Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2021

EF0 tornado, Jetmore Muni Arpt, Kansas, August 10, 2021

This EF0 tornado ran 0.2 miles across Hodgeman County on August 10, 2021, touching down at 4:43 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 10, 2021
Touchdown
4:43 PM CDT (21:43 UTC)
Lifted
4:48 PM CDT (21:48 UTC)
On the ground
5 minutes
Path length
0.2 miles (0.4 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Hodgeman County
Touchdown point
38.015, -99.754
Lift-off point
38.015, -99.758
Record number
2108101543-01

The damage survey

1 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS DDC, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0.

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

What the Weather Service recorded

Isolated storms developed from from Meade to Hodgeman Counties producing damaging winds and isolated hail reports along the frontal boundary draped across this area. CIN initially capped the environment but soon broke as the boundary pushed further west. Ample CAPE was present but weak to moderate shear allowed for severe thresholds to be met through the late afternoon and evening hours.

This landspout tornado was observed from start to finish was did not damage any object other than kicking up dirt and field plant material.

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.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
21:57 UTC22:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningDDC

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 Marginal Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:54 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 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), 12:00Z

9.7 hours before the tornado, 30 km from the path. August 10, 2021.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dodge City, at 12:00Z on 2021-08-10Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 672 joules per kilogram, CIN -516, lifted condensation level 2007 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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 2021-08-10The 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 62 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 21 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
672 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-516 J/kg
Surface CAPE
551 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2007 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
62 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
40 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Dodge City, (KDDC), 00:00Z

2.3 hours after it, 30 km from the path. August 11, 2021.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dodge City, at 00:00Z on 2021-08-11Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 879 joules per kilogram, CIN -191, lifted condensation level 2566 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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 2021-08-11The 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 170 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 25 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
879 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-191 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2702 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2566 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
25 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
170 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
302 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1
0-3 km lapse rate
7.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Dodge City (DDC), 33 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
19:45 UTC200° 11 kt1012.2
19:50 UTC230° 10 kt1012.2
19:52 UTC10061220° 11 kt1012.2
19:55 UTC230° 11 kt1012.2
20:00 UTC240° 7 kt1012.2
20:10 UTC250° 5 kt1012.2
20:15 UTC220° 11 kt1011.9
20:20 UTC200° 7 kt1011.9
20:25 UTC220° 7 kt1012.2
20:30 UTC220° 8 kt1012.2
20:35 UTC250° 5 kt1011.9
20:40 UTC240° 5 kt1011.9
20:45 UTC200° 7 kt1011.9
20:50 UTC220° 5 kt1011.9
20:52 UTC10062210° 4 kt1011.9VCTS
20:55 UTC0° 0 kt1011.5
21:00 UTC 1011.5
21:05 UTC270° 4 kt1011.5
21:10 UTC200° 2 kt1011.5
21:15 UTC210° 4 kt1011.5
21:19 UTC9963190° 13 kt251011.5TS
21:20 UTC190° 11 kt171011.5
21:25 UTC160° 11 kt1011.5
21:30 UTC180° 11 kt161011.2
21:35 UTC150° 19 kt1011.2
21:40 UTC 20 kt1011.2
21:45 UTC150° 21 kt1011.5
21:50 UTC140° 331011.2
21:52 UTC9356140° 25 kt341011.5TS
21:55 UTC140° 391012.2
22:00 UTC150° 361012.5
22:05 UTC140° 411012.5-RA
22:10 UTC 1012.5-RA
22:15 UTC 1012.5-RA
22:20 UTC120° 281012.5-RA
22:25 UTC 1012.5-RA
22:30 UTC 1012.9-RA
22:35 UTC 1012.5-RA
22:40 UTC 1012.9-RA
22:45 UTC120° 18 kt1012.5
22:50 UTC120° 18 kt1012.5
22:52 UTC8468120° 14 kt271012.5VCTS
22:55 UTC120° 13 kt1012.5
23:00 UTC110° 14 kt1012.5
23:05 UTC120° 11 kt1012.5
23:10 UTC120° 11 kt1012.2
23:15 UTC120° 11 kt1012.2
23:20 UTC120° 11 kt1011.9
23:25 UTC130° 11 kt1011.9
23:30 UTC140° 14 kt1012.2
23:31 UTC9068140° 14 kt1012.2
23:35 UTC150° 13 kt1011.9
23:40 UTC140° 11 kt1011.9

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

The radar

The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 34 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:43 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
21:42 UTCHAIL 12 Ese Ft. DodgeFord, KSCORRECTS PREVIOUS HAIL REPORT FROM 2 ESE FT. DODGE. REPORT FROM MPING: QUARTER (1.00 IN.).
21:42 UTCHAIL 12 Ese Ft. DodgeFord, KSREPORT FROM MPING: QUARTER (1.00 IN.).
21:43 UTCTORNADO8 Ssw HanstonHodgeman, KSLANDSPOUT WAS OBSERVED BUT DID NO DAMAGE OTHER THAN KICKING UP DIRT AND PLANT MATERIAL. THE LANDSPOUT LASTED 5 MINUTES.
21:45 UTCHAIL 11 E Ft. DodgeFord, KS
21:45 UTCHAIL 1.252 Ese Ft. DodgeFord, KSCORRECTS PREVIOUS HAIL REPORT FROM 2 ESE FT. DODGE. REPORT FROM MPING: HALF DOLLAR (1.25 IN.).
21:45 UTCHAIL 1.252 Ese Ft. DodgeFord, KSREPORT FROM MPING: HALF DOLLAR (1.25 IN.).
21:52 UTCHAIL 12 Ese Ft. DodgeFord, KSREPORTS OF QUARTER SIZE HAIL.
21:57 UTCHAIL 1.759 Nw BellefontHodgeman, KSNICKEL SIZED INITIALLY THEN SOME UP TO A SIZE OF GOLF BALLS.
22:52 UTCTSTM WND GST 553 Ene Dodge CityFord, KSASOS STATION KDDC DODGE CITY REGIONAL AIRPORT.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2021 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of August 10, 2021

3 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 105:50 PM EDTEF0Pasco, FL0.125$10,000
August 105:58 PM CDTEF1Outagamie, WI2.040
August 106:33 PM CDTUnratedDeKalb, IL0.620

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.