Tornado Outbreak - May 4, 2003
MEDIA ADVISORY 03-005 CORRECTED
Contact: Michael J. Hudson
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 7th, 2003
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ASSIGNS FUJITA DAMAGE RATINGS TO
MAY 4th TORNADOES IN THE KANSAS CITY METROPOLITAN AREA
Editor’s note: corrections were made to the initial northern Leavenworth
County tornado data, and also to where the initial F4 damage was reported
in Wyandotte County.
A damage assessment team from the National Weather Service in Pleasant Hill,
Missouri, has
performed a survey of tornadoes, which struck the Kansas City metropolitan
area on May 4, 2003. Results of the survey indicate five distinct tornado
paths in portions of Leavenworth and Wyandotte Counties in Kansas, and across
portions of Platte and Clay Counties in Missouri. Two of the tornadoes received
a maximum intensity rating of F4 on the Fujita damage scale, two a rating
of F2, and the last a rating of F1.
At a news conference held at the Mid-America Regional Council on Wednesday,
Lynn Maximuk,
Meteorologist-In-Charge of the National Weather Service Office in Pleasant
Hill, Missouri, and Dr. Chuck Doswell from the University of Oklahoma reported
that a total of five tornadoes struck in or near the Kansas City area with
storms on May 4th, 2003. After a preliminary damage assessment, the National
Weather Service Quick Response Team rated these tornadoes the strongest
the metropolitan area has seen since 1977. Maximuk said that the small number
of casualties in the metro area — one death and fewer than 40 injuries
— are a credit to the partnerships in the community between the National
Weather Service, the media and emergency management professionals. Warnings
were issued with an average of fifteen minutes lead time prior to each tornado
touchdown, giving area residents ample time to take cover. A total of 25
tornado warnings were issued on Sunday from the Pleasant Hill National Weather
Service
office.
The first tornado touchdown was noted in Leavenworth County at 3:45 p.m.,
by officials of Fort
Leavenworth in open country on base grounds. Damage of F1 intensity was
observed from this tornado across the river into Platte County, starting
along Missouri Route 92, near its intersection with North Farley Road. This
damage extended about one and a half miles to the east, with a width of
around 50 yards. Damage was noted to the north of Route 92 to two barns,
along with tree and fence damage. This damage appeared to be produced from
downbursts, which likely occurred to the north of the tornado track, closer
to the updraft and downdraft interface of the storm. Total track length
of this tornado was approximately 3 miles. Initial reports of a brief tornado
touchdown were received from north of Jarbalo, but no evidence of a tornado
touchdown was found in this area.
A series of four tornadoes was evident from both ground and air surveys
across the Kansas City
metropolitan area, from the supercell thunderstorm which tracked east-northeast
across the western and northern sections of the metropolitan region.
The first of these tornadoes touched down in southern Leavenworth County,
at around 3:54 p.m., northwest of Linwood and south of the Kansas Turnpike,
near 198th and Wood Ann. Video shows the tornado crossed the Kansas Turnpike
east of the Eastern Toll Booth, and then proceeded northeast to where it
lifted south of Basehor around 4:12 p.m. Total track length was six miles,
with a width approaching 200 yards at times. The tornado was given a maximum
Fujita intensity rating of F2. This maximum damage was noted to homes near
and just northeast of the intersection of 166th and Kansas Road.
The second tornado touched down just north-northwest of the Kansas Speedway
at approximately 4:18 p.m. This tornado initially produced F0 to F1 damage,
but it did produce an area of F3 damage to two homes, just south of Parallel
Parkway near Interstate 435. The tornado grew in width to near 500 yards
in Kansas City, Kansas, where instances of marginal F4 damage were noted
around 91st and Leavenworth Road. The tornado continued to produce F2 to
F3 damage northeast to near 84th Terrace north of Leavenworth Road. The
latter location was where one fatality was observed. The tornado continued
northeast through Wyandotte County, where another instance of marginal F4
damage was noted near 79th Street and Cernech. Considerable structural damage
was noted in this location, along with four 150 foot-tall metal power poles
engineered to withstand maximum winds of over 200 mph. The tornado proceeded
to produce F1 to occasional F2 damage up to the Missouri River. Based on
air surveys, the tornado passed just north of the power plant in northeast
Wyandotte County, skirted along the Missouri River inflicting F0 tree damage
on both the Wyandotte and Platte County sides of the river, and eventually
crossed east into Platte County near Riverside and Parkville around 4:30
p.m. The tornado continued east, but with a smaller damage path through
commercial areas near Highway 9. The tornado crossed Interstate 635 near
mile marker 11.8, and it produced F1 damage east of this point until the
tornado apparently dissipated around 4:42 p.m. Total track length of this
tornado was near 15 miles.
The third tornado touched down in Gladstone, Missouri, apparently from a
new circulation which
formed to the northeast of the one which produced the second tornado, around
4:45 p.m., around the area of Shady Lane and Antioch. Tree and roof damage
accounted for F0 to F1 damage in this area. The tornado quickly intensified,
and damage of marginal F4 intensity was noted approximate one mile northeast
of this area, near the intersection of NE 63rd Terrace and North Jackson.
Another small area of marginal F4 intensity was noted just northeast of
this location, in the Carriage Hills subdivision, just south of Pleasant
Valley Road near North Brighton. Areas of F1 to F3 intensity damage were
noted around these specific neighborhoods in the Carriage Hills subdivision.
The tornado continued northeast, based on air surveys, to just shy of Interstate
435 before dissipating shortly before 5:00 p.m.
The fourth and final tornado in the series that moved through the metropolitan
area touched down
in the Liberty area. Air surveys indicated spotty damage from Missouri Route
291, south of Missouri Route 152, northeast to near downtown Liberty. Substantial
damage was noted near the square in Liberty, and to William Jewell College.
The tornado tracked east along Missouri Route H into rural portions of Clay
County east of Liberty, before the tornado apparently dissipated around
5:15 p.m. Maximum intensity damage noted in this area was F2, based on air
survey and input from local emergency management.
Despite spotter reports during the event, no evidence of tornado touchdowns
were found in Ray
or Jackson Counties in Missouri. Graphical maps of these tornado paths,
annotated with Fujita damage scale assessments, will be posted on the Pleasant
Hill web site at www.crh.noaa.gov/eax.
Additional details on the Fujita damage scale can be found at www.crh.noaa.gov/arx/tornado/fujitascale.htm.
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