EF2 tornado, Clearwater to (Ict)Wichita Arpt, Kansas, May 19, 2013

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 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

EF2

Date

May 19, 2013

Touchdown

3:37 PM CDT (20:37 UTC)

Lifted

3:48 PM CDT (20:48 UTC)

On the ground

11 minutes

Path length

4.6 miles (7.4 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Sedgwick County

Touchdown point

37.580, -97.506

Lift-off point

37.610, -97.431

Record number

1305191437-01

14 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS ICT, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 130 mph.

• several large trees uprooted. trees oriented north-northeast. No damage to brick home and outbuildings on property. Circulation likely at treetop and descended to ground in field north of buidlings on property.
• irrigation pivot blown over
• top of grain bin thrown 50yd new
• sheriff prevented further drive to damage; damage one-quarter mile north. propery lost silo and apparent trailer shoved from sw to ne into outbldgs.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

A significant outbreak of severe weather affected much of central and southeast Kansas. A total of 10 tornadoes touched down and strong winds along with large hail pelted the city of Wichita.

A large tornado moved across rural areas in Sedgwick county causing damage to a few farmsteads. None of the major structures took a direct hit from the tornado. Most of the damage was limited to power poles, barns, silos, and farm equipment. A horse trailer was thrown for approximately 220 yards by the tornado. The Doppler on Wheels was also in the vicinity and recorded 155 mph winds at 70 meters above ground level. This would be an EF3, however, based on damage it did not appear that wind speeds at that level reached the surface. Hence the EF2 rating.

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

12 minutes of warning. NWS ICT issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:25 UTC, 12 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:48 UTC and running to 01:38 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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:40 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.

Wichita (ICT), 7 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Wichita radar (KICT), 7 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:36 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.

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 2013 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are

26 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.