Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2016

EF0 tornado, (1k5)Elkhart to Richfield, Kansas, April 15, 2016

Name: EF0 tornado, (1k5)Elkhart to Richfield, Kansas, April 15, 2016
Start: 2016-04-16T01:52:00.000Z
End: 2016-04-16T01:58:00.000Z
Location: (1k5)Elkhart to Richfield, Kansas

From (1k5)Elkhart to Richfield, this EF0 tornado ran 3.5 miles across Morton County on April 15, 2016, touching down at 8:52 PM CDT and reaching 400 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 15, 2016
Touchdown: 8:52 PM CDT (01:52 UTC)
Lifted: 8:58 PM CDT (01:58 UTC)
On the ground: 6 minutes
Path length: 3.5 miles (5.6 km)
Path width: 400 yards (366 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
County: Morton County
Touchdown point: 37.176, -101.715
Lift-off point: 37.218, -101.680
Record number: 1604151952-01

The damage survey

3 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS DDC, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 100 mph.

A pivot irrigation spinkler was destroyed and the center pivot, concrete and all, was pulled out of the ground. There were also power poles destroyed in the area.
Likely end location of this tornado.

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

What the Weather Service recorded

Severe thunderstorms developed along a dry line mixing into western Kansas.

The tornado pulled the center of the irrigation sprinkler out of the concrete. There was some damage to outbuildings near the path of the tornado. It appeared that perhaps 5 inches of rain fell in 2 hours.

There was nothing to damage by this tornado. It was verified by a storm chaser with pictures and video of the tornado that appeared to be at least 1/4 mile wide.

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 15, 6:23 PM CDT, 2 hours 29 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 15, 6:23 PM CDT, 2 hours 29 minutes before

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Dodge City KS
623 PM CDT FRI APR 15 2016

...Updated aviation section...

.SYNOPSIS...
Issued at 1249 PM CDT Fri Apr 15 2016

A large upper level low will amplify and then close off over the
Intermountain west through Sunday. Surface troughing ahead of
this feature will continue to result in ample low level moisture
streaming into western Kansas. A surface dryline was situated just
west of the Colorado state line this afternoon. A surface cold
front will pass across western Kansas Sunday into Monday. By late
Monday into early Wednesday the upper level low is advertised to
be situated over the central plains. Surface high pressure will
edge into western Kansas by Wednesday. By late next week, this
upper level trough will finally move into the eastern United
States and weak upper level ridging will build into the plains. By
next weekend, another deep upper level low may move into the
southwestern United States.

&&

.SHORT TERM...(This evening through Saturday)
Issued at 1249 PM CDT Fri Apr 15 2016

Thunderstorms are expected to develop along the dryline late this
afternoon and then propagate northeastward into western Kansas in
the 00z-04z time frame. Since the Gulf of Mexico is not completely
open for moisture return, some marginal moisture is returning
ahead of the dryline with dewpoints in the lower 50s after daytime
mixing. Although the mean wind vector will only be slightly off
the dryline, some supercell storms are likely initially given
surface based CAPE values of 1500 j/kg and 40 kt bulk shear.
Current thinking is that the tornado threat is low due to marginal
surface based CAPE and high dewpoint depressions. Due to expected
storm rotation, hail to 2 inches in diameter or even larger is
possible with the storms. Thunderstorms are expected to linger
across far western Kansas later tonight and through Saturday, with
the heaviest convection in far western Kansas.

.LONG TERM...(Saturday night through Friday)
Issued at 1249 PM CDT Fri Apr 15 2016

Widespread showers and thunderstorms are still expected Saturday
night into early Monday while gradually shifting eastward.
There is high uncertainty in how fast the upper level system will
shift eastward, leading to strong uncertainty in rainfall amounts.
We still think that there will be widespread 1 to 3" rain totals
with localized heavier amounts. A flood watch was issued along
and east of the 100th meridian. Even though the warm conveyor
belt will shift east of western Kansas by Monday and Tuesday,
scattered showers and thunderstorms can't be ruled out due to the
upper level cold pool and remnant low level moisture. High
temperatures will be held down Saturday by convection with mainly
60s. Temperatures Sunday will depend on how fast the cold front
passes. Highs could be in the 40s in far western Kansas, with 60s
in central Kansas. Lows Saturday and Sunday will be quite mild
over central Kansas and parts of western Kansas due to high
dewpoints, south winds and cloudy skies. Highs Monday and Tuesday
will be on the chilly side in the wake of the cold front with
mostly 50s. Lows could be in the 30s by Tuesday if skies clear.
Upper level ridging will edge into the plains by late next week.
There is a great deal of uncertainty with the large scale pattern
for next weekend. Some of the models develop a large trough in the
western United States, with thunderstorm chances increasing again
over the plains while other model solutions are drier.

&&

.AVIATION...(For the 00Z TAFS through 00Z Saturday evening)
Issued at 621 PM CDT Fri Apr 15 2016

Scattered showers and thunderstorms will bring MVFR to IFR
conditions across the terminals mainly after midnight. Otherwise
expect low to mid level cloudiness to increase this evening with
VFR conditions. Winds will generally be from the southeast around
20 knots gusting to over 25 knots at times.

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
DDC  55  66  51  61 /  80  90 100  90
GCK  53  64  45  54 /  80  90 100  80
EHA  52  64  42  54 /  80  90  80  50
LBL  54  65  46  55 /  80  90 100  70
HYS  54  66  51  61 /  60  90 100 100
P28  57  70  56  66 /  20  70 100 100

&&

.DDC Watches/Warnings/Advisories...
Flood Watch from 1 AM CDT Saturday through Monday morning for
KSZ030-031-045-046-064>066-078>081-088>090.

&&

SYNOPSIS...Finch
SHORT TERM...Finch
LONG TERM...Finch
AVIATION...Hovorka_42

Hazardous weather outlook, Apr 15, 3:10 PM CDT, 5 hours 42 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS
310 PM CDT FRI APR 15 2016

KSZ030-031-043>046-061>066-074>081-084>090-162015-
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-
310 PM CDT FRI APR 15 2016 /210 PM MDT FRI APR 15 2016/

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

.DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT.

DISCUSSION...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO MOVE INTO
SOUTHWESTERN KANSAS AFTER 6 PM AND PERSIST THROUGH THE EVENING
WHILE MOVING NORTHEASTWARD. HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER CAN BE
EXPECTED, WITH ISOLATED HAILSTONES AS LARGE AS BASEBALLS. A FEW
TORNADOES ARE ALSO POSSIBLE.

WEATHER HAZARDS EXPECTED...

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

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY.

DISCUSSION...THUNDERSTORMS WITH HEAVY RAIN ARE EXPECTED FROM
SATURDAY THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT. THE HEAVIER RAIN WILL BE MAINLY
CONFINED TO WESTERN KANSAS SATURDAY, THEN GRADUALLY EXPANDING INTO
CENTRAL KANSAS BY SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY AND POSSIBLY
INTO EARLY MONDAY. SEE THE FLOOD WATCH (TOPFFADDC) FOR DETAILS.
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE IN FAR WESTERN KANSAS
SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THESE STORMS COULD BE SEVERE WITH
HAIL AS LARGE AS GOLF BALLS.

HAZARDS WEATHER RISK...

  SATURDAY...
  ELEVATED FLOODING RISK.
  LIMITED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM RISK.
  ELEVATED NON THUNDERSTORM WIND RISK.

  SUNDAY...
  ELEVATED FLOODING RISK.
  EXTREME LIGHTNING RISK.

  MONDAY...
  LIMITED LIGHTNING RISK.

  TUESDAY...
  LIMITED LIGHTNING RISK.

  WEDNESDAY...
  LIMITED LIGHTNING RISK.

  THURSDAY...
  LIMITED LIGHTNING RISK.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

STORM SPOTTERS WILL LIKELY BE NEEDED AFTER 6 PM ALONG THE COLORADO
STATE LINE AND THEN AS FAR EAST AS LAKIN AND HUGOTON BY 9 PM.

&&

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

In the hours before

Local storm report, Apr 15, 8:42 PM CDT, 10 minutes before

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

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

1.9 hours before the tornado, 171 km from the path. April 16, 2016.

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: -100560 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 791 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 3479 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 38 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 182 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 234 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2
0-3 km lapse rate: 7.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Elkhart (EHA), 27 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 Dodge City radar (KDDC), 165 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:52 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 2016 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 15, 2016

11 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
April 15	2:08 PM MDT	Unrated	Kiowa, CO	3.9	150
April 15	2:26 PM MDT	Unrated	Kiowa, CO	0.5	100
April 15	3:05 PM MDT	Unrated	Kiowa, CO	1.2	100
April 15	6:10 PM MDT	Unrated	Bent, CO	0.6	100
April 15	7:50 PM CDT	EF0	Texas, OK	1.1	50
April 15	7:56 PM CDT	EF1	Texas, OK	1.1	60
April 15	8:02 PM CDT	EF0	Texas, OK	0.9	50
April 15	8:16 PM CDT	EF0	Texas, OK	1.0	50
April 15	8:19 PM CDT	EF0	Texas, OK	0.8	25
April 15	8:30 PM CDT	EF1	Morton, KS	1.8	125	$80,000
April 15	9:50 PM CDT	EF0	Oldham, TX	0.8	50

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.