Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2018

EF0 tornado, Albert, Kansas, August 16, 2018

This EF0 tornado ran 0.4 miles across Barton County on August 16, 2018, touching down at 7:30 PM CDT 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.

  1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

    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.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
August 16, 2018
Touchdown
7:30 PM CDT (00:30 UTC)
Lifted
7:31 PM CDT (00:31 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.4 miles (0.6 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Barton County
Touchdown point
38.440, -99.010
Lift-off point
38.443, -99.004
Record number
1808161830-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Several strong storms moved across the central and southeastern sections of Kansas producing large hail and strong winds.

Very brief touchdown reported by the Fire Chief.

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

The warnings

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 severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 23:11 UTC and running to 04:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
23:11 UTC04:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchICT
00:15 UTC01:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningICT

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 forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:50 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 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

0.5 hours before the tornado, 108 km from the path. August 17, 2018.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dodge City, at 00:00Z on 2018-08-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1495 joules per kilogram, CIN -78, lifted condensation level 1861 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
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.
HodographHodograph, Dodge City, at 00:00Z on 2018-08-17The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 79 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 32 knots.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
1495 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-78 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2668 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1861 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
11 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
79 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
131 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
3.4
0-3 km lapse rate
7.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Dodge City, (KDDC), 12:00Z

11.5 hours after it, 108 km from the path. August 17, 2018.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dodge City, at 12:00Z on 2018-08-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1220 joules per kilogram, CIN -156, lifted condensation level 1079 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
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.
HodographHodograph, Dodge City, at 12:00Z on 2018-08-17The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 72 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 17 knots.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
1220 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-156 J/kg
Surface CAPE
943 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1079 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
17 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
72 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
67 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.4
0-3 km lapse rate
4.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Great_bend (GBD), 17 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
22:30 UTC190° 10 kt1014.2
22:35 UTC230° 12 kt1014.2
22:40 UTC210° 12 kt1014.2
22:45 UTC220° 10 kt1014.2
22:50 UTC220° 9 kt1014.2
22:55 UTC220° 9 kt1014.2
22:56 UTC9170220° 8 kt1014.2
23:00 UTC200° 11 kt1014.2
23:05 UTC220° 11 kt1014.2
23:10 UTC210° 14 kt1014.2
23:15 UTC200° 14 kt1014.2
23:20 UTC210° 14 kt1013.9
23:25 UTC210° 13 kt1013.9
23:30 UTC220° 11 kt1013.9
23:35 UTC220° 10 kt1013.9
23:40 UTC220° 11 kt1013.9
23:45 UTC210° 11 kt1013.9
23:50 UTC210° 11 kt1013.9
23:55 UTC 10 kt1013.9
23:56 UTC9068210° 11 kt1013.9VCTS
00:00 UTC 10 kt1014.2
00:05 UTC210° 10 kt1013.9
00:10 UTC220° 10 kt1013.9
00:15 UTC210° 10 kt1014.2-RA
00:20 UTC220° 6 kt1014.6RA
00:25 UTC230° 6 kt1014.6RA
00:30 UTC240° 10 kt1014.6RA
00:35 UTC 11 kt1014.6+RA
00:40 UTC300° 8 kt1014.6+RA
00:45 UTC290° 12 kt1014.9+RA
00:50 UTC270° 13 kt181014.6+RA
00:55 UTC 1015.2+RA
00:56 UTC7570280° 19 kt261015.2+TSRA
01:00 UTC 15 kt1015.2+RA
01:05 UTC270° 8 kt1015.6+RA
01:10 UTC260° 10 kt1015.6+RA
01:15 UTC230° 9 kt1015.2RA
01:20 UTC230° 4 kt1015.2RA
01:25 UTC160° 4 kt1015.2-RA
01:30 UTC180° 3 kt1015.2-RA
01:32 UTC78.869.8180° 3 kt1015.2-RA
01:35 UTC190° 3 kt1015.2-RA
01:40 UTC210° 4 kt1015.2-RA
01:45 UTC230° 4 kt1015.2
01:50 UTC230° 4 kt1015.6
01:55 UTC250° 5 kt1015.6
01:56 UTC7773250° 5 kt1015.6
02:00 UTC250° 5 kt1015.6
02:05 UTC250° 6 kt1015.6
02:10 UTC250° 6 kt1015.6
02:15 UTC250° 6 kt1015.6
02:20 UTC250° 5 kt1015.6
02:25 UTC260° 5 kt1015.6

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

The radar

The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 113 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:28 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.

What was reported nearby

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

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
00:30 UTCTORNADO1 S AlbertBarton, KSBRIEF TOUCHDOWN REPORTED BY THE FIRE CHIEF TO DISPATCH.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2018 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of August 16, 2018

3 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 164:38 PM CDTEF0Fulton, IL3.1100$30,000
August 163:00 PM PDTEF0Riverside, CA0.22
August 166:08 PM CDTEF0Jones, IA0.010

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.