EF4 Chapman tornado, Kansas, May 25, 2016

1. EF065 to 85 mph

   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 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

EF4

Date

May 25, 2016

Touchdown

7:07 PM CDT (00:07 UTC)

Lifted

8:40 PM CDT (01:40 UTC)

On the ground

93 minutes

Path length

25.1 miles (40.4 km)

Path width

900 yards (823 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

8

Counties

Ottawa and Dickinson counties

Touchdown point

38.995, -97.436

Lift-off point

38.956, -96.972

Record number

1605251807-01

28 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS TOP, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF4. The highest wind the damage implies is 180 mph.

• crossed I 70 at this location
• home destroyed construction quality suggests lower end ef4 or high ef3

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

One supercell thunderstorm developed over Ottawa county around 5pm on May 25th. That storm went on to produce 4 documented tornadoes including a 26 mile long violent EF4 tornado that was on the ground for around 90 minutes. Most of the damage was done in Dickinson County Kansas where 20-25 homes were damaged or destroyed. The supercell thunderstorm continued into Morris and Wabaunsee counties where it produced 2 more tornadoes before dissipating that evening.

The 26 mile long violent tornado began 1-2 miles NNE of Niles Kansas and destroyed 2 homes in Ottawa county before crossing into Dickinson county. The tornado produced high end EF3 damage in extreme eastern Ottawa county. Only 3 minor injuries were reported but none requiring a trip to the hospital.

The long track violent tornado began 1-2 miles NNE of Niles Kansas and destroyed 2 homes in Ottawa county before crossing into Dickinson county north of Solomon. The tornado tracked 2-3 miles north of the city of Abilene following a meandering path approximately east along 2700 avenue in Dickinson county before veering southeast and crossing interstate 70 approx. 2 miles west of the city of Chapman. The tornado then moved ESE and then east along a path around 1 mile south of Chapman destroying 1 farmstead and several other homes in the area. The worst damage was done to a farmstead 1 mile southwest of Chapman along old highway 40 where the home was destroyed and all outbuildings were blown away. The sub floor of the home was removed from a bolted sill plate and the poured concrete foundation was cracked on the south side exposing the rebar where the strongest forces from the lifting structure occurred as it was being removed and blown away likely occurred. Much of the brick facade of the home did remain where it fell around the structure however so the area was not swept clean. Winds approaching 200 mph were likely in this area while a woman home at the time took shelter in the basement and was ok with only superficial injuries. The approximate number of minor injuries was 5 reported to NWS however none required a hospital visit. Photos of the damage are available off of the NWS damage assessment toolkit website at https://apps.dat.noaa.gov/StormDamage/DamageViewer/ .

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

4 minutes of warning. NWS TOP issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:03 UTC, 4 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:46 UTC and running to 03:56 UTC.

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 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 19:55 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 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.

Fort Riley (FRI), 39 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Topeka radar (KTWX), 84 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:04 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.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

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

The live radar over the trackEvery 2016 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are

7 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.