Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2011

EF0 tornado, Dorrance to Wilson Lake, Kansas, May 19, 2011

Name: EF0 tornado, Dorrance to Wilson Lake, Kansas, May 19, 2011
Start: 2011-05-19T21:43:00.000Z
End: 2011-05-19T21:46:00.000Z
Location: Dorrance to Wilson Lake, Kansas

From Dorrance to Wilson Lake, this EF0 tornado ran 2.4 miles across Russell County on May 19, 2011, touching down at 4:43 PM CDT and reaching 60 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $5,000 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 19, 2011
Touchdown: 4:43 PM CDT (21:43 UTC)
Lifted: 4:46 PM CDT (21:46 UTC)
On the ground: 3 minutes
Path length: 2.4 miles (3.9 km)
Path width: 60 yards (55 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $5,000
County: Russell County
Touchdown point: 38.875, -98.602
Lift-off point: 38.898, -98.569
Record number: 1105191543-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A strong upper level disturbance and associated dryline approaching from the west interacted with an unstable air mass in place across the eastern half of Kansas, producing numerous strong to severe thunderstorms from the late afternoon on the 19th into the morning on the 20th over primarily central and north-central Kansas. A handful of relatively weak tornadoes touched down over Russell county, along with up to golfball size hail and 60 mph winds across the area. Additionally, very heavy rainfall produced flash flooding over portions of Russell and Lincoln counties.

The tornado was on the ground in open country, causing minor damage to a shed and some trees.

The tornado moved over Wilson lake, causing damage to a sail boat.

The tornado touched down briefly over open country. 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 Wichita, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at May 19, 2:58 PM CDT, 1 hour 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 19, 2:58 PM CDT, 1 hour 45 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
258 PM CDT THU MAY 19 2011

.DISCUSSION...
THE FORECAST HIGHLIGHTS CONTINUE TO FOCUS ON THE SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM POTENTIAL THROUGH FRIDAY FOLLOWED BY CONTINUED
CHANCES FOR SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH EARLY NEXT WEEK.

AN H3 JET ROUNDING THE BASE OF A MID/UPPER TROUGH OVER THE CENTRAL
ROCKIES WILL HELP TO SHARPEN A DRYLINE OVER THE WESTERN PERIPHERY
OF THE FORECAST AREA THIS AFTERNOON/EVENING PROVIDING A FOCUS FOR
DEEP MOIST CONVECTION/SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS INCLUDING SUPERCELLS
WITH LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS AND TORNADOES THROUGH THE EVENING
HOURS. THIS ACTIVITY WILL DRIFT NORTH AND EASTWARD THROUGH THE
NIGHT WITH SUFFICIENT BUOYANCY TO SUPPORT A CONTINUED RISK OF
LARGE HAIL/DAMAGING WINDS.

THE MID/UPPER TROUGH OVER THE ROCKIES WILL MOVE LITTLE THROUGH
FRIDAY WITH ANOTHER ROUND OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE ALONG THE
DRYLINE ON FRIDAY AFTERNOON. THUNDERSTORMS MAY BE ONGOING EARLY IN
THE PERIOD GIVEN WEAK CINH LEADING TO A LOW CONFIDENCE FORECAST FOR
FRIDAY AFTERNOON...BUT GIVEN CONTINUED LARGE-SCALE FORCING FOR
ASCENT/DIFFLUENT MID-UPPER FLOW DOWNSTREAM OF MID/UPPER TROUGH WILL
MAINTAIN MID POPS THROUGH THE PERIOD.

SATURDAY-SUNDAY...THE MID/UPPER TROUGH IS PROGGED TO TRANSLATE
EAST-NORTHEAST AND EMERGE OVER THE NORTHERN PLAINS STATES ON
SATURDAY. LARGE-SCALE FORCING FOR SUBSIDENCE IS EXPECTED TO
OVERSPREAD MUCH OF KANSAS LIMITING THE AMOUNT OF DEEP MOIST
CONVECTION...HOWEVER THE GFS/NAM BOTH INDICATE A MODEST AMOUNT OF
INSTABILITY ACROSS MUCH OF THE FORECAST AREA WEIGHTED IN THE EAST.
WILL MAINTAIN LOW POPS GIVEN THE UNCERTAINTY...HOWEVER WITH MARGINAL
DEEP LAYER SHEAR THE SEVERE POTENTIAL APPEARS TO BE LIMITED AT THIS
TIME. ANOTHER SURGE OF LOW LEVEL MOISTURE IS PROGGED ON SUNDAY AS A
SHORTWAVE TROUGH DIGS INTO THE SOUTHWEST AND LOW PRESSURE AT THE
SURFACE DEEPENS OVER THE HIGH PLAINS OF SOUTHWEST KANSAS.

MONDAY-THURSDAY...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CHANCES ARE EXPECTED TO
CONTINUE THROUGH EARLY NEXT WEEK AS A SERIES OF SHORTWAVE TROUGHS
EJECT OUT OF THE SOUTHWEST ACROSS THE PLAINS STATES. A STRONG COLD
FRONT WILL ARRIVE LATE TUESDAY/EARLY WEDNESDAY BRINGING A
DRIER/CONTINENTAL AIRMASS TO THE REGION AND DIMINISHING CHANCES FOR
DEEP MOIST CONVECTION. TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO BEGIN TO
MODERATE TOWARDS THE END OF THE PERIOD AS A MID/UPPER RIDGE RETURNS
TO THE ROCKIES.

MWM

&&

.AVIATION...18Z TAFS KRSL/KSLN/KHUT/KICT/KCNU
WITH SOUTHEAST FLOW AT THE SURFACE HAVE A CLASSIC UPSLOPE
SITUATION. ABUNDANT LOW LEVEL MOISTURE IS RESULTING IN IFR
CONDITIONS AT THE KRSL AND KSLN TAF SITES...THEN MVFR CONDITIONS
ELSWEHERE. DO NOT EXPECT MUCH IMPROVEMENT THROUGH THE AFTERNOON.
TO THE WEST A SURFACE DRYLINE IS SETTING UP BETWEEN GREAT BEND AND
DODGE CITY THEN SOUTHWARD ALONG THE TEXAS/OKLAHOMA BORDER. THIS
WILL BE THE FOCAL POINT FOR THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT THIS
AFTERNOON. STORMS SHOULD MOVE INTO THE KRSL AND KHUT AREAS BY
2200Z THEN INTO KICT AND KSLN BY 0000Z. A FEW OF THESE STORMS
COULD BE SEVERE UNTIL ABOUT 0300Z. THE AREA OF STORMS WILL MOVE TO THE
NORTHEAST AND INTO THE KCNU BY 0400Z. THUNDERSTORM CHANCES WILL
DIMINISH IN SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS AFTER MIDNIGHT WITH IFR
CONDITIONS REFORMING OVER MOST OF THE AREA AFTER 0900Z.
/ELDER

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
WICHITA-KICT    67  79  62  83 /  60  60  50  20
HUTCHINSON      66  79  60  83 /  70  60  50  20
NEWTON          66  79  62  83 /  60  60  50  20
ELDORADO        67  78  63  82 /  60  60  60  20
WINFIELD-KWLD   68  79  63  83 /  50  60  50  20
RUSSELL         62  79  56  82 /  70  60  50  10
GREAT BEND      63  80  56  83 /  70  60  50  10
SALINA          66  79  61  83 /  70  60  50  20
MCPHERSON       66  79  60  83 /  70  60  50  20
COFFEYVILLE     68  79  66  82 /  50  60  60  30
CHANUTE         68  78  65  81 /  60  60  60  30
IOLA            67  78  64  81 /  60  60  60  30
PARSONS-KPPF    68  78  65  81 /  50  60  60  30

&&

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

Hazardous weather outlook, May 19, 3:56 PM CDT, 47 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
356 PM CDT THU MAY 19 2011

KSZ032-033-047>053-067>072-082-083-091>096-098>100-202100-
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-
356 PM CDT THU MAY 19 2011

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

.DAY ONE...TONIGHT

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH LARGE HAIL DAMAGING WINDS AND TORNADOES
WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP THROUGH THE EVENING HOURS MAINLY ALONG
AND WEST OF THE FLINT HILLS. THE GREATEST RISK FOR SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS WILL REMAIN WEST OF INTERSTATE 135 WHERE HAIL UP TO
3 INCHES IN DIAMETER AND A FEW TORNADOES WILL BE POSSIBLE THROUGH
AROUND 9 PM.

THUNDERSTORMS WILL MERGE INTO A LARGE COMPLEX OVERNIGHT MOVING
NORTH AND EAST ACROSS EAST CENTRAL KANSAS WHERE LARGE
HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN WILL REMAIN POSSIBLE.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY

SCATTERED STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL REMAIN POSSIBLE ON FRIDAY
ACROSS THE ENTIRE AREA. WHILE 60 TO 70 MPH WINDS AND HAIL AS
LARGE AS GOLFBALLS ARE THE PRIMARY THREATS...A FEW TORNADOES ARE
ALSO POSSIBLE.

CHANCES FOR THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DIMINISH OVER THE WEEKEND
BEFORE INCREASING AGAIN EARLY NEXT WEEK. WHILE STRONG TO ISOLATED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE...CONFIDENCE ON THE EXACT TIMING
AND AREAL EXTENT OF ANY ORGANIZED SEVERE WEATHER REMAINS LOW AT
THIS TIME. LISTEN FOR THOSE FORECASTS ISSUED THIS WEEKEND.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL LIKELY BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON
AND EVENING...GENERALLY WEST OF THE FLINT HILLS...BUT ESPECIALLY
ALONG AND WEST OF A LINE EXTENDING FROM WELLINGTON TO HUTCHINSON
TO ELLSWORTH.

&&

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

MWM

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 19, 4:01 PM CDT, 42 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
401 PM CDT THU MAY 19 2011

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

0401 PM     HAIL             6 N SUSANK              38.73N 98.77W
05/19/2011  E0.75 INCH       RUSSELL            KS   TRAINED SPOTTER

&&

SGS

Local storm report, May 19, 4:02 PM CDT, 41 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
402 PM CDT THU MAY 19 2011

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

0401 PM     TSTM WND GST     6 N SUSANK              38.73N 98.77W
05/19/2011  E62 MPH          RUSSELL            KS   TRAINED SPOTTER

&&

SGS

Local storm report, May 19, 4:23 PM CDT, 20 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
423 PM CDT THU MAY 19 2011

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

0423 PM     HAIL             1 S BUNKER HILL         38.86N 98.70W
05/19/2011  E1.75 INCH       RUSSELL            KS   AMATEUR RADIO

            REPORTED A WALL CLOUD

&&

SGS

Local storm report, May 19, 4:36 PM CDT, 7 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
436 PM CDT THU MAY 19 2011

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

0436 PM     HAIL             BUNKER HILL             38.87N 98.70W
05/19/2011  E1.00 INCH       RUSSELL            KS   PUBLIC

&&

SGS

Local storm report, May 19, 4:40 PM CDT, 3 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
440 PM CDT THU MAY 19 2011

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

0436 PM     HAIL             7 E KINGMAN             37.65N 97.99W
05/19/2011  E0.25 INCH       KINGMAN            KS   LAW ENFORCEMENT

&&

SGS

Local storm report, May 19, 4:42 PM CDT, 1 minute before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
442 PM CDT THU MAY 19 2011

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

0436 PM     HAIL             5 E KINGMAN             37.65N 98.02W
05/19/2011  E1.00 INCH       KINGMAN            KS   AMATEUR RADIO

&&

SGS

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), 12:00Z

9.7 hours before the tornado, 169 km from the path. May 19, 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: 1795 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -44 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 2155 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 572 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 60 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 370 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 324 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 4.4
Supercell composite: 15.9
0-3 km lapse rate: 5.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Dodge City, (KDDC), 00:00Z

2.3 hours after it, 169 km from the path. May 20, 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: 2 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -22 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 31 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2853 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 60 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 8 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 50 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 185 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0
0-3 km lapse rate: 9.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Russell (RSL), 20 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), 160 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:43 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 May 19, 2011

10 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 19	12:35 PM EDT	EF0	Queen Anne's, MD	3.7	17	$1,000
May 19	4:48 PM CDT	EF0	Russell, KS	4.1	60	$5,000
May 19	4:50 PM CDT	EF0	Kiowa, OK	0.2	20
May 19	5:15 PM CDT	EF0	Russell, KS	0.8	50
May 19	4:23 PM MDT	EF0	El Paso, CO	1.0	75	$20,000
May 19	5:25 PM CDT	EF0	Lincoln, KS	0.5	50
May 19	6:09 PM CDT	EF0	Caddo, OK	0.2	40
May 19	6:40 PM CDT	EF0	Caddo, OK	0.2	20
May 19	7:34 PM CDT	EF0	Wilbarger, TX	0.5	75
May 19	8:30 PM CDT	EF0	Osborne, KS	0.1	25	$25,000

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.