Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2025

Unrated tornado, Kanorado, Kansas, June 2, 2025

This Unrated tornado ran 0.0 miles across Sherman County on June 2, 2025, touching down at 5:14 PM MDT 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 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
June 2, 2025
Touchdown
5:14 PM MDT (23:14 UTC)
Lifted
5:16 PM MDT (23:16 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
0.0 miles (0.0 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Sherman County
Touchdown point
38.443, -102.026
Lift-off point
38.444, -102.026
Record number
2506021714-01

What the Weather Service recorded

In the late afternoon of the 2nd, a cluster of storms formed in far western Kansas and proceeded to the north-northeast. Across western Kansas, these storms produced winds up to 80 MPH and penny sized hail. The strongest winds were associated with an outflow boundary coming from the cluster that also produced a haboob (wall of dust) that reduced visibility down to zero. This was a unique system because the overall system and wall of dust generally moved from south to north. A short landspout tornado occurred ahead of the wall of dust in Sherman County.

Brief landspout tornado reported at this location. No damage occurred.

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.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 20:50 UTC and running to 02:51 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
20:50 UTC02:51 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchGLD
23:00 UTC23:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLD
23:24 UTC00:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLD
23:42 UTC23:55 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLD

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. The outlook in force was issued at 19:53 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

11.2 hours before the tornado, 201 km from the path. June 2, 2025.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dodge City, at 12:00Z on 2025-06-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 130 joules per kilogram, CIN -349, lifted condensation level 1250 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, Dodge City, at 12:00Z on 2025-06-02The 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 -15 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 8 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
130 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-349 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1250 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
8 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
9 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-15 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
39 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Dodge City, (KDDC), 00:00Z

0.8 hours after it, 201 km from the path. June 3, 2025.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dodge City, at 00:00Z on 2025-06-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 3338 joules per kilogram, CIN -78, lifted condensation level 1264 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, Dodge City, at 00:00Z on 2025-06-03The 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 30 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 14 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
3338 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-78 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3627 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1264 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
11 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
30 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
123 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
7.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Syracuse (3K3), 56 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
21:15 UTC91.468140° 20 kt271006.4
21:35 UTC91.468140° 15 kt251006.1
21:55 UTC87.868160° 17 kt231006.1-RA
22:15 UTC78.869.8150° 15 kt251006.4VCTS RA HZ
22:35 UTC7768150° 20 kt321007.1
22:55 UTC75.262.6170° 25 kt401008.5VCTS
23:15 UTC6866.2200° 28 kt331008.5VCTS RA BR
23:35 UTC66.264.4200° 25 kt311008.1-RA BR
23:55 UTC6864.4180° 16 kt301008.1-TSRA
00:15 UTC69.860.8200° 11 kt201008.1-RA
00:35 UTC66.266.2240° 11 kt161008.1VCTS RA
00:55 UTC6864.4230° 11 kt151008.5-RA

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

The radar

The Goodland radar (KGLD), 106 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:15 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
21:21 UTCTSTM WND GST 571 Se HoraceGreeley, KSMesonet station TUNK1 Tribune.
23:17 UTCTSTM WND GST 6210 Wnw HoraceGreeley, KSNW_Tribune_KS_(AWN67d228aaf1137615aff5a604).
23:36 UTCTSTM WND GST 715 Ssw WeskanWallace, KSWeather link site Section 32 reports 71 mph wind gust.
23:44 UTCTSTM WND GST 595 Sw WeskanWallace, KSWeather link site Farm Location reports 59 mph wind gust.
23:49 UTCTSTM WND GST 696 Ese WeskanWallace, KSKS-Wallace.
23:50 UTCTSTM WND GST 642 S WeskanWallace, KSDelayed report.
23:53 UTCTSTM WND GST 643 Ssw WeskanWallace, KSAWN site Section 22 reports 64 mph wind gust.
23:54 UTCTSTM WND GST 80Sharon SpringsWallace, KS
23:56 UTCHAIL 0.5Sharon SpringsWallace, KSReport from mPING: Half-inch (0.50 in.).

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2025 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are

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.