHOW A COOL SURFACE HIGH RIDGING INTO THE SOUTHERN PLAINS. NEVERTHELESS, KEPT 20-30% POPS TO COVER THE POSSIBILITY OF MCS ACTIVITY DEVELOPING ON THE FRONT RANGE OF NM OR SOUTHERN COLORADO AND MOVING INTO OUR FCST AREA IN A WEAKENED STATE. ALSO, NOCTURNAL ELEVATED PRECIP COULD DEVELOP AS WELL. 500MB TEMPS ARE PROGGED TO BE FAIRLY COLD (-16C) SO IT WILL NOT TAKE MUCH LOW LEVEL MOISTURE TO GET PRECIP DEVELOPMENT. HIGH-END SEVERE WEATHER IS UNLIKELY DUE TO THE LACK OF STRONG INSTABILITY. OTHER WEAK UPPER DISTURBANCES ARE PROGGED TO MOVE ACROSS THE SOUTHERN PLAINS ON SATURDAY AND SUNDAY. AGAIN, WITH THE WARM SECTOR SUPPRESSED DEEP INTO TEXAS, HIGH END SEVERE WEATHER IS UNLIKELY. BUT SOME ELEVATED SHOWER OR THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY IS POSSIBLE, ESPECIALLY GIVEN THE CONTINUATION OF FAIRLY COLD MID TO HIGH LEVEL TEMPERATURES. TEMPS SHOULD STAY AT OR JUST BELOW CLIMO GIVEN THE LACK OF DOWNSLOPE FLOW AND PLACEMENT OF A BRANCH OF THE WESTERLIES TO THE SOUTH OF THE FCST AREA. && .AVIATION... UPSLOPE FLOW NORTH OF A WARM FRONT, ALONG WITH STRONG LOW LEVEL MOISTURE ADVECTION, WILL LEAD TO LIFR CIGS/VISBYS BETWEEN 06 AND 09Z AND PERSISTING THROUGH 14Z. VISBYS WILL LIKELY DROP TO BELOW A QUARTER OF A MILE BETWEEN 09 AND 14Z, ESPECIALLY AT GCK/DDC. A FEW SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE AFTER 04Z AS A LOW LEVEL JET TRANSPORTS VERY MOIST AIR OVER THE SFC FRONT AT DDC/HYS. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... DDC 57 71 34 63 / 40 20 10 10 GCK 49 66 33 64 / 40 20 0 10 EHA 53 72 33 64 / 10 0 0 10 LBL 58 73 35 65 / 20 10 0 10 HYS 49 56 34 61 / 70 50 10 10 P28 64 82 40 67 / 40 30 40 10 && .DDC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && FN18/24/24
Hazardous weather outlook, May 11, 5:25 AM CDT, 18 hours 33 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS 525 AM CDT TUE MAY 11 2010 KSZ030-031-043>046-061>066-074>081-084>090-121030- TREGO-ELLIS-SCOTT-LANE-NESS-RUSH-HAMILTON-KEARNY-FINNEY-HODGEMAN- PAWNEE-STAFFORD-STANTON-GRANT-HASKELL-GRAY-FORD-EDWARDS-KIOWA- PRATT-MORTON-STEVENS-SEWARD-MEADE-CLARK-COMANCHE-BARBER- 525 AM CDT TUE MAY 11 2010 /425 AM MDT TUE MAY 11 2010/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL...SOUTH CENTRAL...SOUTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL KANSAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP LATE TONIGHT AS A WARM FRONT LIFTS NORTH THROUGH KANSAS. VERY ABUNDANT LOW LEVEL MOISTURE AND EXCELLENT WIND SHEAR WILL FAVOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF SUPERCELL THUNDERSTORMS OVERNIGHT...CAPABLE OF PRODUCING VERY LARGE HAIL OF AND DAMAGING STRAIGHT LINE WINDS. THE GREATEST THREAT WILL BE ACROSS CENTRAL AND SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS...EXTENDING PERHAPS AS FAR WEST AS THE HIGHWAY 283 CORRIDOR. WIDESPREAD DENSE FOG IS ALSO EXPECTED TO DEVELOP LATE TONIGHT ACROSS MUCH OF SOUTHWEST KANSAS WHICH WILL LINGER THROUGH THE EARLY MORNING HOURS WEDNESDAY. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO FORM ACROSS CENTRAL AND SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS DURING THE LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS. AT THIS TIME...THE GREATEST THREAT WILL BE JUST EAST OF THE DODGE CITY FORECAST AREA...HOWEVER THUNDERSTORMS MAY FIRST DEVELOP IN THE STAFFORD TO PRATT TO MEDICINE LODGE AREAS. THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO RAPIDLY BECOME SEVERE GIVEN THE CONTINUED VERY HIGH AMOUNTS OF LOW LEVEL MOISTURE AND STRONG WIND SHEAR. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... STORM SPOTTERS MAY BE NEEDED FOR REPORTS DURING THE LATE NIGHT HOURS...CONTINUING THROUGH THE NIGHT...ESPECIALLY EAST OF HIGHWAY 283. && FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT OUR WEBPAGE AT HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/DDC UMSCHEID
In the hours before
Local storm report, May 11, 11:39 PM CDT, 19 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS
1139 PM CDT TUE MAY 11 2010
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1132 PM HAIL 4 E COPELAND 37.54N 100.56W
05/11/2010 E0.88 INCH GRAY KS LAW ENFORCEMENT
&&
MBLocal storm report, May 11, 11:48 PM CDT, 10 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS
1148 PM CDT TUE MAY 11 2010
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1140 PM HAIL CIMARRON 37.81N 100.35W
05/11/2010 E0.75 INCH GRAY KS TRAINED SPOTTER
&&
MBThe 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
5.0 hours before the tornado, 12 km from the path. May 12, 2010.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -83493 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 4 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1434 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 62 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 7 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 45 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 272 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.0 K/km
Dodge City, (KDDC), 12:00Z
7.0 hours after it, 12 km from the path. May 12, 2010.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1070 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -168 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 338 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 805 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 66 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 30 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 26 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 123 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.6
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.3 K/km
The surface observations
Dodge City (DDC), 17 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 03:52 UTC | 62 | 52 | 80° 23 kt | 30 | 1006.4 | |
| 04:39 UTC | 57.2 | 51.8 | 50° 19 kt | 24 | 1005.8 | VCTS |
| 04:52 UTC | 57 | 50 | 50° 19 kt | 27 | 1005.4 | TS |
| 05:41 UTC | 53.6 | 51.8 | 30° 15 kt | 24 | 1004.4 | +TSRA BR |
| 05:47 UTC | 53.6 | 51.8 | 340° 21 kt | 31 | 1005.1 | +TSRA BR |
| 05:52 UTC | 53 | 51 | 330° 21 kt | 31 | 1006.1 | +TSRA BR |
| 05:54 UTC | 51.8 | 51.8 | 350° 21 kt | 31 | 1007.1 | +TSRA BR |
| 06:01 UTC | 51.8 | 51.8 | 350° 11 kt | 29 | 1007.5 | +TSRA BR |
| 06:12 UTC | 51.8 | 51.8 | 320° 14 kt | 25 | 1004.4 | -TSRA BR |
| 06:15 UTC | 55.4 | 53.6 | 90° 8 kt | 25 | 1005.1 | -TSRA BR |
| 06:21 UTC | 57.2 | 53.6 | 70° 11 kt | 17 | 1004.7 | VCTS |
| 06:28 UTC | 57.2 | 53.6 | 70° 10 kt | 17 | 1004.7 | VCTS |
| 06:37 UTC | 53.6 | 51.8 | 50° 7 kt | 17 | 1004.7 | |
| 06:44 UTC | 53.6 | 51.8 | 70° 13 kt | 22 | 1004.7 | |
| 06:52 UTC | 54 | 52 | 70° 8 kt | 1004.4 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 18 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 04:57 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 04:40 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | Cimarron | Gray, KS | |
| 04:52 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | Montezuma | Gray, KS | |
| 05:03 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | 4 Wsw Ensign | Gray, KS | A RANGE OF PING PONG TO GOLFBALL SIZED HAIL WAS REPORTED. |
| 05:28 UTC | HAIL 0.88 | 3 E Dodge City | Ford, KS | |
| 05:44 UTC | HAIL 1 | 3 E Dodge City | Ford, KS | |
| 05:45 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | 10 S Dodge City | Ford, KS | BRIEF FUNNEL CLOUD WAS REPORTED. THIS REPORT WAS RELAYED BY FORD COUNTY DISPATCH |
| 06:00 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | 1 Nw Dodge City | Ford, KS | |
| 06:02 UTC | HAIL 1.5 | 3 E Dodge City | Ford, KS | OBSERVED AT NWS OFFICE. |
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 May 11, 2010
3 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
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.