EF2 tornado, Waldo to Tipton, Kansas, May 28, 2019

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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

May 28, 2019

Touchdown

5:20 PM CDT (22:20 UTC)

Lifted

6:03 PM CDT (23:03 UTC)

On the ground

43 minutes

Path length

24.4 miles (39.3 km)

Path width

880 yards (805 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$150,000

Counties

Russell, Osborne and Mitchell counties

Touchdown point

39.114, -98.850

Lift-off point

39.302, -98.468

Record number

1905281620-01

13 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS GID and NWS ICT, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 118 mph.

• grain cart thrown and overturned and grain bin gone
• in middle of path, power poles also leaning
• start point in field south
• Tor lifted with debris in field

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

Scattered severe thunderstorms developed across Central & South-Central Kansas in the evening. Although the thunderstorms were low-end severe with hail around quarter-sized & gusts around 52 knots, one severe thunderstorm spawned a strong tornado in Russell County. This tornado began in Northern Russell County then crossed the border into Osborne County. Fortunately, the tornado remained in rural areas as it reached one half mile wide. Had it struck a community, it's very likely it would've caused considerable damage & received a rating higher than the EF2 it received. This, of course, is speculative. One thunderstorm caused flash flooding in Butler County late that evening.

A tornado with a maximum damage rating of EF-2 occurred on this Tuesday evening. Around 3 PM CST, a thunderstorm began forming over Ellis county. This storm rapidly strengthened into a supercell and it split as it moved into Rooks and Osborne counties around 430 PM CST. The slow-moving left-mover produced hail primarily the size of quarters and smaller over Rooks county, but there was a single 3-inch hailstone reported. This storm rapidly weakened by 6 PM CST. The right-mover advanced across Osborne and northern Mitchell counties. This storm produced a tornado that tracked from south central Osborne county to southwest Mitchell county. While this storm was in progress over southern Osborne county, another supercell developed near the town of Osborne. This storm moved northeast across Jewell county from 430 to 545 PM CST, producing hail up to the size of half dollars and possibly a funnel cloud that was reported by a spotter.||Slow-moving 997 mb low pressure was over central Kansas. This low was moving east along a quasi-stationary front that extended from Pennsylvania, across northern Kansas , to Colorado. In the upper-levels, strong southwest flow was over the Central Plains. During the day, a low moved from Utah and Colorado into the Nebraska Panhandle. A subtropical high was over the Gulf of Mexico. There was strong temperature contrast across the front. Temperatures were in the 50s over Nebraska, and in the lower 80s over most of Kansas. Dewpoints over north central Kansas were in the middle 60s to near 70. Mid-level lapse rates were steep (7.5 C/km) resulting in MLCAPE of 2000-3500 J/kg. Deep layer shear was 70-80 kt. The greatest low-level shear and SRH were north of the front where low-level winds were significantly backed. Along and south of the front, 0-3 km SRH was around 150 m2/s2, with 0-1 km SRH around 100 m2/s2. The Significant Tornado Parameter was near 2.

This large, strong tornado fortunately remained in rural areas as only a few power lines were snapped. It's especially fortunate that the tornado didn't strike a community as it was of course quite massive. The tornado was a county border-crosser as it moved northeast into Osborne County.

This tornado initially developed in Russell County, tracking northeast into Osborne County around 5:23 PM CDT. This at times large tornado was observed by storm spotters, chasers and residents. Along its path, the tornado damaged several power poles, snapped and uprooted trees and overturned a grain cart. Three farmsteads were damaged, including a destroyed grain bin, outbuildings and sheds. The maximum wind speed was estimated to be 118 MPH.

This tornado initially developed in Russell County, tracking northeast through Osborne County and eventually into far western portions of Mitchell County. This at times large tornado was observed by storm spotters, chasers and residents. Along its path, the tornado damaged several power poles, snapped and uprooted trees and overturned a grain cart. Three farmsteads were damaged, including a destroyed grain bin, outbuildings and sheds. The maximum wind speed was estimated to be 118 MPH.

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

20 minutes of warning. NWS ICT issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:00 UTC, 20 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:34 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:53 UTC and running to 01:55 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 19:56 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.

Russell (RSL), 40 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 125 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:18 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 2019 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are

15 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.