Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2026

EF2 tornado, Ottawa to Peoria, Kansas, April 13, 2026

Name: EF2 tornado, Ottawa to Peoria, Kansas, April 13, 2026
Start: 2026-04-14T00:23:00.000Z
End: 2026-04-14T00:48:00.000Z
Location: Ottawa to Peoria, Kansas

From Ottawa to Peoria, this EF2 tornado ran 7.3 miles across Franklin County on April 13, 2026, touching down at 7:23 PM CDT. It killed nobody and injured 3.

Preliminary. This is NWS TOP's damage survey, filed in the Damage Assessment Toolkit. The rating, the path and the casualties are the survey's and can change while it is revised. The Storm Prediction Center compiles the official record of 2026 from these surveys and publishes it in the spring of 2027; this page moves to that tornado's permanent address when it does.

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 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.
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.
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.

The survey

Rating, as surveyed: EF2, preliminary
Date: April 13, 2026
Touchdown: 7:23 PM CDT (00:23 UTC)
Lifted: 7:48 PM CDT (00:48 UTC)
On the ground: 25 minutes
Path length: 7.3 miles (11.7 km)
Path width: 0 yards (0 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 3
County: Franklin County
Touchdown point: 38.601, -95.321
Lift-off point: 38.613, -95.199
Highest wind the damage implies: 125 mph
Surveyed by: NWS TOP
Survey last edited: April 14, 2026
Record number: None yet. SPC numbers 2026 in the spring of 2027.

The damage survey

42 damage points were recorded along this path by 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.

Fence destroyed, thrown east 20-30 feet
Insulation splattered on south side of apartment complex
Numerous broken tree limbs throughout neighborhood.
Fence and several gazebo buildings destroyed

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

What the Weather Service recorded

Supercell thunderstorms developed along and east of a dryline across east central Kansas late afternoon on April 13th. The storms produced very large hail to the size of baseballs and also a strong tornado in Franklin County and a brief weak tornado in Osage County. 3 injuries were reported due to the Franklin County tornado none serious.

NWS storm survey revealed a tornado formed a few miles west of Ottawa and proceeded to move ESE through the southern parts of the city of Ottawa. The tornado turned to the ENE as it exited to the city and moved across interstate 35 doing more damage to structures before it ended near the Marais des Cygness River. The tornado produced EF2 damage with estimated winds of 120-125 mph throughout the southern parts of the city of Ottawa and to other structures to the ENE of the city before it ended. There were 3 non serious injuries reported at a home near the end point of the tornado.

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

The forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:56 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.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Topeka, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Apr 13, 5:22 PM CDT, 2 hours 1 minute earlier. Its key messages:

Red Flag Warning in north-central KS this afternoon and evening. A very high fire danger. -Storms could impact far eastern KS Tuesday evening, bringing a threat for severe weather. -Additional storm chances occur Wednesday and again Friday, with more uncertainty on timing/location. -Cooler weather expected this weekend. Possible freeze and frost early Sunday morning.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 13, 5:22 PM CDT, 2 hours 1 minute before

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Topeka KS
522 PM CDT Mon Apr 13 2026

.KEY MESSAGES...

- Red Flag Warning in north-central KS this afternoon and
  evening. A very high fire danger.

-Storms could impact far eastern KS Tuesday evening, bringing a
 threat for severe weather.

-Additional storm chances occur Wednesday and again Friday, with
 more uncertainty on timing/location.

-Cooler weather expected this weekend. Possible freeze and
 frost early Sunday morning.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
Issued at 140 PM CDT Mon Apr 13 2026

Early this afternoon, water vapor satellite imagery showed an
upper level trough extending from the Great Basin southwest into
southern CA. Broad southwesterly mid level flow of 40 to to 50
KTS was noted from the base of the Southwest US trough,
extending northeast across the Plains, then northeast across the
Upper Midwest and Great Lakes States. A broad upper level ridge
was centered off the FL coast across the eastern Gulf.

At the surface, an area of low pressure was located across the
northeast NE. A warm front extended east northeast across southern
MN. A dryline extended west-southwest across eastern NE, to the far
western counties of the CWA, into western OK. Winds ahead of the
dryline were south-southwesterly at 15 to 25 MPH and gusts to 40
MPH. West of the dryline, winds veered more to the southwest and
dewpoints have dropped down into the mid 30s to lower 40s.

This afternoon and Tonight:

The dryline will move east to a Washington, to Clay center, to
Abilene line late this afternoon. Most CAM soundings do not
show much of cap but weak confluence along the dryline will not
be enough surface convergence to develop thunderstorms. The 3 KM
NAM is showing sfc based storms developing across north central
OK late this afternoon, which may develop northeastward during
the evening hours but most other CAMs do not show any
convection developing along the dryline across the CWA. If
isolated storms were able to develop ahead of the dryline they
would become severe with wind and hail as the primary hazard
given MLCAPES around 2000 J/kg and 35 KTS of effective shear.
The low level winds may be too veered for a tornado threat. but
the probability for storms is below 14 percent across much of
the eastern counties of the CWA. But I may place a 15 percent
chance in Anderson county in case the 3K NAM is accurate with
dryline storms building northeast up towards the southeast
counties. Later shifts may need to update this forecast.

Tonight, as the LLJ increases to 40 to 50 KTS across east central
KS, I cannot rule out a few elevated storms across portions of east
central KS but most of the CAMs do not show storms developing late
Tonight into early Tuesday morning.

Tuesday through Wednesday night:

The upper trough across the southwest US will fill as it lifts
northeast across the Plains Wednesday night.

Tuesday, the dryline will move east across the central part of the
CWA. There will not be as much QG forcing, since the H5 trough will
still be farther west across UT/AZ. The surface shows more
confluence along the dryline, so most of the area will remain
dry. Most CAMs develop surface based storms across northern
OK/south central KS and these storms may move northeast along
across east central KS. The primary hazards will be large hail
and damaging wind gusts but any discrete supercell may spawn a
few tornadoes. However, the low-level wind fields looks to be
veered, so the chances are much lower.

Wednesday afternoon into Wednesday night will provide a better
chance for thunderstorms as the H5 trough shifts east into the
Plains. DCVA ahead of the trough axis will provide for stronger
ascent. At the surface a cold front will shift southeast into the
northern counties and dryline will push east across the southwest
counties. Thunderstorms will develop along the front and possibly
south along the dryline. Some of these storms may be severe with the
primary hazards being large hail and damaging wind gusts. Through the
evening hours a line of storms will congeal along the cold front,
and the threat will become isolated damaging wind gusts. The
front should push southeast of the CWA during the early morning
hours of Thursday.

Thursday through Thursday night:

Early Thursday, an upper level trough will move onshore across the
Pacific northwest and dig southeast into the Great Basin. We may see
a break from any thunderstorms as the Pacific front will push east
into western MO. Frontolysis will occur through the afternoon hours
and westerly winds will diminish and become southerly through
Thursday night.

Friday through Sunday:

The extended range models are in fair agreement. The GFS is a bit
more progressive and maybe more favorable for severe
thunderstorms during the afternoon and evening hours.The H5
trough across the Great Basin will dig east-southeast across
the central Rockies, then across the Plains Friday night into
Saturday Morning. A cold front will push southeast across the
northern High plains, then southeast across NE through the day.
A surface low and dryline across western KS will shift east.
Thunderstorms will develop across central KS through the
afternoon hour. If discrete thunderstorms develop within the
warm sector where there will be sufficient vertical wind shear
and instability for supercell thunderstorms. The hazards from
supercell thunderstorms would be large hail, damaging wind
gusts, and possibly a few tornadoes. It still remains uncertain
if these discrete supercells will remain south of the area
Friday afternoon. Though the slightly more progressive GFS
solution would provide a better chance for supercell
thunderstorms developing ahead of the cold front/dryline during
the afternoon hours before the storms congeal into a squall
line. The slower ECMWF solution shows most storms developing
ahead of the cold front during the mid and late evening hours.
If a line of storms develop the the primary hazard would be
isolated damaging wind gusts along the squall line. The cold
front will move southeast of the CWA during the morning hours of
Saturday and the rain and thunderstorms will shift east of the
area. We will see a cool down by the weekend with highs in the
mid 50s north to lower 60s south. Highs Sunday will be in the
lower to mid 60s. Low temperatures early Sunday morning may fall
below freezing across the northern counties of the CWA with mid
30s across much of the area. Therefore, a freeze warning and
frost of advisory may be needed Saturday night into Sunday
morning.

An H5 ridge will move towards the Plains next week, which will cause
temperatres to warm into the 70s on Monday and the 80s by the middle
of next week.

&&

.AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z WEDNESDAY/...
Issued at 520 PM CDT Mon Apr 13 2026

VFR at all TAF sites through the TAF period with gusty southerly
wind. Some thunderstorms have developed down near Emporia, but
confidence in these making it into the Topeka area are too low
right now to place any mention in the TAF.

&&

.FIRE WEATHER...
Issued at 340 AM CDT Mon Apr 13 2026

While green up of vegetation is underway, a Red Flag Warning
will continue across north-central KS, where gusty winds and
low RH will combine to create extreme fire danger. Dew points
are forecast to drop this afternoon in this area as a dryline
moves east. Minimum RH behind the dryline could quickly fall to
around 20 percent. South-southwest winds will be sustained at 15
to 20 mph with gusts as high as 30 mph throughout the
afternoon. Similar conditions will be in place behind the
dryline (mainly in central KS) on Tuesday, with minimum RH
between 20 and 25 percent and continued gusty south-southwest
winds. Fire headlines are not currently anticipated Tuesday.
However, at this time the Range Land Fire Index has only a very
high fire danger for north central KS. All Burning should be
postponed through midweek.

&&

.TOP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
Red Flag Warning until 9 PM CDT this evening for KSZ008-KSZ020-
KSZ034.

&&

DISCUSSION...Gargan
AVIATION...Jones
FIRE WEATHER...Gargan/Teefey

Hazardous weather outlook, Apr 13, 2:32 PM CDT, 4 hours 51 minutes before

Hazardous Weather Outlook
National Weather Service Topeka KS
232 PM CDT Mon Apr 13 2026

KSZ008>012-020>024-026-034>040-054>056-058-059-141945-
Republic-Washington-Marshall-Nemaha-Brown-Cloud-Clay-Riley-
Pottawatomie-Jackson-Jefferson-Ottawa-Dickinson-Geary-Morris-
Wabaunsee-Shawnee-Douglas-Lyon-Osage-Franklin-Coffey-Anderson-
232 PM CDT Mon Apr 13 2026

This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of central Kansas,
east central Kansas, north central Kansas, and northeast Kansas.

.DAY ONE...This Afternoon and Tonight

Red Flag Warning through 9 PM. A few isolated severe thunderstorms
may occur across the far southeast counties early this evening.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Tuesday through Sunday

There is a chance for severe thunderstorms Tuesday through
Wednesday night. Then again Friday and Friday night. The primary
threats will be hail and wind.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

Weather spotters are encouraged to relay reports of hail, damaging
wind, tornadoes and flooding.

&&

More detailed information can be found at:
www.weather.gov/media/top/DssPacket.pdf

In the hours before

Local storm report, Apr 13, 6:00 PM CDT, 1 hour 23 minutes before

Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Topeka KS
600 PM CDT Mon Apr 13 2026

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0558 PM     Hail             4 W Reading             38.52N 96.03W
04/13/2026  E1.75 Inch       Lyon               KS   Storm Chaser

&&

Flanagan

Local storm report, Apr 13, 6:14 PM CDT, 1 hour 9 minutes before

Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Topeka KS
614 PM CDT Mon Apr 13 2026

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0605 PM     Hail             1 W Reading             38.52N 95.97W
04/13/2026  E2.00 Inch       Lyon               KS   Public

            Report from mPING: Hen Egg (2.00 in.).

&&

Flanagan

Local storm report, Apr 13, 6:30 PM CDT, 53 minutes before

Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Topeka KS
630 PM CDT Mon Apr 13 2026

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0630 PM     Hail             5 S Osage City          38.56N 95.83W
04/13/2026  E2.00 Inch       Osage              KS   Storm Chaser

&&

Flanagan

Local storm report, Apr 13, 6:32 PM CDT, 51 minutes before

Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Topeka KS
632 PM CDT Mon Apr 13 2026

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0632 PM     Hail             1 S Lyndon              38.60N 95.68W
04/13/2026  E1.25 Inch       Osage              KS   Trained Spotter

&&

Flanagan

Local storm report, Apr 13, 6:37 PM CDT, 46 minutes before

Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Topeka KS
637 PM CDT Mon Apr 13 2026

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0635 PM     Hail             Lyndon                  38.61N 95.69W
04/13/2026  E1.25 Inch       Osage              KS   Emergency Mngr

&&

Flanagan

Local storm report, Apr 13, 7:19 PM CDT, 4 minutes before

Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Topeka KS
719 PM CDT Mon Apr 13 2026

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0715 PM     Tornado          3 ENE Pomona            38.62N 95.39W
04/13/2026                   Franklin           KS   Trained Spotter

            Spotter confirmed he was seeing debris but
            is about 15 miles south so can not fully see
            the actual tornado.

&&

BD

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, 55 km from the path. April 14, 2026.

Skew-T log-p

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.

Hodograph

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: 2034 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -35 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 3679 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1542 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 40 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 147 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 202 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.6
Supercell composite: 10.2
0-3 km lapse rate: 8.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Ottawa (OWI), 7 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)	Temp (°F)	Dew point (°F)	Wind	Gust (kt)	Pressure (mb)	Weather
00:00 UTC

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

The radar

The Pleasant Hill radar (KEAX), 89 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.

This ground now

The live radar over the track Every 2026 tornado in Kansas Every tornado in Kansas since 1950 Warnings in force in Kansas now The forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 13, 2026

15 more have been surveyed in the United States that day, so far.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries
April 13	5:38 PM CDT	EF0	Taylor, WI	3.5	20
April 13	6:12 PM CDT	Unrated	Watonwan, MN	0.7	25
April 13	6:15 PM CDT	EF1	Watonwan, MN	8.5	200
April 13	6:30 PM CDT	Unrated	O'Brien, IA	0.9	25
April 13	6:47 PM CDT	EF2	Palo Alto, IA	4.8	450
April 13	6:47 PM CDT	EF1	Emmet, IA	0.9	40
April 13	7:02 PM CDT	EF0	Osage, KS	0.0	0
April 13	7:15 PM CDT	EF1	Faribault, MN	4.5	50
April 13	7:49 PM CDT	EF0	Clay, IA	1.8	50
April 13	8:00 PM CDT	EF1	Linn, KS to MO	23.8	0	2
April 13	8:05 PM CDT	EF1	Freeborn, MN	2.7	140
April 13	8:09 PM CDT	Unrated	Linn, KS	0.6	0
April 13	8:18 PM CDT	EF2	Miami, KS	3.0	250	1
April 13	12:44 AM CDT	EF0	Dodge, WI	0.3	50
April 13	12:45 AM CDT	EF1	Dane, WI	5.9	75

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. A survey can be revised, so the rating, the path and the casualties can all still change.

Sources

NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit, the record the survey teams file from the damage, and NOAA Storm Prediction Center storm reports. Neither is the official database for 2026, which SPC publishes in the spring of 2027.