EF2 tornado, Scott State Park, Kansas, May 18, 2025

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

May 18, 2025

Touchdown

5:37 PM CDT (22:37 UTC)

Lifted

5:55 PM CDT (22:55 UTC)

On the ground

18 minutes

Path length

10.8 miles (17.3 km)

Path width

150 yards (137 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Scott County

Touchdown point

38.434, -101.127

Lift-off point

38.561, -101.011

Record number

2505181637-01

17 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS DDC, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EFU. The highest wind the damage implies is 125 mph.

• Eastern edge of tornado with first note of minor tree damage.
• Power line with visible damage.
• Separate from the 1st tornado to impact Scott Wildlife Area. EM observed tornado. No damage reported or observed. Crossed Road 270.
• 15 Rail cars blown over very near here (invof Modoc) per EM

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

A regional outbreak of tornadoes occurred across portions|of western into south-central Kansas during the afternoon to|evening hours of Sunday 18 May 2025. The first couple of tornadic|supercells occurred near Scott City KS in Scott County during the|late afternoon and progressed northward with both storms generating|EF2 tornadoes and a lone brief EFU tornado. A second tornadic|supercell developed near Dodge City KS in the early evening and|progressed northeast with an EFO tornado occurring near Kinsley KS|in Edwards County and an EF2 tornado near Garfield KS in Pawnee County.|A final long-duration tornadic supercell then formed in the mid|evening hours over Comanche County KS and commenced moving northeast|toward Greensburg KS in Kiowa County, Iuka KS in Pratt County,|north of Preston KS in Pratt County and finally across Stafford|and Reno Counties. This storm generated five EF3 tornadoes along with|several smaller satellite tornadoes. The final count for this day|was 13 tornadoes just within the NWS Dodge City Warning area.

Tornado began just south of W Road 270 in northern Scott County. The tornado tracked northward toward the Scott Wildlife Area where damage was observed to trees, including snapped trunks and a total destruction of an outbuilding. The tornado continued north into Logan County.

Tornado began just south of State Highway 96, southwest of Modoc. The tornado traveled northeast and immediately snapped power poles along the highway. As it continued northeastward, some train cars were toppled just west of town. To the north end of Modoc, a mobile home had its roof ripped off. As the tornado continued tracking northeastward in open fields, it continued producing sporadic damage to power lines, a home, and pivot irrigation systems. The tornado dissipated just north of W Road 200.

Emergency Manager observed and reported tornado. No damage reported or observed. Crossed Road 270.

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

5 minutes of warning. NWS DDC issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:32 UTC, 5 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:42 UTC and running to 00:59 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 20:05 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.

Scott City (TQK), 16 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Goodland radar (KGLD), 111 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:35 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 2025 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are

42 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.