Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2011

EF0 tornado, Wilson Lake, Kansas, June 1, 2011

Name: EF0 tornado, Wilson Lake, Kansas, June 1, 2011
Start: 2011-06-02T01:48:00.000Z
End: 2011-06-02T01:50:00.000Z
Location: Wilson Lake, Kansas

This EF0 tornado ran 0.4 miles across Russell County on June 1, 2011, touching down at 8:48 PM CDT and reaching 50 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 1, 2011
Touchdown: 8:48 PM CDT (01:48 UTC)
Lifted: 8:50 PM CDT (01:50 UTC)
On the ground: 2 minutes
Path length: 0.4 miles (0.6 km)
Path width: 50 yards (46 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
County: Russell County
Touchdown point: 38.953, -98.543
Lift-off point: 38.957, -98.538
Record number: 1106011948-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Numerous strong to severe thunderstorms affected portions of central and east-central Kansas during the evening hours of the 1st, in response to a warm front drifting north amidst a very unstable airmass. A few brief tornadoes touched down over open country in Lincoln, Russell and Saline counties, producing no damage. Additionally, very large hail up to baseball size occurred, along with winds up to 80 mph. Hardest hit areas were generally Lincoln and Russell counties. Furthermore, training thunderstorms produced very heavy rainfall amounts upwards of 3 inches, producing flash flooding, mainly over Russell and Lincoln counties.

The tornado touched down briefly in open pasture.

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 1, 6:33 PM CDT, 2 hours 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 1, 6:33 PM CDT, 2 hours 15 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
633 PM CDT WED JUN 1 2011

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

COULD STILL SEE THE CHANCE FOR SOME HIT OR MISS CONVECTION ACROSS
CENTRAL KS AT LEAST UNTIL 02-03Z...AS AFTERNOON HEATING HAS LED TO
AN UNSTABLE AIRMASS IN THIS AREA.  GREATEST AREA OF CONCERN WILL BE
NORTH OF KRSL AND KSLN...BUT WILL KEEP A VCTS NEAR KRSL WITH CB
CLOUD DESCRIPTOR NEAR KSLN AND KHUT.  THINK TSRA CHANCES WILL
DIMINISH ACROSS THE AREA AFTER 03Z AS WARMER AIR MOVES INTO THE AREA
IN THE MID LAYERS.

AFTER TSRA CHANCE ENDS...EXPECT VFR CONDITIONS ACROSS THE
AREA...WITH THE ONLY CONCERN BEING GUSTY WINDS DURING THE DAYTIME
HOURS ON THU.

KETCHAM

&&

.PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 316 PM CDT WED JUN 1 2011/

DISCUSSION...

TONIGHT:
RATHER TOUGH CONVECTIVE FORECAST OUT OF THE BOX...WITH CONSIDERABLE
LOW LEVEL MOISTURE AND NOT A LOT OF CAPPING. HOWEVER CONVERGENCE/TRIGGER
FOR CONVECTION APPEARS TO BE LIMITED RESIDUAL LIFT FROM THIS
MORNINGS CONVECTION IN OK...WHICH WOULD PRIMARILY AFFECT AREA EAST
OF I-35 AFTER 0000 UTC. ALSO SOME POTENTIAL BASED ON CORFIDI
VECTORS FOR HIGH PLAINS STORMS TO WORK INTO FAR NORTHWEST SECTIONS
BEFORE DISSIPATING.

THU:
INCREASING SURFACE PRESSURE GRADIENT WILL LIKELY RESULT IN WIND
ADVISORY CRITERIA OVER RUSSELL/BARTON COUNTIES...IF NOT MOST OF
CENTRAL/SOUTH CENTRAL KS. WHILE MODELS SEEM TO BE LAGGING A BIT ON
SURFACE DEWPOINTS...DOES APPEAR TO BE SOME DRYING LIKELY IN THE
WEST WITH MINIMAL REDUCTION IN THE EAST. THIS SHOULD LEAD TO A BIT
MORE CUMULUS AND SLIGHTLY COOLER TEMPERATURES IN SOUTHEAST KS VS
REST OF FORECAST AREA. WHILE STRAY THUNDERSTORM CANNOT BE RULED
OUT...COMBO OF CAPPING AND LACK OF CONVERGENCE PRECLUDES
MENTIONING ANYTHING IN GRIDS. WINDS OVERNIGHT WILL LIKELY KEEP
TEMPERATURES MILD OVERNIGHT.

FRI:
SMALL CHANCES FOR PRECIPITATION IN CENTRAL KS FRI NIGHT AS
SURFACE BOUNDARY EDGES VERY CLOSE TO NORTHWEST EDGE OF FORECAST
AREA. WITH SLIGHT DECREASE IN 850MB TEMPERATURES AND POTENTIAL FOR
ADDITIONAL CLOUDS...WILL SHAVE A DEGREE OR TWO OFF PERSISTENCE FOR
MAXES.

SAT-TUE:
THE PAST SEVERAL RUNS OF THE MEDIUM RANGE MODELS SHOW GFS AND
ECMWF HEADING IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS WITH SPEED OF WEST COAST LOW.
WITH CURRENT SOLUTIONS RELATIVELY CLOSE TO EACH OTHER...THE AVERAGING
IN THE TESTBED GRIDS SHOULD BE QUITE GOOD. LOW TEMPERATURES MAY BE
A BIT TRICKY WITH A LOT DEPENDING ON THE SURFACE DEWPOINTS. THERE
IS THE POSSIBILITY OF ISOLATED AFTERNOON/EARLY EVENING
THUNDERSTORMS MOST DAYS...BUT AREA/TIMING IS PROBLEMATIC...AND WANT
TO AVOID MENTIONING SLIGHT CHANCES EVERY DAY. -HOWERTON

AVIATION...18Z TAFS KRSL/KSLN/KHUT/KICT/KCNU

COULD SEE WIDELY SCATTERED...HIT-AND-MISS THUNDERSTORMS THIS
AFTERNOON AND INTO THE EVENING HOURS FOR ALL TAF SITES...DUE TO A
MOIST/UNSTABLE AND WEAKLY CAPPED AIRMASS...IN CONCERT WITH SUBTLE
MID/UPPER ENERGY APPROACHING FROM THE SOUTHWEST. INCLUDED "CB"
WORDING FOR ALL SITES TO ACCOUNT FOR THIS THREAT. ACTIVITY COULD
LINGER LONGER INTO THE EVENING AT KRSL AND COULD BE A BIT MORE
ORGANIZED...AS AFTERNOON HIGH PLAINS ACTIVITY ROLLS EAST THIS
EVENING. CIGS LOOK TO BE SCT-BKN VFR THIS AFTERNOON. STRONG
SOUTHERLY WINDS WILL COMMENCE BY THURSDAY MORNING...DUE TO
STRENGTHENING LOW PRESSURE OVER THE WESTERN HIGH PLAINS.

ADK

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
WICHITA-KICT    69  95  69  96 /  10  10  10  10
HUTCHINSON      66  96  68  96 /  10  10  10  10
NEWTON          67  93  68  95 /  10  10  10  10
ELDORADO        68  93  68  92 /  10  10  10  10
WINFIELD-KWLD   69  94  69  93 /  10   0  10  10
RUSSELL         67  96  67  97 /  20  10  10  10
GREAT BEND      66  96  66  98 /  20  10  10  10
SALINA          69  96  71  97 /  20  10  10  10
MCPHERSON       66  95  69  96 /  20  10  10  10
COFFEYVILLE     71  93  70  92 /  20  10  10  10
CHANUTE         68  91  70  91 /  20  10  10  10
IOLA            68  91  70  91 /  20  10  10  10
PARSONS-KPPF    70  92  70  91 /  20  10  10  10

&&

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

Hazardous weather outlook, Jun 1, 5:06 PM CDT, 3 hours 42 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
506 PM CDT WED JUN 1 2011

KSZ032-033-047>053-067>072-082-083-091>096-098>100-022215-
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-
506 PM CDT WED JUN 1 2011

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

.DAY ONE...TONIGHT

A FEW STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE OVER CENTRAL
KANSAS...WITH THE BEST CHANCE OF STORMS ALONG AND NORTH OF I-70.
LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS ARE THE PRIMARY THREATS. AN ISOLATED
TORNADO CANNOT BE RULED OUT. OTHER ISOLATED STORMS ARE POSSIBLE
GENERALLY EAST OF I-35. ALL OF THE STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO WANE
AFTER SUNSET.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY

SUSTAINED WINDS ON THURSDAY WILL BE NEAR 30 MPH OVER PARTS OF
CENTRAL AND SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS...ESPECIALLY OVER RUSSELL AND
BARTON COUNTIES.  A WIND ADVISORY MAY BE REQUIRED.

THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE LATE FRIDAY NIGHT AS A COLD FRONT
NEARS CENTRAL KANSAS. STRONG STORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED THIS EVENING ACROSS
CENTRAL KANSAS.

&&

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

HOWERTON

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jun 1, 8:03 PM CDT, 45 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
803 PM CDT WED JUN 01 2011

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

0731 PM     HAIL             CANTON                  38.39N 97.43W
06/01/2011  E1.50 INCH       MCPHERSON          KS   PUBLIC

&&

DUNTEN

Local storm report, Jun 1, 8:17 PM CDT, 31 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
817 PM CDT WED JUN 01 2011

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

0758 PM     HAIL             W ROXBURY               38.55N 97.43W
06/01/2011  E1.75 INCH       MCPHERSON          KS   TRAINED SPOTTER

&&

DUNTEN

Local storm report, Jun 1, 8:22 PM CDT, 26 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
822 PM CDT WED JUN 01 2011

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

0815 PM     HAIL             PARADISE                39.11N 98.92W
06/01/2011  E1.75 INCH       RUSSELL            KS   EMERGENCY MNGR

            NUMEROUS REPORTS OF PING PONG BALL TO GOLF BALL HAIL.
            DAMAGE TO CARS.

&&

BDK

Local storm report, Jun 1, 8:24 PM CDT, 24 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
824 PM CDT WED JUN 01 2011

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

0800 PM     HAIL             2 W PARADISE            39.11N 98.95W
06/01/2011  E2.75 INCH       RUSSELL            KS   LAW ENFORCEMENT

0815 PM     HAIL             LURAY                   39.12N 98.69W
06/01/2011  E1.50 INCH       RUSSELL            KS   LAW ENFORCEMENT

&&

DUNTEN

Local storm report, Jun 1, 8:29 PM CDT, 19 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
829 PM CDT WED JUN 01 2011

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

0820 PM     TORNADO          2 NW BARNARD            39.21N 98.07W
06/01/2011                   LINCOLN            KS   AMATEUR RADIO

            REPORTS OF A POSSIBLE RAIN WRAPPED TORNADO ON THE
            LINCOLN/MITCHELL COUNTY LINE.

&&

DUNTEN

Local storm report, Jun 1, 8:41 PM CDT, 7 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
841 PM CDT WED JUN 01 2011

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

0835 PM     FUNNEL CLOUD     3 W PARADISE            39.11N 98.97W
06/01/2011                   RUSSELL            KS   STORM CHASER

&&

DUNTEN

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

1.8 hours before the tornado, 177 km from the path. June 2, 2011.

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: 1251 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -63 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 2234 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2375 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 42 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 11 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 73 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 305 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 10.4
0-3 km lapse rate: 8.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Dodge City, (KDDC), 12:00Z

10.2 hours after it, 177 km from the path. June 2, 2011.

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

Mixed-layer CAPE: 254 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -443 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 2 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1827 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 40 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 216 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 177 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0
0-3 km lapse rate: 4.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Russell (RSL), 25 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 Grand Island radar (KUEX), 152 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:45 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 2011 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 1, 2011

11 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 1	3:35 PM EDT	EF1	Oxford, ME	0.3	25
June 1	4:17 PM EDT	EF3	Hampden, MA	37.6	880	3	200	$228 million
June 1	5:51 PM EDT	EF1	Somerset, ME	8.4	200
June 1	6:32 PM EDT	EF1	Hampden, MA	4.2	200
June 1	6:54 PM EDT	EF1	Hampden, MA	1.7	100
June 1	7:10 PM EDT	EF0	Worcester, MA	1.4	25
June 1	6:22 PM CDT	EF0	Dawson, NE	0.1	15
June 1	8:20 PM CDT	EF0	Lincoln, KS	1.1	75
June 1	6:30 PM PDT	EF0	Sutter, CA	5.1	10
June 1	9:40 PM CDT	EF0	Phillips, KS	0.5	20
June 1	11:33 PM CDT	EF0	Saline, 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.