Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2014

EF0 tornado, Brewster, Kansas, June 27, 2014

This EF0 tornado ran 2.0 miles across Thomas County on June 27, 2014, touching down at 5:44 PM CDT and reaching 25 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 27, 2014
Touchdown
5:44 PM CDT (22:44 UTC)
Lifted
5:48 PM CDT (22:48 UTC)
On the ground
4 minutes
Path length
2.0 miles (3.2 km)
Path width
25 yards (23 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Thomas County
Touchdown point
39.290, -101.380
Lift-off point
39.290, -101.380
Record number
1406271644-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Scattered thunderstorms developed in the early afternoon hours over eastern Colorado which eventually formed a solid line of storms which swept northeast through far northwest Kansas and southwest Nebraska later in the afternoon into early evening. Two tornadoes were reported along Interstate 70, and hail up to golf ball size fell.

Location approximate as viewed from Goodland, and estimated by Doppler velocity couplet.

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 tornado watch, issued at 20:48 UTC and running to 03:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
20:48 UTC03:00 UTCTornado WatchGLD
21:36 UTC08:00 UTCFlash Flood WatchGLD
22:47 UTC23:15 UTCTornado WarningGLD
23:06 UTC23:45 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, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:06 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.

Denver, CO (KDEN), 12:00Z

10.7 hours before the tornado, 171 km from the path. June 27, 2014.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Denver, CO at 12:00Z on 2014-06-27Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 86 joules per kilogram, CIN -324, lifted condensation level 1793 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 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, Denver, CO at 12:00Z on 2014-06-27The 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 -126 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 30 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
86 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-324 J/kg
Surface CAPE
56 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1793 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-126 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-41 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Denver, CO (KDEN), 00:00Z

1.3 hours after it, 171 km from the path. June 28, 2014.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Denver, CO at 00:00Z on 2014-06-28Temperature 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 -80391, lifted condensation level 1987 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 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, Denver, CO at 00:00Z on 2014-06-28The 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 -8 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 24 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
-80391 J/kg
Surface CAPE
394 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1987 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
5 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-8 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
81 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.1
0-3 km lapse rate
6.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Goodland (GLD), 28 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
20:53 UTC8365140° 8 kt181004.1
21:53 UTC80680° 0 kt1003.4
22:06 UTC7868260° 6 kt1004.4VCTS
22:21 UTC7559250° 31 kt411005.8-TSRA
22:53 UTC6854310° 16 kt1003-TSRA
23:02 UTC6753320° 7 kt1003.7VCTS -RA
23:39 UTC7744240° 20 kt451004.4-TSRA
23:53 UTC7448300° 12 kt1003.4-TSRA
00:10 UTC7052350° 5 kt1002.7TS
00:20 UTC7054160° 10 kt1004.4VCTS

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

The radar

The Goodland radar (KGLD), 29 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:41 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
21:30 UTCHAIL 13 S Sharon SpringsWallace, KSHAIL FALLING NOW AND COVERING THE GROUND.
21:43 UTCHAIL 1.253 W Sharon SpringsWallace, KS
21:49 UTCHAIL 11 N Sharon SpringsWallace, KSINTERMITTENT PERIODS OF DIME TO NICKEL SIZE HAIL WITH SOME QUARTERS MIXED IN WHILE DRIVING ON KS-27.
22:31 UTCHAIL 1Bird CityCheyenne, KS
22:44 UTCTORNADO5 S BrewsterThomas, KSLOCATION APPROX. VIEWED FROM GOODLAND LOOKING EAST.
22:48 UTCTORNADO2 S EdsonSherman, KSLOCATION APPROX. VIEWED FROM NEW EDSON.
22:48 UTCTORNADO2 Sse EdsonSherman, KSLAW ENFORCEMENT FOUND DAMAGE TO CORN FIELD FROM PREVIOUSLY REPORTED TORNADO. NO INJURIES. NO KNOWN STRUCTURE DAMAGE. TIME ESTIMATED FROM PREVIOUS REPORTS.
22:58 UTCHAIL 0.88BrewsterThomas, KS

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 27, 2014

7 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 2711:07 AM CDTEF0Liberty, TX0.020$15,000
June 2711:24 AM CDTEF0Liberty, TX0.025
June 271:46 PM CDTEF0Jefferson Davis Parish, LA4.6300$10,000
June 273:36 PM EDTEF0Lee, FL1.220$1,000
June 273:03 PM CDTEF1Dunn, WI7.0100$1.2 million
June 272:18 PM MDTEF0Kiowa, CO2.1100
June 274:40 PM MDTEF0Sherman, KS1.025

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.