Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2013

EF0 tornado, Catharine, Kansas, May 8, 2013

This EF0 tornado ran 0.7 miles across Ellis County on May 8, 2013, touching down at 6:30 PM CDT and reaching 100 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 8, 2013
Touchdown
6:30 PM CDT (23:30 UTC)
Lifted
6:35 PM CDT (23:35 UTC)
On the ground
5 minutes
Path length
0.7 miles (1.1 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Ellis County
Touchdown point
38.970, -99.200
Lift-off point
38.971, -99.188
Record number
1305081730-02

What the Weather Service recorded

A second day of severe weather moved across the area. An upper level wind maximum entered the high plains as deep moisture and strong heating persisted. Thunderstorms erupted during the late afternoon.

An observer reported 2 tornadoes.

An observer reported 2 tornadoes.

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. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 20:20 UTC and running to 04:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
20:20 UTC04:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchDDC
23:29 UTC00:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningDDC
23:41 UTC00:15 UTCTornado WarningDDC
00:39 UTC01:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningDDC
00:53 UTC01:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm 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 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

11.5 hours before the tornado, 147 km from the path. May 8, 2013.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dodge City, at 12:00Z on 2013-05-08Temperature 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 -84280, lifted condensation level 2545 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 2013-05-08The 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 146 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 39 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-84280 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2545 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
39 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
146 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
198 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Dodge City, (KDDC), 00:00Z

0.5 hours after it, 147 km from the path. May 9, 2013.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dodge City, at 00:00Z on 2013-05-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 524 joules per kilogram, CIN -124, lifted condensation level 2196 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 2013-05-09The 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 155 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 51 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
524 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-124 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1750 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2196 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
51 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
17 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
155 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
308 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
2.7
0-3 km lapse rate
8.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Hays_muni (HYS), 16 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
21:35 UTC75.257.220° 4 kt1010.5
21:55 UTC73.455.4150° 3 kt1010.5
22:15 UTC75.257.2170° 4 kt1010.5
22:35 UTC73.457.2110° 6 kt1010.5
22:55 UTC73.457.2100° 7 kt1010.5
23:15 UTC73.45990° 4 kt1010.2
23:35 UTC73.4590° 0 kt1009.8TS
23:55 UTC73.457.2150° 6 kt1010.2
00:15 UTC73.459130° 9 kt1009.5
00:35 UTC71.659100° 7 kt1009.5TS
00:55 UTC66.255.410° 15 kt181009.8TS
01:15 UTC62.657.2350° 21 kt261011.2TS

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

The radar

The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 151 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:32 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
23:18 UTCHAIL 13 Sw ParadiseRussell, KS
23:22 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD15 Nw RussellEllis, KSROPE FUNNEL CLOUDS REPORTED WITH THIS STORM BY LAW ENFORCEMENT AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT.
23:22 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD8 N RussellRussell, KSROPE FUNNEL CLOUDS REPORTED WITH THIS STORM BY LAW ENFORCEMENT AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT.
23:35 UTCTORNADO3 Nne CatherineEllis, KSHE OBSERVED 2 TORNADOES, ONE LIFTED, ONE PARTIALLY LIFTED BUT BACK DOWN ON THE GROUND. FIRST TORNADO DOWN FOR ABOUT 4 TO 5 MINUTES.
23:39 UTCTORNADO8 N GorhamRussell, KSA ROPE TORNADO REPORTED WHICH WAS THE MERGER OF TWO FUNNEL CLOUDS BY RUSSELL COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGER.
00:45 UTCHAIL 1HaysEllis, KSHAIL UP TO THE SIZE OF QUARTERS FELL ON THE NORTHEAST SIDE OF HAYS.
00:50 UTCHAIL 0.75Ene HaysEllis, KS
01:02 UTCHAIL 13 S PlainvilleRooks, KSHAIL IS ONGOING
02:03 UTCHAIL 16 S GorhamRussell, KSNICKEL TO QUARTER SIZED HAIL WAS FALLING 6 SOUTH OF GORHAM.

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 8, 2013

7 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 81:54 PM MDTEF0Prowers, CO0.175
May 85:00 PM CDTEF0Yankton, SD0.525
May 85:55 PM CDTEF0Stonewall, TX0.040
May 85:20 PM MDTEF0Jerome, ID1.020
May 86:30 PM CDTEF0Ellis, KS0.250
May 86:39 PM CDTEF0Russell, KS0.450
May 88:18 PM CDTEF0Grady, OK0.150

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.