At least five tornadoes touched down across Kansas on Christmas Day, weather officials said Wednesday – and one of them moved close to Greensburg, which was heavily damaged by a massive tornado in 2007.
They’re the first tornadoes ever to form on Christmas Day in the Sunflower State and were nearly double the number of December tornadoes in Kansas. Evidence suggests a sixth tornado formed in Comanche County on Sunday, but weather officials have not yet confirmed that.
Until Sunday, eight tornadoes had formed in the last month of the year in Kansas since tornado records began in 1955, according to the National Weather Service.
December tornadoes are “extremely rare” in Kansas, said Jim Caruso, a meteorologist with the Wichita branch of the weather service.
All of Sunday’s tornadoes were weak EF0’s, but three of them stayed on the ground for at least a few miles.
Here are details on the five tornadoes.
▪ Formed 6 miles east-southeast of Ensign in Ford County at 9:44 a.m. Sunday and stayed on the ground for nearly 6 miles before lifting at 9:51 a.m. 5 miles southwest of Dodge City. It had maximum winds of 70 mph and was 40 yards wide.
▪ Formed just before 10:30 a.m. 6 miles east-southeast of Bucklin in Ford County. It was on the ground for more than 3 miles before lifting at 10:35 a.m. 6 miles east of Bucklin. It had maximum winds of 80 mph and was 30 yards wide.
▪ Formed at 10:51 a.m. 7 miles south-southwest of Greensburg in Kiowa County and was on the ground for more than 6 miles before lifting just a mile southwest of Greensburg at 10:59 a.m. That tornado was 30 yards wide and had maximum wind speeds of 75 mph.
▪ Touched down briefly in Rush County 6 miles southwest of Rush Center, though it was on the ground so quickly no damage survey was conducted.
▪ Larry Ruthi, the meteorologist-in-charge of the Dodge City weather service branch, said a tornado that formed south of Kismet in Seward County was on the ground for less than a mile but still damaged a hog barn. The tornado had maximum winds of 80 mph but was moving northeast at 60 mph.
A tornado that touched down in southwest Nebraska on Sunday is now the farthest north tornado to form in the U.S. on Christmas Day, said Patrick Marsh, warning coordination meteorologist with the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla.
The 77-degree swing in temperature from the minus 10 degrees on Dec. 18 to the 67 degrees on Christmas Day was a record for a December week in Wichita.
“They say this place is extreme,” Caruso said. “They’re not kidding.”
BY STAN FINGER
DECEMBER 28, 2016 5:45 PM
