Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2022
Unrated tornado, Brownville, Kansas, July 22, 2022
This Unrated tornado ran 0.2 miles across Thomas County on July 22, 2022, touching down at 5:21 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.
EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
Unratedthis tornado
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
- Unrated
- Date
- July 22, 2022
- Touchdown
- 5:21 PM CDT (22:21 UTC)
- Lifted
- 5:25 PM CDT (22:25 UTC)
- On the ground
- 4 minutes
- Path length
- 0.2 miles (0.3 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Thomas County
- Touchdown point
- 39.239, -101.386
- Lift-off point
- 39.241, -101.389
- Record number
- 2207221621-02
What the Weather Service recorded
During the afternoon to early evening hours, a disturbance moved over the High Plains creating isolated to scattered thunderstorms that produced multiple tornadoes, up to ping pong ball sized hail, and damaging winds with gusts up to 90 mph. The wind damage occurred in Decatur, Sheridan and Graham counties, with damage to an airport hanger in the city of Hoxie, damage to an outbuilding and utility trailer, and numerous large tree limbs downed. The largest hail was reported in southern Logan County while the strongest winds were reported in Hoxie with the damage to the airplane hanger.
Landspout reported east southeast of Goodland, Kansas. Employee was on I-70 looking east southeast. Location estimated by radar.
Off-duty NWS Employee reported two brief, coincident landspouts. This is the first tornado and its location as estimated by radar.
Off-duty NWS Employee reported two brief, coincident landspouts. This is second first tornado and its location as estimated by radar.
Off-duty NWS employee reported a brief landspout near his location.
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. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 22:22 UTC | 22:45 UTC | Tornado Warning | GLD |
| 23:40 UTC | 00:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GLD |
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 19:42 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
10.4 hours before the tornado, 208 km from the path. July 22, 2022.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 223 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -309 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 149 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1801 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 23 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 12 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 32 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 91 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.2
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.8 K/km
Dodge City, (KDDC), 00:00Z
1.6 hours after it, 208 km from the path. July 23, 2022.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1604 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -51 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 2274 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 2478 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 30 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 8 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -33 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 93 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 2.7
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 9.4 K/km
The radar
The Goodland radar (KGLD), 30 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:19 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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19:59 UTC | EXCESSIVE HEAT 107 | 2 Ene Colby | Thomas, KS | MESONET STATION CW0352 2 E COLBY. AT THE TIME OF THE 107 HEAT INDEX OBSERVATION, THE AIR TEMPERATURE WAS 106, DEW POINT WAS 59, RH WAS 22%, AND WINDS WERE FROM THE SOUTHWEST (207) AT 14 MPH. |
| 20:55 UTC | EXCESSIVE HEAT 105 | Colby | Thomas, KS | MESONET STATION AP863 COLBY. AT THE TIME OF THE 105 HEAT INDEX OBSERVATION, THE AIR TEMPERATURE WAS 104, DEW POINT WAS 60, RH WAS 24%, AND WINDS WERE FROM THE SOUTH(172) AT 7 MPH. |
| 21:58 UTC | TORNADO | 11 N Brewster | Thomas, KS | CORRECTS PREVIOUS TORNADO REPORT FROM 11 N BREWSTER. CORRECTS PREVIOUS TORNADO REPORT FROM 13 SSW BIRD CITY. LANDSPOUT SIGHTED ABOUT 10 MILES EAST-SOUTHEAST FROM THE SHERMAN/CHEYENNE COUNTY LINE, NORTH OF EDSON, KS. A SE |
| 21:58 UTC | TORNADO | 11 N Brewster | Thomas, KS | CORRECTS PREVIOUS TORNADO REPORT FROM 13 SSW BIRD CITY. LANDSPOUT SIGHTED ABOUT 10 MILES EAST-SOUTHEAST FROM THE SHERMAN/CHEYENNE COUNTY LINE, NORTH OF EDSON, KS. A SECOND LANDSPOUT WAS SPOTTED A MILE NORTH OF THE FIRST. |
| 21:58 UTC | TORNADO | 13 Ssw Bird City | Sherman, KS | LANDSPOUT SIGHTED ABOUT 10 MILES EAST-SOUTHEAST FROM THE SHERMAN/CHEYENNE COUNTY LINE, NORTH OF EDSON, KS. A SECOND LANDSPOUT WAS SPOTTED A MILE NORTH OF THE FIRST. |
| 22:15 UTC | TORNADO | 2 Se Goodland | Sherman, KS | LANDSPOUT REPORTED ESE OF GOODLAND, KS. NWS EMPLOYEE WAS ON I-70 LOOKING EAST SOUTHEAST. |
| 22:15 UTC | TORNADO | 6 Sse Brewster | Thomas, KS | CORRECTS PREVIOUS TORNADO REPORT FROM 2 SE GOODLAND. LANDSPOUT REPORTED ESE OF GOODLAND, KS. NWS EMPLOYEE WAS ON I-70 LOOKING EAST SOUTHEAST. LOCATION IS APPROXIMATE. |
| 22:28 UTC | TORNADO | 9 N Winona | Thomas, KS | OFF-DUTY NWS EMPLOYEE REPORTED BRIEF LANDSPOUT NEAR LOCATION. ALSO, REPORTED 2 BRIEF AND COINCIDENT LANDSPOUTS IN THE SAME STORM 4 MINUTES PRIOR. |
| 00:00 UTC | HAIL 0.7 | 3 Ene Monument | Logan, KS | CORRECTS PREVIOUS HAIL REPORT FROM 3 ENE MONUMENT. TIME IS ESTIMATED. HAIL CAME IN A 3 MINUTE BURST. SIZES RANGED FROM PEA TO DIME SIZED HAIL. CORRECTION: PEA SIZED HAIL DID ACCUMULATE BUT IS MELTING FAST. |
| 00:00 UTC | HAIL 0.7 | 3 Ene Monument | Logan, KS | TIME IS ESTIMATED. HAIL CAME IN A 3 MINUTE BURST. SIZES RANGED FROM PEA TO DIME SIZED HAIL. |
| 00:30 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | 5 S Monument | Logan, KS | GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL WAS REPORTED TO THE NORTHEAST WITH DIME SIZE HAIL TO THE WEST. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2022 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of July 22, 2022
9 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 22 | 11:25 AM CDT | EF0 | Jefferson, TX | 1.7 | 10 | |||
| July 22 | 4:58 PM CDT | Unrated | Thomas, KS | 0.9 | 50 | |||
| July 22 | 5:00 PM CDT | Unrated | Thomas, KS | 1.1 | 50 | |||
| July 22 | 5:15 PM CDT | Unrated | Thomas, KS | 1.8 | 50 | |||
| July 22 | 5:21 PM CDT | Unrated | Thomas, KS | 0.3 | 50 | |||
| July 22 | 5:28 PM CDT | Unrated | Thomas, KS | 0.7 | 50 | |||
| July 22 | 7:38 PM EDT | EF0 | Marion, FL | 1.4 | 50 | |||
| July 22 | 12:17 AM CDT | EF0 | Steele, ND | 0.9 | 150 | |||
| July 22 | 12:31 AM CDT | EF1 | Grand Forks, ND | 1.2 | 150 |
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.