15 March 2024
TOPEKA (KSNT) – 27 News took a look back through the years to see how often tornados happen before March in Kansas.
On Wednesday, two EF-2 tornados hit Wabaunsee and Shawnee County. The tornados caused damage to homes, damaged trees and outbuildings. National Weather Service (NWS) Meteorologist Chad Omitt said nobody was injured in the storms.
From 1950 to 2022, there were 4,503 tornados in Kansas. The busiest month of the year for tornados has been in May with 1,732 reported tornados making up 38% of all reported cases. The least tornadic month of the year is January; that’s only had three reported tornados.
The NWS uses the EF ranking scale to mark the severity of detected tornadoes. A tornado can be placed anywhere between an EF-0 and an EF-5 rank with an EF-5 being the strongest and most destructive rating on the list. Nearly 30 different damage indicators are used to judge where a tornado is placed on the EF scale such as structures, trees and building type.
Tornados typically don’t start coming out in force until April. For the reportable period, only 111 tornados have happened before March 15. They make up only 2.5% of all reported tornados. Of those tornados, the highest magnitude was from two EF-5 tornados that happened on March 13, 1990.
Dubbed the 1990 Tornado Outbreak, the EF-5 tornados were part of an early-season outbreak that ripped across Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas. The outbreak saw 59 tornados with 44 occurring in Nebraska and Kansas. The most well-known tornado from the outbreak was the Hesston EF-5 tornado.
The Hesston Tornado caused nearly $25 million of damage in Harvey County alone. About 90 homes were “beyond repair” and 30 were completely destroyed. In total, 60 people were injured and two died from the Hesston Tornado.
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