EF2 tornado, Cedar Pt to Saffordville, Kansas, April 19, 2023

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

April 19, 2023

Touchdown

8:22 PM CDT (01:22 UTC)

Lifted

8:52 PM CDT (01:52 UTC)

On the ground

30 minutes

Path length

11.6 miles (18.6 km)

Path width

880 yards (805 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Chase County

Touchdown point

38.369, -96.633

Lift-off point

38.451, -96.448

Record number

2304191922-01

74 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS ICT and NWS TOP, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 125 mph.

• Track 100yds wide in this area. Trees in picture 400yds from road. Several snapped half way up the tree. Track start
• 1-2 foot diameter tree branch snapped
• Outbulding thrown 250 yds. Additional outbuildings collapsed on site. Track start. 4 inch measured hail also reported at this location.
• Location of semi blown over. Width 100yds. 1 Injury. Several others small road signs taken out.

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

A lone supercell thunderstorm moved from south central Kansas into central Kansas during the afternoon and evening of April 19th, 2023. The cyclic storm produced very large hail up to 4 inches in diameter and numerous tornadoes across Chase county, Kansas. Eight tornadoes formed from the supercell with the strongest producing EF2 damage.

This is the first tornado which a storm survey revealed that an outbuilding was thrown 250 yards. Additional outbuildings were collapsed on site. The roof of a silo was removed from the top, and walls at the base were pushed in. This was rated an EF1 tornado.

The fourth tornado had a peak width of a half mile wide and was rated EF2. It caused the metal posts of an outbuilding to be twisted and scattered leaving the structure leaning. There was total destruction to a couple of outbuildings as well as significant tree damage.

The was the fifth tornado of the event. It tracked just north of Chase County Lake and damage was limited to trees and small outbuildings.

The sixth tornado produced by the supercell tracked across the town of Cottonwood Falls producing EF1 damage, mainly to trees and minor damage to roof structures.

This was the ninth and final tornado of the event. It caused damage to transmission powerlines before crossing into Topeka's County Warning Area and causing minor damage to a home.

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

16 minutes of warning. NWS ICT issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:06 UTC, 16 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:45 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 00:48 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.

Emporia (EMP), 32 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Topeka radar (KTWX), 71 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:21 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 2023 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are

30 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.