EF1 tornado, Princeton, Kansas, March 6, 2017

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 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

EF1

Date

March 6, 2017

Touchdown

7:38 PM CST (01:38 UTC)

Lifted

7:39 PM CST (01:39 UTC)

On the ground

1 minutes

Path length

3.0 miles (4.9 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Franklin County

Touchdown point

38.488, -95.272

Lift-off point

38.490, -95.215

Record number

1703061938-01

5 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS TOP, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 118 mph.

• Fire fighter reports experiencing the tornado, seeing power flash and rotation in the wind field. Large tree down at this location with other power line and tree damage in the vicinity.

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

During the late afternoon and evening of March 6 a line of severe t-storms developed and raced northeast at 50-60 mph. The storms developed within an environment that featured marginal moisture values featuring dewpoints in the lower to middle 50s. As a result, the bases of the storms were a higher than average and until sunset allowed good visibility to observe the numerous weak tornado circulations. Many of the tornadoes did not have any condensation funnels but simply featured a debris swirl at the ground with only a faint attachment to the cloud base. At least 7 tornadoes were documented via radar and observations but only minor damage was reported and there were no serious injuries.

A firefighter gave a first hand account of being |impacted by the tornado in the town of Princeton, including power|flashes and rotating wind field. Damage to trees and power lines|in Princeton was reported. The tornado traveled east, impacting a|home on Nebraska Road where it was able to remove a majority of |the roof. 0.5 miles east of Nebraska Road a barn was destroyed and|other outbuildings damaged while a nearby home only experienced|minor roof damage. The tornado likely dissipated shortly after this|point while downburst winds continued to the east where approximately|20 power poles oriented north to south along Texas road were damaged.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:28 UTC and running to 02:27 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 00:54 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.

Ottawa (OWI), 6 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Pleasant Hill radar (KEAX), 92 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:38 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 2017 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are

53 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.