Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2011

EF0 tornado, Andale, Kansas, June 9, 2011

This EF0 tornado ran 0.4 miles across Sedgwick County on June 9, 2011, touching down at 6:56 PM CDT and reaching 65 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.

  1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. EF186 to 110 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. EF4166 to 200 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. 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.

  7. 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 9, 2011
Touchdown
6:56 PM CDT (23:56 UTC)
Lifted
6:59 PM CDT (23:59 UTC)
On the ground
3 minutes
Path length
0.4 miles (0.7 km)
Path width
65 yards (59 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Sedgwick County
Touchdown point
37.795, -97.586
Lift-off point
37.798, -97.579
Record number
1106091756-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Numerous strong to severe thunderstorms affected primarily portions of south-central and southeast Kansas during the evening hours on the 9th, as a strong cold front approached from the northwest ahead of an upper level disturbance. Hail up to baseball and softball size pummeled the Mount Hope area in Sedgwick County, associated with an impressive supercell thunderstorm. That same storm produced a brief tornado near Colwich, producing no known damage. Other storms produced many other reports of large hail and damaging winds across the area, producing additional property and crop damage, particularly across Sedgwick County. Additionally, very heavy rainfall on the order of 2 to 3 inches produced widespread street flooding across the Wichita Area.

The tornado touched down briefly over open country.

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

The warnings

10 minutes of warning. NWS ICT issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:46 UTC, 10 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:30 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 20:53 UTC and running to 05:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
20:53 UTC05:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchICT
23:16 UTC00:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningICT
23:40 UTC00:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningICT
23:46 UTC00:30 UTCTornado WarningICT
23:51 UTC00:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningICT
00:19 UTC01:00 UTCTornado WarningICT
00:40 UTC01:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningICT
00:48 UTC01:30 UTCTornado WarningICT
00:53 UTC01:30 UTCTornado WarningICT
01:01 UTC01:35 UTCFlood WarningICT
01:24 UTC01:55 UTCTornado WarningICT
01:38 UTC05:30 UTCFlash Flood WarningICT
01:55 UTC02:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningICT
02:15 UTC03:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningICT

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 20:00 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.

Lamont, OK (KLMN), 12:00Z

11.9 hours before the tornado, 131 km from the path. June 9, 2011.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lamont, OK at 12:00Z on 2011-06-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 600 joules per kilogram, CIN -569, lifted condensation level 1962 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
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.
HodographHodograph, Lamont, OK at 12:00Z on 2011-06-09The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 105 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 10 knots.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
600 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-569 J/kg
Surface CAPE
561 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1962 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
10 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
105 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
144 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Lamont, OK (KLMN), 00:00Z

0.1 hours after it, 131 km from the path. June 10, 2011.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lamont, OK at 00:00Z on 2011-06-10Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1216 joules per kilogram, CIN -145, lifted condensation level 2235 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
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.
HodographHodograph, Lamont, OK at 00:00Z on 2011-06-10The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 104 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 39 knots.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
1216 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-145 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1177 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2235 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
39 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
104 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
199 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.5
0-3 km lapse rate
7.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Wichita (ICT), 21 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
22:53 UTC9666180° 23 kt311005.8
23:34 UTC93.264.4180° 19 kt331005.8TS
23:53 UTC9265160° 23 kt331004.7TS
00:17 UTC91.464.4160° 19 kt321006.4TS
00:57 UTC73.469.8290° 32 kt471010.2TSGRRA
00:59 UTC69.864.4280° 31 kt471011.2+TSRAGR SQ
01:06 UTC62.660.8290° 14 kt391011.2+TSRAGR FG
01:13 UTC64.440° 9 kt281010.5+TSRAGR BR
01:27 UTC64.460.8270° 24 kt301008.8+TSRA BR
01:34 UTC66.260.8270° 24 kt471009.1+TSRA BR
01:42 UTC66.260.8230° 27 kt401008.1+TSRA BR

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The radar

The Wichita radar (KICT), 20 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:57 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)ReportWhereCountyRemark
22:18 UTCHAIL 17 Se HutchinsonReno, KS
22:22 UTCHAIL 0.889 Se HutchinsonReno, KS
22:35 UTCHAIL 1BurrtonHarvey, KS
22:57 UTCHAIL 1HavenReno, KS
22:58 UTCHAIL 1.75HavenReno, KS
23:01 UTCHAIL 1.5HavenReno, KS
23:30 UTCHAIL 2.75Mount HopeSedgwick, KS
23:38 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD4 Sw BentleySedgwick, KSBRIEF FUNNEL CLOUD REPORTED UNDERNEATH ROTATING WALL CLOUD.
23:38 UTCHAIL 4.25Mount HopeSedgwick, KSTRAINED SPOTTER REPORTED MOSTLY GOLFBALL SIZE HAIL BUT A FEW THE SIZE OF SOFTBALLS FELL.
23:56 UTCTORNADO3 Nw ColwichSedgwick, KSTORNADO REPORTED AT 215TH AND 61ST.
23:59 UTCTSTM WND GST 50BentleySedgwick, KS
23:59 UTCHAIL 1.75BentleySedgwick, KS
00:05 UTCTSTM WND GST 703 W ColwichSedgwick, KS
00:05 UTCHAIL 12 N CheneySedgwick, KS
00:05 UTCHAIL 1.253 W Garden PlainSedgwick, KS
00:14 UTCHAIL 1.5CheneySedgwick, KS
00:18 UTCHAIL 1.251 W CheneyKingman, KS
00:23 UTCHAIL 11 W CheneyKingman, KSON 23RD STREET SOUTH 1 INCH HAIL COVERING THE HAIL.
00:31 UTCTSTM WND GST 603 Wsw Park CitySedgwick, KS
00:35 UTCTSTM WND DMGWest WichitaSedgwick, KSREPORTS OF AN ENTIRE YARD OF SHREDDED LEAVES AND TREE LIMBS AT 135TH STREET WEST AND MAPLE.
00:35 UTCTSTM WND GST 702 S Park CitySedgwick, KS
00:35 UTCTSTM WND GST 703 Wsw Park CitySedgwick, KSOFF DUTY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EMPLOYEE REPORTED ESTIMATED WINDS OF AT LEAST 70 MPH.
00:39 UTCHAIL 1.253 W Garden PlainSedgwick, KS
00:40 UTCTSTM WND GST 603 Wnw GoddardSedgwick, KSOCCURRED WITH GOLFBALL SIZE HAIL.
00:40 UTCHAIL 1.753 Wnw GoddardSedgwick, KSOCCURRED WITH 60 MPH WINDS.
00:41 UTCTSTM WND GST 703 E MaizeSedgwick, KS
00:41 UTCHAIL 13 E MaizeSedgwick, KSINTERSTATE 235 AND MERIDIAN
00:43 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 W Park CitySedgwick, KSSTORM SPOTTER REPORTED DAMAGE TO GREEN HOUSE
00:43 UTCBLIZZARD1 W Park CitySedgwick, KSSTORM SPOTTER REPORTED DAMAGE TO GREEN HOUSE
00:50 UTCHAIL 1Mid Continent AirportSedgwick, KSQUARTER SIZED HAIL FELL AT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE.
00:50 UTCHAIL 1.5West WichitaSedgwick, KSALSO REPORTED 50 MPH WINDS. OCCURRING AT CENTRAL AND 119TH.
00:51 UTCHAIL 1.751 W West WichitaSedgwick, KSOFF DUTY NWS EMPLOYEE REPORTS GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL.
00:57 UTCHAIL 12 W Mid Continent AirpoSedgwick, KS
00:58 UTCTSTM WND GST 59Northeast Wichita And JSedgwick, KS
01:00 UTCTSTM WND DMGBentonButler, KSPOWERLINES REPORTED DOWN IN BENTON. CORRECTED TIME...BASED ON RADAR.
01:00 UTCTSTM WND DMGTowandaButler, KSPOWER LINES REPORTED DOWN IN TOWANDA. CORRECTED TIME BASED ON RADAR.
01:00 UTCTSTM WND GST 70AndoverButler, KS
01:00 UTCHAIL 1Mid Continent AirportSedgwick, KSQUARTER SIZE HAIL FELL AT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE.
01:02 UTCTSTM WND GST 70BentonButler, KS
01:02 UTCHAIL 1.754 W Downtown WichitaSedgwick, KS

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2011 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 9, 2011

2 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 94:10 PM EDTEF0Aroostook, ME0.350
June 94:48 PM EDTEF1Northwest Hills Planning Region, CT0.030

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.