EF3 tornado, Duquoin to Harper, Kansas, May 19, 2012

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 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 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

EF3

Date

May 19, 2012

Touchdown

6:33 PM CDT (23:33 UTC)

Lifted

7:02 PM CDT (00:02 UTC)

On the ground

29 minutes

Path length

9.7 miles (15.6 km)

Path width

150 yards (137 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Harper County

Touchdown point

37.270, -98.220

Lift-off point

37.296, -98.047

Record number

1205191733-01

A significant tornado outbreak occurred across portions of Kingman and Harper counties. In all, nine tornadoes touched down on this day, the strongest being rated as and EF-3. Many other counties experienced large hail and strong winds.

This strong tornado moved right through the middle of a wind farm. There were a total of 6 turbines that had all of the blades torn off and shredded to pieces. At the beginning of the track, a crane was toppled over. However, the wind speeds at the top of the crane were measured at 166 mph before falling. This tornado moved into Kingman County.

Significant damage to two farmsteads. All outbuildings were completely destroyed and debris strewn in all directions. Home completely lost it's roof and was just off to the side of the main track. Most trees in the path had all stems except for the main trunk removed. Some debarking was noted but not much.

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

14 minutes of warning. NWS ICT issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:19 UTC, 14 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:45 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 20:45 UTC and running to 02:46 UTC.

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 Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:56 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 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.

Medicine_lodge (P28), 37 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Vance AFB radar (KVNX), 60 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:31 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.

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

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

The live radar over the trackEvery 2012 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are

8 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.