Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2026
EF0 tornado, Johnson and Jackson counties, Kansas and Missouri, March 6, 2026
This EF0 tornado ran 7.9 miles across Johnson and Jackson counties on March 6, 2026, touching down at 11:34 PM CST and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody.
Preliminary. This is NWS EAX's damage survey, filed in the Damage Assessment Toolkit as Shawnee_Mar6. 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
- March 6, 2026
- Touchdown
- 11:34 PM CST (05:34 UTC)
- Lifted
- 11:45 PM CST (05:45 UTC)
- On the ground
- 11 minutes
- Path length
- 7.9 miles (12.7 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Counties
- Johnson and Jackson counties
- Touchdown point
- 39.032, -94.737
- Lift-off point
- 39.055, -94.594
- Highest wind the damage implies
- 75 mph
- Surveyed by
- NWS EAX
- The office's name for it
- Shawnee_Mar6
- Survey last edited
- March 7, 2026
- Record number
- None yet. SPC numbers 2026 in the spring of 2027.
What the survey found
Shortly after 1130 PM CST on Friday 3/6/2026, an EF-0 tornado developed within a line of severe thunderstorms in northern Johnson County Kansas. The tornado started in northern Shawnee, KS moving east into portions of Merriam, KS and along and near the I-35 Corridor into Southern Wyandotte County Kansas before crossing the State Line into Kansas City, Missouri shortly after 11:40 PM CDT. The tornado ended shortly before Westport near Southwest Traficway around 11:45 PM CDT. The majority of damage was to trees with peak wind speed estimated around 75 MPH.
Written by NWS EAX in the NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit. A survey is revised as better evidence arrives.
The damage survey
39 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS EAX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 75 mph.
- Older tree, root system has rot.
- Trunk of tree showed signs of rot
Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.
The warnings
No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 02:18 UTC and running to 06:46 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 02:18 UTC | 06:46 UTC | Tornado Watch | EAX |
| 04:44 UTC | 05:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | EAX |
| 05:26 UTC | 06:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | EAX |
| 05:35 UTC | 06:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | EAX |
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 01:06 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
5.6 hours before the tornado, 84 km from the path. March 7, 2026.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 981 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -2 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 849 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 550 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 58 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 34 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 281 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 290 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.7
- Supercell composite
- 6.2
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.1 K/km
Topeka, KS (KTOP), 12:00Z
6.4 hours after it, 84 km from the path. March 7, 2026.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 3 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- 0 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 5 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 486 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 69 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 9 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -76 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- -68 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 0.9 K/km
The radar
The Pleasant Hill radar (KEAX), 43 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 05:33 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 05:34 UTC | TORNADO | 2 Ese Lake Quivira | Johnson, KS | NWS Damage Survey found evidence of a 7.9 mile long EF-0 tornado that began in Shawnee, crossing the state line into Missouri, and ending shortly before reaching Westport. |
| 05:38 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 E Merriam | Johnson, KS | Power flashes in Merriam. |
| 05:39 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Nnw Merriam | Johnson, KS | Reports of trees and power lines down. Time estimated from radar. |
| 05:43 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 Ssw Kansas City | Jackson, MO | Pictures of downed trees on social media near and south of 39th St. Time estimated from radar. |
| 05:45 UTC | TSTM WND GST 60 | 4 Ssw Kansas City | Jackson, MO | Estimated 60 mph wind gusts in West Plaza. |
| 06:01 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Lake Tapawingo | Jackson, MO | Corrects time previous tstm wnd dmg report from Lake Tapawingo. KMBC TV photographer found downed power lines near Lake Tapawingo. Time estimated from radar. |
| 07:01 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Lake Tapawingo | Jackson, MO | KMBC TV photographer found downed power lines near Lake Tapawingo. Time estimated 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 March 6, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 6 | 3:09 PM EST | EF1 | Cass, MI | 13.4 | 350 | 1 | ||
| March 6 | 3:47 PM EST | EF2 | Saint Joseph, MI | 12.4 | 450 | 10 | ||
| March 6 | 4:33 PM EST | EF3 | Branch, MI | 4.5 | 500 | 3 | 12 | |
| March 6 | 4:58 PM EST | EF0 | Calhoun, MI | 2.5 | 125 | |||
| March 6 | 5:18 PM CST | EF1 | Creek, OK | 6.2 | 270 | |||
| March 6 | 6:24 PM CST | EF1 | Osage, OK | 6.0 | 600 | |||
| March 6 | 6:38 PM CST | EF0 | Okfuskee, OK | 5.0 | 160 | |||
| March 6 | 6:38 PM CST | EF1 | Tulsa, OK | 2.0 | 180 | |||
| March 6 | 6:55 PM CST | EF2 | Rogers, OK | 4.7 | 150 | |||
| March 6 | 7:17 PM CST | EF3 | Okmulgee, OK | 6.8 | 950 | 2 | 2 | |
| March 6 | 8:03 PM CST | EF0 | Wagoner, OK | 1.4 | 130 | |||
| March 6 | 8:05 PM CST | EF1 | Wagoner, OK | 1.6 | 300 | |||
| March 6 | 8:24 PM CST | Unrated | Rogers, OK | 1.4 | 150 | |||
| March 6 | 8:29 PM CST | EF1 | Rogers, OK | 6.6 | 350 | |||
| March 6 | 9:55 PM CST | Unrated | Delaware, OK | 0.5 | 100 |
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.