Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2024

Unrated tornado, Brown County, Kansas, April 27, 2024

This Unrated tornado ran 3.9 miles across Brown County on April 27, 2024, touching down at 2:05 PM CDT and reaching 25 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 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 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. 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
April 27, 2024
Touchdown
2:05 PM CDT (19:05 UTC)
Lifted
2:15 PM CDT (19:15 UTC)
On the ground
10 minutes
Path length
3.9 miles (6.3 km)
Path width
25 yards (23 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Brown County
Touchdown point
39.875, -95.425
Lift-off point
39.910, -95.366
Record number
2404271305-01

The warnings

19 minutes of warning. NWS TOP issued a tornado warning for this county at 18:46 UTC, 19 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 19:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 16:54 UTC and running to 21:49 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
16:54 UTC21:49 UTCTornado WatchTOP
17:00 UTC08:07 UTCFlood WatchTOP
18:46 UTC19:15 UTCTornado WarningTOP
19:55 UTC20:44 UTCTornado WarningTOP

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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 16:25 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), 12:00Z

7.1 hours before the tornado, 101 km from the path. April 27, 2024.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Topeka, KS at 12:00Z on 2024-04-27Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1585 joules per kilogram, CIN -57, lifted condensation level 634 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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, Topeka, KS at 12:00Z on 2024-04-27The 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 175 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 43 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
1585 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-57 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1210 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
634 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
43 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
175 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
179 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.3
Supercell composite
6.9
0-3 km lapse rate
5.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Topeka radar (KTWX), 123 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:02 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
18:55 UTCTORNADO3 Nnw RobinsonBrown, KSDelayed report.
19:09 UTCTORNADO8 N RobinsonBrown, KSConfirmed tornado.
19:15 UTCTORNADO2 Wsw White CloudDoniphan, KS
19:47 UTCTORNADO4 Nw GoffNemaha, KSTornado reported by EM.
19:50 UTCTORNADO4 N GoffNemaha, KSTree damage to a line of trees with limbs torn off trees about 3 inch limbs reported from healthy trees.
20:15 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD4 S FairviewBrown, KSSocial media post/photo of a weak funnel cloud.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2024 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 27, 2024

62 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 2710:11 AM CDTEF1Roger Mills, OK0.750$5,000
April 2710:18 AM CDTEF0Roger Mills, OK0.110
April 271:21 PM CDTEF1Garfield, OK0.8100$5,000
April 272:15 PM CDTUnratedDoniphan, KS0.01
April 272:31 PM CDTEF0Nemaha, KS1.020
April 272:39 PM CDTEF1Kay, OK2.630$20,000
April 272:45 PM CDTEF0Nemaha, KS0.675
April 272:54 PM CDTEF1Kay, OK1.075$75,000
April 273:06 PM CDTEF2Knox, TX12.31,000$100,000
April 273:20 PM CDTEF0Payne, OK5.230$10,000
April 273:28 PM CDTEF2Cowley, KS1.3100
April 273:36 PM CDTEF1Cowley, KS0.620
April 274:08 PM CDTEF1Baylor, TX12.7300$100,000
April 274:10 PM CDTEF0Caddo, OK0.820
April 274:12 PM CDTEF1Gentry, MO11.6250
April 274:29 PM CDTEF1Canadian, OK6.8150$100,000
April 274:30 PM CDTEF1Elk, KS0.050
April 273:35 PM MDTEF0Hamilton, KS0.110
April 274:39 PM CDTEF1Elk, KS0.540
April 274:42 PM CDTUnratedElk, KS0.015
April 274:54 PM CDTUnratedElk, KS0.030
April 274:58 PM CDTEF0Grundy, MO4.075
April 275:15 PM CDTUnratedBaylor, TX0.620
April 275:35 PM CDTUnratedWilson, KS0.010
April 275:56 PM CDTUnratedWilson, KS0.010
April 276:11 PM CDTEF0Chautauqua, KS0.020
April 276:11 PM CDTEF0Chautauqua, KS0.010
April 276:23 PM CDTEF0Wichita, TX1.530
April 276:37 PM CDTUnratedLinn, MO0.15
April 276:43 PM CDTEF1Wichita, TX to OK6.5100$32,000
April 277:45 PM CDTUnratedMontgomery, KS0.020
April 277:55 PM CDTUnratedComanche, OK0.320
April 278:16 PM CDTUnratedOsage, OK0.175
April 278:23 PM CDTEF1Bates, MO2.5150
April 278:30 PM CDTEF1Bates, MO10.1250
April 278:45 PM CDTEF0Henry, MO2.4150
April 278:53 PM CDTEF1McClain, OK4.4225$44,000
April 279:12 PM CDTEF1McClain, OK0.540$2,000
April 279:16 PM CDTEF1Johnston, OK4.7150$50,000
April 279:17 PM CDTEF0McClain, OK1.740$2,000
April 279:20 PM CDTEF2McClain, OK4.9125$200,000
April 279:29 PM CDTEF1Cleveland, OK3.5200$100,000
April 279:42 PM CDTEF2Carter, OK11.340019$20 million
April 279:45 PM CDTEF1Oklahoma, OK8.5150$300,000
April 279:50 PM CDTUnratedWilson, KS0.010
April 2710:15 PM CDTEF1Pontotoc, OK1.530$10,000
April 2710:16 PM CDTEF1Lincoln, OK10.3250$30,000
April 2710:23 PM CDTEF3Sulphur tornado, OK9.9440130$10 million
April 2710:29 PM CDTEF0Morgan, MO3.550
April 2710:36 PM CDTEF3Holdenville tornado, OK27.91,76024$1.8 million
April 2710:37 PM CDTEF1Pontotoc, OK8.4500$250,000
April 2710:45 PM CDTEF0Carter, OK0.530
April 2710:59 PM CDTEF1Moniteau, MO1.730$200,000
April 2711:07 PM CDTEF1Murray, OK5.9250$200,000
April 2711:08 PM CDTEF4Marietta–Dickson–Baum tornado, OK26.890016$151 million
April 2711:21 PM CDTEF1Murray, OK3.5100$2,000
April 2712:01 AM CDTEF1Okmulgee, OK11.31,400$2.0 million
April 2712:14 AM CDTEF1Okmulgee, OK8.91,100$75,000
April 2712:22 AM CDTUnratedJohnston, OK1.1200
April 2712:28 AM CDTEF1Muskogee, OK6.2800

All 63 of them

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.