Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2022
Unrated tornado, Glendale, Kansas, June 23, 2022
This Unrated tornado ran 0.1 miles across Saline County on June 23, 2022, touching down at 7:26 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
- June 23, 2022
- Touchdown
- 7:26 PM CDT (00:26 UTC)
- Lifted
- 7:27 PM CDT (00:27 UTC)
- On the ground
- 1 minutes
- Path length
- 0.1 miles (0.2 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Saline County
- Touchdown point
- 38.840, -97.870
- Lift-off point
- 38.840, -97.869
- Record number
- 2206231826-01
What the Weather Service recorded
A cyclic supercell developed across central Kansas, during the evening of June 23rd, 2022. A total of 6 tornadoes touched down during the evening. There were winds that overturned a semitrailer and camper on Interstate 70. Additionally up to ping ping ball sized hail fell.
Brief touchdown in open country.
Brief touchdown in open country.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
13 minutes of warning. NWS ICT issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:13 UTC, 13 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:54 UTC.
The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 20:16 UTC and running to 02:00 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20:16 UTC | 02:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | ICT |
| 00:13 UTC | 00:54 UTC | Tornado Warning | ICT |
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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:00 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.
Topeka, KS (KTOP), 00:00Z
0.4 hours before the tornado, 194 km from the path. June 24, 2022.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 392 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -254 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 2005 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1400 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 27 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 17 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 136 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 362 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- -0.1
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.7 K/km
Topeka, KS (KTOP), 12:00Z
11.6 hours after it, 194 km from the path. June 24, 2022.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 952 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -74 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 206 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 863 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 27 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 13 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 92 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 133 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.3
- Supercell composite
- 2.6
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.6 K/km
The surface observations
Salina (SLN), 20 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22:30 UTC | 130° 13 kt | |||||
| 22:35 UTC | 130° 13 kt | 18 | ||||
| 22:40 UTC | 14 kt | 1010.8 | ||||
| 22:45 UTC | 120° 11 kt | |||||
| 22:50 UTC | 120° 11 kt | |||||
| 22:53 UTC | 84 | 74 | 130° 13 kt | 1011.2 | ||
| 22:55 UTC | 130° 13 kt | |||||
| 23:00 UTC | 140° 10 kt | |||||
| 23:05 UTC | 140° 10 kt | |||||
| 23:10 UTC | 140° 11 kt | |||||
| 23:15 UTC | 140° 11 kt | |||||
| 23:20 UTC | 130° 11 kt | |||||
| 23:25 UTC | 130° 11 kt | |||||
| 23:30 UTC | 130° 11 kt | 1010.8 | ||||
| 23:35 UTC | 130° 11 kt | 1010.8 | ||||
| 23:40 UTC | 120° 11 kt | 1010.8 | ||||
| 23:45 UTC | 120° 11 kt | 1010.8 | ||||
| 23:50 UTC | 120° 11 kt | 1010.8 | ||||
| 23:53 UTC | 83 | 74 | 120° 10 kt | 1010.8 | ||
| 23:55 UTC | 120° 10 kt | 1010.8 | ||||
| 23:58 UTC | 83 | 74 | 120° 10 kt | 1010.8 | VCTS | |
| 00:00 UTC | 120° 11 kt | 1010.8 | ||||
| 00:05 UTC | 110° 10 kt | |||||
| 00:09 UTC | 83 | 74 | 110° 9 kt | 1011.2 | TS | |
| 00:10 UTC | 110° 10 kt | |||||
| 00:15 UTC | 120° 10 kt | 1010.8 | ||||
| 00:20 UTC | 110° 10 kt | 15 | 1010.8 | |||
| 00:25 UTC | 110° 9 kt | |||||
| 00:27 UTC | 83 | 74 | 100° 7 kt | 16 | 1011.2 | VCTS |
| 00:30 UTC | 100° 8 kt | |||||
| 00:35 UTC | 100° 8 kt | |||||
| 00:40 UTC | 100° 7 kt | |||||
| 00:45 UTC | 83 | 75 | 90° 6 kt | 1011.5 | TS | |
| 00:45 UTC | 90° 5 kt | |||||
| 00:50 UTC | 30° 5 kt | |||||
| 00:53 UTC | 83 | 75 | 360° 9 kt | 1011.9 | TS | |
| 00:55 UTC | 340° 11 kt | |||||
| 01:00 UTC | 17 kt | 22 | ||||
| 01:05 UTC | 19 kt | 28 | ||||
| 01:10 UTC | 10° 19 kt | |||||
| 01:15 UTC | 30° 13 kt | |||||
| 01:20 UTC | 30° 11 kt | |||||
| 01:25 UTC | 30° 10 kt | 16 | ||||
| 01:27 UTC | 80 | 74 | 20° 13 kt | 1012.2 | ||
| 01:30 UTC | 40° 8 kt | |||||
| 01:35 UTC | 60° 7 kt | |||||
| 01:40 UTC | 60° 9 kt | |||||
| 01:45 UTC | 80° 8 kt | |||||
| 01:50 UTC | 60° 5 kt | |||||
| 01:53 UTC | 81 | 74 | 60° 7 kt | 1011.9 | ||
| 01:55 UTC | 70° 7 kt | |||||
| 02:00 UTC | 70° 8 kt | |||||
| 02:05 UTC | 70° 10 kt | |||||
| 02:10 UTC | 70° 10 kt | |||||
| 02:15 UTC | 80° 9 kt | |||||
| 02:20 UTC | 90° 11 kt | |||||
| 02:25 UTC | 90° 13 kt | 1011.5 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Wichita radar (KICT), 137 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:25 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23:20 UTC | TORNADO | 6 S Sylvan Grove | Lincoln, KS | BRIEF TORNADO TOUCH DOWN AROUND 6 MILES SOUTH OF SYLVAN GROVE. |
| 23:39 UTC | TORNADO | 10 N Ellsworth | Lincoln, KS | BRIEF TORNADO TOUCH DOWN AROUND 10 MILES NORTH OF ELLSWORTH. TORNADO LASTED ABOUT 1 MINUTE. |
| 00:26 UTC | TORNADO | 4 S Glendale | Saline, KS | BRIEF TORNADO TOUCHDOWN. |
| 00:30 UTC | TORNADO | 3 Sw Glendale | Saline, KS | BRIEF TORNADO TOUCHDOWN. |
| 02:10 UTC | HAIL 1.25 | 9 Ne Victor | Mitchell, KS | QUARTER TO HALF DOLLAR HAIL WINDS 40-50MPH WITH HEAVY RAIN. |
| 02:46 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 N Delphos | Ottawa, KS | TWO OUTBUILDINGS DESTROYED, SEVERAL TREES DOWNED ALONG THE CLOUD AND OTTAWA COUNTY BORDER. DELAYED REPORT, TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR. |
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 June 23, 2022
7 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 23 | 2:00 PM MST | EF0 | Coconino, AZ | 0.1 | 10 | |||
| June 23 | 2:03 PM MST | Unrated | Pinal, AZ | 0.6 | 15 | |||
| June 23 | 5:25 PM CDT | Unrated | Russell, KS | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| June 23 | 5:54 PM CDT | Unrated | Russell, KS | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| June 23 | 6:20 PM CDT | Unrated | Lincoln, KS | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| June 23 | 6:39 PM CDT | Unrated | Lincoln, KS | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| June 23 | 7:30 PM CDT | Unrated | Saline, KS | 0.1 | 50 |
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.