Tornadoes · United States · Kansas

2018 tornadoes in Kansas

45 tornadoes touched down in Kansas in 2018, 25 percent below the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

2017 2019 The whole country in 2018

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 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 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.

Every tornado in Kansas in 2018

May 1 8 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 15:44 PM CDTEF0Republic to NE8.2125
May 16:09 PM CDTEF0Mitchell0.025
May 16:59 PM CDTEF1Cloud8.9225
May 17:08 PM CDTEF0Ellsworth0.350
May 17:15 PM CDTEF0Cloud7.830
May 17:41 PM CDTEF3Saline15.8880$100,000
May 17:49 PM CDTEF1Clay8.1200
May 17:56 PM CDTEF1Clay11.950

May 2 9 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 24:05 PM CDTEF0Ottawa0.020
May 24:51 PM CDTEF0McPherson2.075
May 25:30 PM CDTEF0Marshall2.330
May 25:47 PM CDTEF0Marshall7.760
May 26:51 PM CDTEF0Butler0.875
May 27:45 PM CDTEF0Lyon0.020
May 27:51 PM CDTEF0Coffey0.025
May 28:04 PM CDTEF0Osage0.025
May 29:09 PM CDTEF1Johnson4.725

May 14 9 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 146:35 PM CDTEF0Cowley0.350
May 146:40 PM CDTEF0Cowley0.150
May 149:26 PM CDTEF0Cowley2.150
May 149:45 PM CDTEF2Cowley0.875
May 149:48 PM CDTEF1Cowley4.275
May 149:53 PM CDTEF0Cowley0.350
May 149:56 PM CDTEF1Cowley2.350
May 1410:06 PM CDTEF0Cowley1.650
May 1410:22 PM CDTEF0Chautauqua0.550

May 18 5 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 187:25 PM CDTEF0Finney0.750
May 187:36 PM CDTEF0Sheridan0.025
May 187:55 PM MDTEF0Hamilton0.950
May 188:17 PM MDTEF0Hamilton0.750
May 188:25 PM MDTEF0Hamilton0.550

May 28 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 282:19 PM CDTEF0Graham4.5100

May 29 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 294:44 PM CDTEF0Gray4.1100
May 298:12 PM CDTEF0Republic0.330

June 26 4 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 266:39 PM CDTEF0Butler1.9100
June 266:42 PM CDTEF0Butler0.550
June 267:18 PM CDTEF3Greenwood9.25008$14 million
June 269:02 PM CDTEF0Butler0.550

June 30 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 3011:11 PM CDTEF0Jefferson0.240

July 13 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 137:20 PM MDTEF0Hamilton2.950

July 30 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 301:41 PM CDTEF0Sumner3.7100

August 14 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 145:38 PM CDTEF0Montgomery0.350

August 16 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 167:30 PM CDTEF0Barton0.450

August 18 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 184:40 PM MDTEF0Greeley0.325

October 8 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
October 84:19 PM CDTEF0Brown3.175

Nearby

Every tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in KansasThe live radar over Kansas

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.