Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2014

EF0 tornado, Tribune, Kansas, June 11, 2014

This EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Greeley County on June 11, 2014, touching down at 3:54 PM MDT and reaching 10 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
June 11, 2014
Touchdown
3:54 PM MDT (21:54 UTC)
Lifted
3:57 PM MDT (21:57 UTC)
On the ground
3 minutes
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
10 yards (9 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Greeley County
Touchdown point
38.521, -101.685
Lift-off point
38.521, -101.685
Record number
1406111554-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Scattered strong to severe thunderstorms moved southeast across Northwest Kansas ahead of an advancing cold front. Two tornadoes were reported with these storms. One tornado was reported 3 ENE of Tribune, and another 2 N of Selkirk. Large hail up to half dollar in size was reported, with the largest hail stones falling 14 S of Goodland. Severe wind gusts also occurred, with reported speeds ranging from 60-77MPH. The highest wind speed occurred 16 SSE of Wallace. Blowing dust was also reported with thunderstorm outflow winds resulting in near zero visibility.

Rope tornado viewed from approximately 5 miles south of Tribune. Tornado location estimated from Doppler radar near Rd 20/Rd N.

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

The warnings

2 minutes of warning. NWS GLD issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:52 UTC, 2 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:15 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 21:40 UTC and running to 04:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
21:40 UTC04:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchGLD
21:43 UTC22:33 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLD
21:52 UTC22:15 UTCTornado WarningGLD
22:06 UTC22:32 UTCTornado WarningGLD
23:28 UTC00:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLD
23:57 UTC01:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLD

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. The outlook in force was issued at 20:00 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

9.9 hours before the tornado, 177 km from the path. June 11, 2014.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dodge City, at 12:00Z on 2014-06-11Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 40 joules per kilogram, CIN -608, lifted condensation level 1858 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 2014-06-11The 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 250 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 46 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
40 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-608 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1858 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
46 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
250 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
296 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Dodge City, (KDDC), 00:00Z

2.1 hours after it, 177 km from the path. June 12, 2014.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dodge City, at 00:00Z on 2014-06-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1716 joules per kilogram, CIN -157, lifted condensation level 2429 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 2014-06-12The 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 46 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
1716 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-157 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2675 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2429 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
8 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
46 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
117 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 radar

The Goodland radar (KGLD), 94 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:54 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
21:51 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD4 Ne TribuneGreeley, KSLOCATION APPROXIMATE BASED ON RADAR.
21:55 UTCTORNADO3 Ene TribuneGreeley, KSROPE TORNADO VIEWED FROM APPROX 5 SOUTH OF TRIBUNE.
21:55 UTCTORNADO3 S TribuneGreeley, KSROPE TORNADO VIEWED FROM APPROX 5 SOUTH OF TRIBUNE. LOCATION ESTIMATED BY SPOTTER.
21:56 UTCTORNADO2 N SelkirkWichita, KSTIME OF TORNADO IS APPROXIMATE.
23:52 UTCDUST STORM5 S TribuneGreeley, KSESTIMATED 50 MPH GUSTS AND NEAR ZERO VISIBILITY ASSOCIATED WITH THUNDERSTORM OUTFLOW.
23:59 UTCTSTM WND GST 61TribuneGreeley, KS
00:14 UTCTSTM WND GST 6010 S Sharon SpringsWallace, KSALSO HAD DIME SIZE HAIL
00:38 UTCTSTM WND GST 7716 Sse WallaceLogan, KSSUSTAINED 50 MPH

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2014 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 11, 2014

8 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 111:14 PM CDTEF0Ramsey, ND0.430
June 115:55 PM EDTEF1Saginaw, MI5.3300$250,000
June 117:10 PM EDTEF1Bedford, PA11.0100$3,000
June 116:15 PM CDTEF1Wadena, MN1.010
June 116:18 PM CDTEF1Marshall, SD0.150
June 117:58 PM CDTEF1Logan, KS0.125$50,000
June 118:20 PM CDTEF0Tom Green, TX0.750
June 118:24 PM CDTEF0Tom Green, TX0.675

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.