Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2013

EF0 tornado, Ellis to Antonino, Kansas, May 18, 2013

From Ellis to Antonino, this EF0 tornado ran 0.6 miles across Ellis County on May 18, 2013, touching down at 6:37 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
May 18, 2013
Touchdown
6:37 PM CDT (23:37 UTC)
Lifted
6:39 PM CDT (23:39 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
0.6 miles (0.9 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Ellis County
Touchdown point
38.826, -99.432
Lift-off point
38.829, -99.422
Record number
1305181737-01

What the Weather Service recorded

High instability was in place as an upper level wind maxima moved out of the base of a deep upper trough in the west.

This small tornado damaged some power poles and trees.

This tornado was brief and did not cause any damage.

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

The warnings

7 minutes of warning. NWS DDC issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:30 UTC, 7 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:45 UTC and running to 02:35 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
19:45 UTC02:35 UTCTornado WatchDDC
22:46 UTC23:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningDDC
23:01 UTC23:30 UTCTornado WarningDDC
23:30 UTC00:00 UTCTornado WarningDDC
23:57 UTC00:30 UTCTornado WarningDDC
00:25 UTC00:45 UTCTornado WarningDDC

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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 19:39 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, 125 km from the path. May 18, 2013.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dodge City, at 12:00Z on 2013-05-18Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2095 joules per kilogram, CIN -361, lifted condensation level 812 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 2013-05-18The 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 256 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 15 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
2095 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-361 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3166 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
812 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
15 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
256 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
291 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Dodge City, (KDDC), 00:00Z

0.4 hours after it, 125 km from the path. May 19, 2013.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dodge City, at 00:00Z on 2013-05-19Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 160 joules per kilogram, CIN -9, lifted condensation level 4488 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 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 2013-05-19The 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 45 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 28 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
160 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-9 J/kg
Surface CAPE
149 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
4488 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
11 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
45 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
53 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
10.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Hays_muni (HYS), 13 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
21:55 UTC82.466.2120° 17 kt251003.7VCTS
22:15 UTC82.462.6140° 18 kt231003.7
22:35 UTC80.664.4130° 17 kt221003VCTS
22:55 UTC80.664.4100° 13 kt1003.4TS
23:15 UTC78.864.4100° 16 kt1003TS
23:35 UTC78.864.4100° 18 kt221002.4TS
23:55 UTC75.259310° 14 kt271004.7VCTS
00:15 UTC64.455.4360° 21 kt1003.4TS
00:35 UTC62.655.460° 11 kt221003.4VCTS
00:55 UTC64.45950° 7 kt1002VCTS
01:15 UTC66.260.870° 13 kt1001.4VCTS
01:35 UTC64.457.260° 13 kt231002VCTS

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

The radar

The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 128 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:36 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
21:00 UTCHAIL 1.757 W WakeeneyTrego, KS
21:45 UTCHAIL 1.75RansomNess, KS
22:05 UTCHAIL 1.755 Ene ArnoldNess, KS
22:30 UTCHAIL 18 S Trego CenterTrego, KS
22:45 UTCHAIL 2S RansomNess, KSTHE HAIL WAS MEASURED 30 MINUTES AFTER IT FELL.
22:50 UTCHAIL 23 Se RansomNess, KS
23:00 UTCHAIL 1.753 W BrownellNess, KS
23:03 UTCTORNADO3 N BrownellNess, KSA BRIEF MULTI-VORTEX TORNADO WAS OBSERVERED. THE TORNADO LASTED 1 TO 2 MINUTES.
23:03 UTCTORNADO5 S EllisEllis, KS
23:10 UTCHAIL 1.756 S OgallahTrego, KS
23:20 UTCHAIL 0.75DamarRooks, KS
23:40 UTCTORNADO10 Se EllisEllis, KSTORNADO WAS OBSERVED GOING UP AND DOWN, SHORT TIME ON THE SURFACE. NO DAMAGE REPORTED AS OF YET.
00:10 UTCHAIL 1CatherineEllis, KS
00:12 UTCHAIL 1.25CatherineEllis, KS
00:32 UTCHAIL 110 Nw RussellRussell, KSLAW ENFORCEMENT REPORTED DIME TO QUARTER SIZED HAIL. TIME IS APPROXIMATED WITH RADAR.
00:39 UTCHAIL 0.88NatomaOsborne, 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

The other tornadoes of May 18, 2013

9 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 185:27 PM CDTEF0Trego, KS2.9100
May 184:58 PM MDTEF0Morrill, NE1.050
May 186:03 PM CDTEF0Ness, KS0.3100
May 186:09 PM CDTEF1Ellis, KS1.750
May 187:18 PM CDTEF4Rozel tornado, KS7.01,100$140,000
May 187:49 PM CDTEF1Pawnee, KS4.0100
May 188:10 PM CDTEF0Pawnee, KS2.1100
May 1810:35 PM CDTEF1Clay, KS7.075
May 1811:00 PM CDTEF0Washington, KS0.350

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.