Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2015

EF0 tornado, Medway to Syracuse, Kansas, April 16, 2015

Name: EF0 tornado, Medway to Syracuse, Kansas, April 16, 2015
Start: 2015-04-17T00:00:00.000Z
End: 2015-04-17T00:05:00.000Z
Location: Medway to Syracuse, Kansas

From Medway to Syracuse, this EF0 tornado ran 1.6 miles across Hamilton County on April 16, 2015, touching down at 6:00 PM MDT 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.

EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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: April 16, 2015
Touchdown: 6:00 PM MDT (00:00 UTC)
Lifted: 6:05 PM MDT (00:05 UTC)
On the ground: 5 minutes
Path length: 1.6 miles (2.5 km)
Path width: 50 yards (46 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
County: Hamilton County
Touchdown point: 38.192, -101.714
Lift-off point: 38.210, -101.695
Record number: 1504161800-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A large upper level low moved slowly towards the area aiding ascent for a large area of showers and thunderstorms. Initiation was early in the afternoon.

There was brief contact from this developing tornado.

This was an apparently weak tornado but it occurred in an area with nothing to damage.

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

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Dodge City, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Apr 16, 5:12 PM MDT, 48 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 16, 5:12 PM MDT, 48 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS
612 PM CDT THU APR 16 2015

...UPDATED AVIATION DISCUSSION...

.SHORT TERM...(THIS EVENING THROUGH FRIDAY)
ISSUED AT 120 PM CDT THU APR 16 2015

IN THE SHORT TERM, A FEW (2-3) ROUNDS OF CONVECTION ARE ANTICIPATED
THROUGH HE NEXT 24 TO 36 HOURS OR SO AS A LARGE UPPER LOW MOVES
TOWARD THE REGION WITH FORCING FOR ASCENT, AND PERSISTENT MID LEVEL
MOISTURE ADVECTION TO MAINTAIN INSTABILITY FOR A PROLONGED PERIOD.
THE FIRST ROUNDS ARE EXPECTED ALREADY EARLY THIS AFTERNOON AS THE
NESTED 4 KM NAM AND HRRR MODELS HAVE GENERALLY AGREED ON CONVECTIVE
INITIATION BETWEEN AROUND 2 AND 4 PM, AND RAPIDLY DEVELOPING INTO A
MULTICELLULAR LINE AFTER AN HOUR OR SO OF SLOWER GROWING DISCREET
CELLS. THE INITIAL ROTATING STORMS GENERALLY WEST OF HIGHWAY 83
SHOULD BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING HAIL LARGER THAN GOLFBALLS AND
DAMAGING WIND BEFORE THE STORMS BECOME MORE CLUSTERED OR LINEAR,
PRESENTING A SLIGHTLY SMALLER HAIL THREAT AND STILL DAMAGING WIND
THREAT THROUGH THE HIGHWAY 283 AND 183 CORRIDORS INTO THE EARLY
EVENING HOURS. THESE MODEL SOLUTIONS COULD BE INTERFERED WITH BY THE
EXTENSIVE STRATUS ACROSS THE AREA REDUCING THE SEVERE THREAT.

ANOTHER ROUND OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL PROBABLY OCCUR LATE TONIGHT INTO
THE OVERNIGHT AND POSSIBLY STILL ONGOING EARLY FRIDAY MORNING, WITH
A CONTINUED HAIL IF NOT AN ISOLATED WIND THREAT AS WELL, ALTHOUGH
SOME BL STABILITY SHOULD HINDER THE WIND THREAT. THE DYNAMICS OF THE
UPPER LOW WILL DRIVE A DRY SLOT THROUGH THE REGION OF FRIDAY, BUT
NOT BEFORE LATE MORNING/EARLY AFTERNOON DESTABILIZATION CONTRIBUTES
TO YET ANOTHER SEVERE EPISODE WITH AS GOOD OR BETTER CAPE AND SHEAR
COMBINATIONS.

TEMPERATURES WERE RAISED FOR FRIDAY MORNING, FOLLOWING THE NAM AND
GFS, AS OVERNIGHT CONVECTION SHOULD LIMIT THE RADIATIONAL COOLING.
ADDITIONALLY THE POPS WERE RAISED LOWERED FRIDAY MORNING AND
INCREASED ALONG THE MOISTURE TRANSPORT AXIS INTO FRIDAY AFTERNOON
WITH A MODEL CONSENSUS.

.LONG TERM...(FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY)
ISSUED AT 1152 AM CDT THU APR 16 2015

FRIDAY NIGHT INTO SATURDAY WE WILL STILL BE DEALING WITH THE SLOW-
MOVING UPPER LOW, BUT BY THIS TIME THE LOW WILL BE SEVERELY OCCLUDED
WITH THE DRY INTRUSION WORKING IN FAST FROM THE SOUTHWEST. IN FACT,
FRIDAY NIGHT LOOKS RATHER DRY NOW WITH THE SYNOPTIC DRY INTRUSION
ACROSS MUCH OF KANSAS. WE HAVE REDUCED POPS AS A RESULT FRIDAY
NIGHT. AS WE HEAD INTO SATURDAY, ANY DAYTIME HEATING WILL PROMOTE
SHOWER AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT AS THE CORE OF THE MID
LEVEL CYCLONE WALLOWS SLOWLY EASTWARD INTO FAR WESTERN KANSAS. WE
WILL MAINTAIN THE 20-40 POPS ACROSS MAINLY THE NORTHERN AND EASTERN
ZONES WITH A DRY FORECAST ACROSS FAR SOUTHWEST KANSAS.

WHAT IS LEFT OF THE LOW WILL FINALLY PULL AWAY SATURDAY NIGHT INTO
EARLY SUNDAY WITH FAIRLY STRONG NORTH WINDS TO FOLLOW DURING THE DAY
SUNDAY. WE COULD STILL SEE SOME WRAP-AROUND LIGHT PRECIPITATION IN
THE WEAKENING MID LEVEL DEFORMATION AXIS, HENCE THE 20 TOP 30 POPS
FOR MUCH OF THE AREA. LOOKING BEYOND THE WEEKEND, WE WILL ENTER A
NORTHWEST FLOW PATTERN ON THE SOUTHWEST SIDE OF A LARGE-SCALE UPPER
TROUGH ACROSS THE GREAT LAKES REGION. THE ATMOSPHERE WILL BE FAIRLY
COOL EARLY NEXT WEEK AS A RESULT WITH LARGE SCALE HIGH PRESSURE AT
THE SURFACE.

&&

.AVIATION...(FOR THE 00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z FRIDAY EVENING)
ISSUED AT 611 PM CDT THU APR 16 2015

CONVECTION CAN BE EXPECTED THROUGH AT LEAST MIDNIGHT AS UPPER
LEVEL DISTURBANCE APPROACHES WESTERN KANSAS. PRECIPITATION CHANCES
WILL THEN DECREASE FROM SOUTHWEST TO NORTHEAST EARLY FRIDAY
MORNING AS THIS UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE CROSSES WESTERN KANSAS.
CEILINGS OVERNIGHT WILL VARY FROM VFR TO IFR AS AREAS OF
CONVECTION CROSSES EACH OF THE TAF SITES. WILL INITIALLY BE
OPTIMISTIC WITH THE CEILINGS EARLY IN THE EVENING WITH CEILINGS
LOWERING AS PRECIPITATION CHANCES INCREASE TOWARDS MIDNIGHT. AS
THE PRECIPITATION TAPERS OFF TOWARDS DAYBREAK THERE WILL THEN BE A
CHANCE FOR AREAS OF STATUS AND FOG DEVELOPING GIVEN THE LOW LEVEL
MOISTURE AND A SOUTHEASTERLY WIND. CEILINGS WILL THEN IMPROVE BY
LATE MORNINGS AS SOUTH/SOUTHEASTERLY WINDS CONTINUE.

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
DDC  55  71  47  69 /  80  60  60  30
GCK  53  71  43  69 /  80  50  60  30
EHA  47  71  42  66 /  70  30  30  20
LBL  50  73  43  69 /  80  40  40  30
HYS  56  71  50  71 /  70  60  60  50
P28  58  72  55  72 /  80  60  60  40

&&

.DDC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NONE.
&&

SHORT TERM...RUSSELL
LONG TERM...UMSCHEID
AVIATION...BURGERT

Hazardous weather outlook, Apr 16, 3:57 AM MDT, 14 hours 3 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS
457 AM CDT THU APR 16 2015

KSZ030-031-043>046-061>066-074>081-084>090-171000-
TREGO-ELLIS-SCOTT-LANE-NESS-RUSH-HAMILTON-KEARNY-FINNEY-HODGEMAN-
PAWNEE-STAFFORD-STANTON-GRANT-HASKELL-GRAY-FORD-EDWARDS-KIOWA-
PRATT-MORTON-STEVENS-SEWARD-MEADE-CLARK-COMANCHE-BARBER-
457 AM CDT THU APR 16 2015

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HEAVY RAIN THIS AFTERNOON AND
TONIGHT...

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL...SOUTH
CENTRAL...SOUTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL KANSAS.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT.

WEATHER HAZARDS EXPECTED...

  LIMITED TORNADO RISK.
  ELEVATED HAIL RISK.
  ELEVATED THUNDERSTORM WIND DAMAGE RISK.
  ELEVATED FLOODING RISK.
  SIGNIFICANT LIGHTNING RISK.
  LIMITED NON THUNDERSTORM WIND RISK.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY.

  HAZARDS WEATHER RISK...

  FRIDAY...
  LIMITED FLOODING RISK.
  LIMITED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM RISK.
  ELEVATED FIRE WEATHER RISK.

  SATURDAY...
  ELEVATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM RISK.

  SUNDAY...
  NO HAZARDS.

  MONDAY...
  NO HAZARDS.

  TUESDAY...
  NO HAZARDS.

  WEDNESDAY...
  LIMITED LIGHTNING RISK.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED AFTER 1 PM AND INTO TONIGHT FOR
LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WIND ACROSS MUCH OF SOUTHWESTERN KANSAS.

&&

FOR MORE DETAILS VISIT OUR WEBPAGE HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/DDC/EHWO

In the hours before

Local storm report, Apr 16, 2:44 PM MDT, 3 hours 16 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS
344 PM CDT THU APR 16 2015

...TIME...  ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
...DATE...  ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0325 PM     HAIL             GARDEN CITY             37.98N 100.86W
04/16/2015  E0.25 INCH       FINNEY             KS   COUNTY OFFICIAL

&&

SMR

Local storm report, Apr 16, 3:13 PM MDT, 2 hours 47 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS
413 PM CDT THU APR 16 2015

...TIME...  ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
...DATE...  ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0345 PM     HEAVY RAIN       1 W GARDEN CITY         37.98N 100.89W
04/16/2015  E2.00 INCH       FINNEY             KS   PUBLIC

            PEA SIZE HAIL ALSO OCCURRED AT THIS
            LOCATION.

&&

NWS DODGE CITY KS
IRIS SYSTEM

Local storm report, Apr 16, 3:20 PM MDT, 2 hours 40 minutes before

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Local storm report, Apr 16, 3:21 PM MDT, 2 hours 39 minutes before

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Local storm report, Apr 16, 3:47 PM MDT, 2 hours 13 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS
447 PM CDT THU APR 16 2015

...TIME...  ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
...DATE...  ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0340 PM     HAIL             1 NE BYERS              37.80N 98.85W
04/16/2015  E1.00 INCH       PRATT              KS   PUBLIC

            THE HAIL COVERED THE GROUND AND STRIPPED
            LEAVES FROM TREES. MOST STONES WERE PEA TO
            NICKEL-SIZED. A TOTAL OF 1.5 INCHES OF RAIN
            FELL.

&&

NWS DODGE CITY KS
IRIS SYSTEM

Local storm report, Apr 16, 4:05 PM MDT, 1 hour 55 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS
505 PM CDT THU APR 16 2015

...TIME...  ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
...DATE...  ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0202 PM     HAIL             5 S MULLINVILLE         37.52N 99.47W
04/16/2015  E0.75 INCH       KIOWA              KS   PUBLIC

            MOST OF THE HAIL WAS PEA SIZE AND IT WAS
            COVERING THE GROUND.

0210 PM     HAIL             4 S SAINT JOHN          37.94N 98.76W
04/16/2015  E1.25 INCH       STAFFORD           KS   PUBLIC

0214 PM     HAIL             4 SE MULLINVILLE        37.54N 99.43W
04/16/2015  E1.00 INCH       KIOWA              KS   PUBLIC

0239 PM     HAIL             6 SE HUDSON             38.06N 98.58W
04/16/2015  E0.75 INCH       STAFFORD           KS   PUBLIC

0247 PM     HAIL             8 NNE STAFFORD          38.06N 98.53W
04/16/2015  E1.00 INCH       STAFFORD           KS   PUBLIC

0315 PM     HAIL             2 WNW TROUSDALE         37.81N 99.11W
04/16/2015  E1.25 INCH       EDWARDS            KS   PUBLIC

0340 PM     HAIL             1 NE BYERS              37.80N 98.85W
04/16/2015  E1.00 INCH       PRATT              KS   PUBLIC

            THE HAIL COVERED THE GROUND AND STRIPPED
            LEAVES FROM TREES. MOST STONES WERE PEA TO
            NICKEL-SIZED. A TOTAL OF 1.5 INCHES OF RAIN
            FELL.

0418 PM     HAIL             1 WSW NEOLA             37.85N 98.53W
04/16/2015  E1.00 INCH       STAFFORD           KS   PUBLIC

&&

NWS DODGE CITY KS
IRIS SYSTEM

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), 00:00Z

0.0 hours before the tornado, 165 km from the path. April 17, 2015.

Skew-T log-p

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.

Hodograph

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: -157 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1121 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 43 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 19 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 119 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 149 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0
0-3 km lapse rate: 5.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Dodge City, (KDDC), 12:00Z

12.0 hours after it, 165 km from the path. April 17, 2015.

Skew-T log-p

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.

Hodograph

Mixed-layer CAPE: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -83428 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1551 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 45 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 157 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 120 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0
0-3 km lapse rate: 5.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Lamar (LAA), 87 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)	Temp (°F)	Dew point (°F)	Wind	Gust (kt)	Pressure (mb)	Weather
00:00 UTC

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

The radar

The Goodland radar (KGLD), 130 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:02 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.

This ground now

The live radar over the track Every 2015 tornado in Kansas Every tornado in Kansas since 1950 Warnings in force in Kansas now The forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 16, 2015

11 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
April 16	2:16 PM CDT	EF0	Refugio, TX	0.0	10
April 16	2:51 PM CDT	EF0	Refugio, TX	0.1	50	$5,000
April 16	3:31 PM CDT	EF0	Refugio, TX	0.1	50	$5,000
April 16	3:58 PM CDT	EF0	Carson, TX	2.3	50
April 16	4:58 PM CDT	EF0	Gray, TX	2.3	30
April 16	5:20 PM CDT	EF0	Hemphill, TX	7.2	75
April 16	5:35 PM CDT	EF0	Roberts, TX	4.4	50
April 16	5:18 PM MDT	EF0	Hamilton, KS	0.4	30
April 16	6:20 PM CDT	EF0	Wheeler, TX	14.1	50
April 16	6:22 PM CDT	EF0	Wheeler, TX	4.9	70
April 16	8:00 PM CDT	EF0	Beckham, OK	4.5	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.