Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2026
EF0 tornado, Lomax, Kansas, April 13, 2026
This EF0 tornado ran 0.0 miles across Osage County on April 13, 2026, touching down at 7:02 PM CDT. It killed nobody.
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 mphthis tornado
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 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.
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
- EF0, preliminary
- Date
- April 13, 2026
- Touchdown
- 7:02 PM CDT (00:02 UTC)
- Lifted
- 7:03 PM CDT (00:03 UTC)
- On the ground
- 1 minutes
- Path length
- 0.0 miles (0.0 km)
- Path width
- 0 yards (0 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Osage County
- Touchdown point
- 38.591, -95.512
- Lift-off point
- 38.591, -95.512
- 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
37 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.
A storm chaser caught a small brief tornado on video. No damage was reported with this specific tornado in this location.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
24 minutes of warning. NWS TOP issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:38 UTC, 24 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:15 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 23:35 UTC and running to 01:39 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 22:57 UTC | 00:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TOP |
| 23:35 UTC | 01:39 UTC | Tornado Watch | TOP |
| 23:38 UTC | 00:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | TOP |
| 23:51 UTC | 00:12 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TOP |
| 23:56 UTC | 00:31 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TOP |
| 23:58 UTC | 00:13 UTC | Tornado Warning | TOP |
| 00:08 UTC | 00:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TOP |
| 00:24 UTC | 01:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TOP |
| 00:49 UTC | 01:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TOP |
| 00:58 UTC | 01:12 UTC | Tornado Warning | TOP |
| 01:25 UTC | 05:30 UTC | Flood Warning | TOP |
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 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.
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
0.0 hours before the tornado, 47 km from the path. April 14, 2026.
- 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
Topeka, KS (KTOP), 12:00Z
12.0 hours after it, 47 km from the path. April 14, 2026.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1922 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -232 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 2999 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1110 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 36 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 33 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 360 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 361 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 4.6
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.0 K/km
The radar
The Topeka radar (KTWX), 77 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:04 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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22:58 UTC | HAIL 1.25 | 4 W Reading | Lyon, KS | |
| 22:58 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | 4 W Reading | Lyon, KS | |
| 23:05 UTC | HAIL 2 | 1 W Reading | Lyon, KS | Report from mPING: Hen Egg (2.00 in.). |
| 23:30 UTC | HAIL 2 | 5 S Osage City | Osage, KS | |
| 23:30 UTC | HAIL 2 | 5 S Osage City | Osage, KS | |
| 23:32 UTC | HAIL 1.25 | 1 S Lyndon | Osage, KS | |
| 23:35 UTC | HAIL 1.25 | Lyndon | Osage, KS | |
| 00:07 UTC | TORNADO | Quenemo | Osage, KS | Delayed report. Storm chaser reported a tornado occurred just southwest of town. Was on the ground approximately two minutes and damaged a sheet metal shed. |
| 00:10 UTC | HAIL 2 | 2 W Pomona | Franklin, KS | Hail was observed on the ground behind the storm. |
| 00:15 UTC | TORNADO | 3 Ene Pomona | Franklin, KS | Spotter confirmed he was seeing debris but is about 15 miles south so can not fully see the actual tornado. |
| 00:30 UTC | HAIL 2 | 1 Ssw Ottawa | Franklin, KS | Delayed report of 2 inch hail stones across the street from Ottawa High School. Photos sent via email. |
| 00:35 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 S Ottawa | Franklin, KS | Damage to the roof and a wall of the T-Mobile store on South Main Street in Ottawa. |
| 00:35 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 S Ottawa | Franklin, KS | Reports of damage in southern Ottawa, on Main Street between 15th and 23rd, including wall and rood damage to a hotel, roof damage and wall down at a gas station, roof removed from Daylight Donuts and trees down. No powe |
| 00:38 UTC | TORNADO | 1 N Ottawa | Franklin, KS | observed moving east. |
| 00:42 UTC | HAIL 2.75 | 1 N Ottawa | Franklin, KS | |
| 00:49 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 Se Edgerton | Miami, KS | Downed wires near Waverly Road. Time estimated from radar. |
| 01:18 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 Ese Edgerton | Johnson, KS | Downed wires near Farm Lane. Time estimated from radar. |
| 01:18 UTC | TORNADO | 2 Sse Hillsdale | Miami, KS | Photo shared of a tornado on the ground, looking northwest at the storm by a spotter. |
| 01:18 UTC | TORNADO | 2 Wnw Hillsdale | Miami, KS | *** 1 INJ *** Report resent for starting point and time of tornado. Shortly before 820 PM CDT on Monday April 13th, 2026, a supercell thunderstorm, that had previously resulted in an EF- 2 tornado in Ottawa, KS, strength |
| 01:20 UTC | TORNADO | 1 Wsw Hillsdale | Miami, KS | *** 1 INJ *** Shortly before 820 PM CDT on Monday April 13th, 2026, a supercell thunderstorm, that had previously resulted in an EF- 2 tornado in Ottawa, KS, strengthened and developed a second tornado just east of Hills |
| 01:22 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 W Spring Hill | Johnson, KS | Downed wires near 207th Street. Time estimated from radar. |
| 01:23 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 Nw Spring Hill | Johnson, KS | Downed wires and power outages near Clare Road. Time estimated from radar. |
| 01:24 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 Wsw Spring Hill | Miami, KS | Downed wires and power outages near 223rd Street. Time estimated from radar. |
| 01:58 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 7 W Hillsdale | Miami, KS | Downed tree limbs and wires near 263rd Street. Time confirmed from radar. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2026 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe 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) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | 7:15 PM CDT | EF1 | Faribault, MN | 4.5 | 50 | |||
| April 13 | 7:23 PM CDT | EF2 | Franklin, KS | 7.3 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 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.