Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2013

EF0 tornado, Paradise, Kansas, April 7, 2013

This EF0 tornado ran 0.5 miles across Russell County on April 7, 2013, touching down at 6:38 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.

  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
April 7, 2013
Touchdown
6:38 PM CDT (23:38 UTC)
Lifted
6:40 PM CDT (23:40 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
0.5 miles (0.8 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Russell County
Touchdown point
39.087, -99.001
Lift-off point
39.091, -98.994
Record number
1304071738-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A tornado touched down in the northwest portion of Russell county causing minimal damage.

A brief rope tornado was reported and caused damage to a few trees along Paradise Rd. Initial reports of damage to a barn and radio shed were deemed as old damage from a previous storm.

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

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 22:42 UTC and running to 03:01 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
22:42 UTC03:01 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchICT
23:16 UTC00:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningICT
23:52 UTC00:33 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, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:01 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), 12:00Z

11.6 hours before the tornado, 166 km from the path. April 7, 2013.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dodge City, at 12:00Z on 2013-04-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -82216, lifted condensation level 2438 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 2013-04-07The 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 111 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 59 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-82216 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2438 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
59 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
11 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
111 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
349 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Dodge City, (KDDC), 00:00Z

0.4 hours after it, 166 km from the path. April 8, 2013.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dodge City, at 00:00Z on 2013-04-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 990 joules per kilogram, CIN -17, lifted condensation level 1673 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 2013-04-08The 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 111 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 56 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
990 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-17 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2073 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1673 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
56 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
111 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
153 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.3
Supercell composite
5.6
0-3 km lapse rate
8.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Russell (RSL), 29 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
21:53 UTC7153160° 19 kt1002.4
22:53 UTC6955160° 24 kt291001.4
23:51 UTC64.455.4180° 18 kt1002.7VCTS -RA
23:53 UTC6456180° 18 kt1002.7VCTS -RA
00:39 UTC60.857.2180° 16 kt1002.4-RA
00:53 UTC6157170° 10 kt1002.7RA BR
01:21 UTC60.855.4170° 11 kt1003.4VCTS
01:36 UTC5955.4150° 8 kt1003.4

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

The radar

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 145 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:38 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
22:06 UTCHAIL 0.7512 N EllisEllis, KS
22:43 UTCLIGHTNINGPlainvilleRooks, KSLIGHTNING STRUCK A HOUSE IN PLAINVILLE. FIRE DEPARTMENT RESPONDED.
22:45 UTCHAIL 0.882 Ssw PlainvilleRooks, KS
22:48 UTCHAIL 12 Ssw PlainvilleRooks, KSQUARTER SIZE HAIL MIXED WITH SMALLER HAIL.
23:00 UTCHAIL 1.54 Sw PlainvilleRooks, KSDELAYED REPORT THROUGH ROOKS COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGER. PUBLIC REPORT OF 1.5 INCHES OF RAIN AND 6 INCHES OF HAIL WITH UP TO PING PONG SIZE HAIL.
23:10 UTCHAIL 0.7510 N EmmeramEllis, KS
23:24 UTCHAIL 0.8810 Nne EmmeramEllis, KS
23:32 UTCHAIL 0.25NatomaOsborne, KSPEA SIZE HAIL REPORTED WITH HEAVY RAIN.
23:38 UTCTORNADOParadiseRussell, KSA BRIEF ROPE TORNADO WAS REPORTED TO THE EMERGENCY MANAGER VIA LAW ENFORCEMENT AND CAUSED DAMAGE TO AN OLD BARN, RADIO TOWER, AND TREE LIMBS ALONG 177TH AND PARADISE ROAD.
00:00 UTCHAIL 0.7510 N RussellRussell, KS
00:03 UTCHAIL 0.8810 N RussellRussell, KS
00:07 UTCHAIL 110 N RussellRussell, KS

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2013 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are

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.