Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2011

EF1 tornado, Manning to Healy, Kansas, October 7, 2011

From Manning to Healy, this EF1 tornado ran 5.8 miles across Scott and Lane counties on October 7, 2011, touching down at 9:45 PM CDT and reaching 200 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 mph

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

  2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

    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
EF1
Date
October 7, 2011
Touchdown
9:45 PM CDT (02:45 UTC)
Lifted
9:54 PM CDT (02:54 UTC)
On the ground
9 minutes
Path length
5.8 miles (9.4 km)
Path width
200 yards (183 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Counties
Scott and Lane counties
Touchdown point
38.558, -100.724
Lift-off point
38.628, -100.664
Record number
1110072045-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A vigorous upper level wind max moved across western Kansas during the evening and overnight hours. Abnormally moist boundary layer conditions existed and deep turning of the atmosphere helped to produce numerous thunderstorms. Some of the storms became severe and even tornadic.

This tornado did not strike anything in the county but as it crossed into Lane county at 950 PM CDT it did strike a farm.

This tornado entered the county from Scott county at 950 PM CDT and struck a farm. Damage was done to outbuildings, trees and farm machinery.

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

The warnings

6 minutes of warning. NWS DDC issued a tornado warning for this county at 02:39 UTC, 6 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 23:34 UTC and running to 06:47 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
23:34 UTC06:47 UTCTornado WatchDDC
23:38 UTC00:10 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningDDC
01:13 UTC02:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningDDC
01:59 UTC02:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningDDC
02:39 UTC03:15 UTCTornado WarningDDC
04:38 UTC05:15 UTCTornado WarningDDC
05:12 UTC05:30 UTCTornado WarningDDC
06:47 UTC09:35 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchDDC

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, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 01:00 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.

Dodge City, (KDDC), 00:00Z

2.8 hours before the tornado, 115 km from the path. October 8, 2011.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dodge City, at 00:00Z on 2011-10-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 442 joules per kilogram, CIN -108, lifted condensation level 1533 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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, Dodge City, at 00:00Z on 2011-10-08The 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 129 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 51 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
442 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-108 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1262 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1533 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
51 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
17 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
129 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
102 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
1.9
0-3 km lapse rate
6.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Dodge City, (KDDC), 12:00Z

9.2 hours after it, 115 km from the path. October 8, 2011.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dodge City, at 12:00Z on 2011-10-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 8 joules per kilogram, CIN -174, lifted condensation level 649 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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, Dodge City, at 12:00Z on 2011-10-08The 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 -209 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 52 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
8 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-174 J/kg
Surface CAPE
7 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
649 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
52 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-209 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-237 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 112 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:45 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.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
23:52 UTCHAIL 1.251 E FriendFinney, KS
00:47 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD4 S GrinnellGove, KS
00:57 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD2 Sw GrainfieldGove, KSPUBLIC ALSO REPORTED A FUNNEL IN SAME LOCATION.
01:12 UTCHAIL 1.756 Ssw FriendFinney, KSRESIDENT ALSO REPORTED A TEN MINUTE POWER OUTAGE AT THAT LOCATION.
02:10 UTCTSTM WND GST 701 Wsw GrigstonScott, KS
02:15 UTCHAIL 17 Wsw Shallow WaterScott, KS
02:45 UTCTORNADO6 N GrigstonScott, KSA STORM CHASER REPORTED SEEING MULTIPLE POWER FLASHES AND THEN SEVERAL MINUTES LATER A LARGE FUNNEL CLOUD WRAPPED IN RAIN EXTENDING MORE THAN HALF WAY TO THE SURFACE FROM CLOUD BASE.
02:50 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 W HealyLane, KSAN OPEN SHED WAS BLOWN ACROSS A ROAD.
03:36 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD2 Se GoveGove, KS
05:10 UTCTORNADO4 N ModocScott, 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 October 7, 2011

1 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
October 712:08 AM CDTEF0Scott, KS2.4200

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.