Kansas Tornado Statistics for 2005

[Joey Ketcham]

I've looked, but can't find them. Anyone know where I can find the # of tornadoes that occured in Kansas in 2005 along with deaths and injuries?

 

[Jeff Snyder]

The Storm Data entries aren't all in yet, so I don't think you could come up with an "official" number yet. The Storm Data entries, unfortunately, are county segments, meaning that one tornado whose track is located in 3 counties will be given 3 Storm Data entries. You'd need to use the details and maybe the lat/lon to determine the total number of tornadoes (not just tornado county segments). A Kansas NWSFO may give the total tornado count in a year-end climate report, which would be easiest. Otherwise, I'm not sure if a KS NWSFO keeps a state-wide tornado count... The OUN office keeps an annual log of all OK tornadoes; the 2005 list can be accessed at http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/tornadodata/ok...tornado2005.php . Unfortunately, it hasn't been updated since May, so it IS missing some tornadoes (a few June tornadoes).

 

[Shane Adams]

I heard KS had 135 in 2005, and beat out Texas who only had like 102. These numbers were being thrown around casually in a chat and I haven't researched them so I can't confirm. I think OK had -3.

 

[Jeff Snyder]

I heard KS had 135 in 2005, and beat out Texas who only had like 102. These numbers were being thrown around casually in a chat and I haven't researched them so I can't confirm. I think OK had -3.

From Storm Data, Kansas has had 117 tornado county segments through 9/30/05 per Storm Data, compared with 105 county segments in Texas. By contrast (and not surprisingly), Oklahoma is sitting at 26.

TORNADO COUNTY SEGMENTS (NCDC STORM DATA THROUGH 9/30/05):
Kansas: 117
Texas: 105
Minnesota: 74
Wisconsin: 70
North Dakota: 57
Nebraska: 40
Iowa: 33
Colorado: 31
Oklahoma: 26
Missouri: 22
South Dakota: 19
Arkansas: 17 * (NOT INCLUDING FALL OUTBREAK)
Montana: 11
Wyoming: 7

I didn't include many of the eastern states given that the October and November outbreaks won't be included in the numbers.

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

40 in NE......I'd love to know when and where those actually were. I bet they kept several from the May 10th "outbreak of gustnadoes" as well as the same fiasco 3 days earlier in the same area almost. I know of one for sure May 7th, some June 27 that really no one got way out by Sidney from that sweeeeet storm and then those Amos and others go June 6th(2 I think). Guessing 40 is a lot high.

The one that stands out to me the most on that list is MN. I guess MN is big but I was thinking they sucked like the rest of us north of KS. ND 57 seems odd as well.

 

[Matthew Havin]

Well, that is nice to hear! I did a bit of research in the spring to see what a really weak year would yield across the U.S. because I was pessimistic about the year due to 2003 and 2004. However, I didn't think 2005 would suck as bad as it did. Anyways.....if you guys get some time, pull up some data for the all-time crappy years.

For example:
1988
2002
2005 (now added)
And some of the 1970s years... I don't remember exactly. (1970 and 77?!)
(Lower counts partially due to less amount of whackos chasing and reporting dust clouds blown by wind)

In all these cases, Kansas was the only state to have at least a small outbreak every year.... where Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, etc. were not as consistent. I guess this is a no-brainer though, but it is nice to see that in another drought year Kansas came up on top.

 

[Jeff Snyder]

40 in NE......I'd love to know when and where those actually were. I bet they kept several from the May 10th "outbreak of gustnadoes" as well as the same fiasco 3 days earlier in the same area almost. I know of one for sure May 7th, some June 27 that really no one got way out by Sidney from that sweeeeet storm and then those Amos and others go June 6th(2 I think). Guessing 40 is a lot high.

The one that stands out to me the most on that list is MN. I guess MN is big but I was thinking they sucked like the rest of us north of KS. ND 57 seems odd as well.

Mike,

Nebraska tornado county segments by date:
3/30 -- 1
4/18 -- 2
4/19 -- 1
5/7 -- 8
5/10 -- 2
5/11 -- 5
5/17 -- 3
6/4 -- 3
6/6 -- 5
6/15 -- 1
6/27 -- 4
7/5 -- 1
9/6 -- 1
9/12 -- 2
9/18 -- 1

 

[Shane Adams]

Looking at data from a chaser standpoint often skews the perception of the actual facts. I just don't consider 2005 a "crappy" year. IMO it was average. Also, you can take any year in any state and remember how that state treated you as a chaser. But nine times out of ten there will have been a decent number of tornadoes logged, because most tornadoes aren't seen by chasers. A good example of this was Oklahoma in 2003. While OK is not remembered as a great chase state that year, there were actually 78 tornadoes. I would put Minnesota last year in the same catagory.

 

[Robert Dewey]

Yeah, I wouldn't call it a bad year depending on where you roam... For example, my year was EXTREMELY bad... But I haven't been able to venture much farther than southern lower MI, northern IN/OH. The goal on most of my chases is just to see some nice structure and perhaps damaging winds - since tornadoes are "relatively" rare up here, I don't set them as a primary goal.

 

[Scott Olson]

Wow those MN numbers are crazy. I'd say I chased less in MN this year as there wasn't to many oppurtunities (two come to mind). Those numbers reaffirm my belief that SD had a sad year tornado wise. And had it not been a for a single day (6-7-05) where an apex of a bow echo probably accounted for at least or more than half. There was also that Aberdeen, SD supercell which some people say they saw something but it just looked like an RFD and a funnel cloud occasionally. ND is no suprise at all when the systems started tracking along the international border in June/July. I bet you could account alot of MN tornadoes to the northern systems that tracked there as well, with most remaining reports in the early months and most of those probably non-supercellular.

 

[Michael Auker]

Well, that is nice to hear! I did a bit of research in the spring to see what a really weak year would yield across the U.S. because I was pessimistic about the year due to 2003 and 2004. However, I didn't think 2005 would suck as bad as it did. Anyways.....if you guys get some time, pull up some data for the all-time crappy years.

For example:
1988
2002
2005 (now added)
And some of the 1970s years... I don't remember exactly. (1970 and 77?!)
(Lower counts partially due to less amount of whackos chasing and reporting dust clouds blown by wind)

Interesting that 1988, 2002, and 2005 all featured significant autumn tornado outbreaks.

 

[mikegeukes]

This was posted on Dec 19, i thought i repost it.
Tornado Counted County Segments from NCDC Storm Events

01/01/2005 to 09/30/2005

Number of Tornadoes by State (Tornado Counted County Segments)
76 Alabama
01 Alaska
05 Arizona
17 Arkansas
29 Californai

31 Colorado
00 Connecticut
00 Delaware
00 District of Columbia
45 Florida
01 Hawaii

06 Idaho
16 Illinois
11 Indiana
33 Iowa
117 Kansas

06 Kentucky
16 Louisiana
00 Maine
00 Maryland
01 Massachusetts

05 Michigan
74 Minnesota
66 Mississippi
22 Missouri
11 Montana

40 Nebraska
01 Nevada
00 New Hampshire
00 New Jersey
06 New Mexico

04 New York
22 North Carolina
57 North Dakota
03 Ohio
26 Oklahoma

01 Oregon
11 Pennsylvania
00 Rhode Island
14 South Carolina
19 South Dakota

01 Tennessee
105 Texas
04 Utah
00 Vermont
24 Virginia

04 Washington
00 West Virginia
70 Wisconsin
07 Wyoming

What are county-segments in NCDC tornado data? A county-segment is that portion of a tornado's path within a single county. If a tornado stays in one county, then a "tornado" is the same as a "segment." But this also means that tornadoes are counted twice when they cross into another county, three times when they enter a third county, and so forth. The reason for county-segment tornado recordkeeping is that the National Weather Service verifies tornado warnings by county. So when you look at NCDC tornado databases or the NWS Natural Hazard Statistics (based on Storm Data), you are not counting tornadoes, but instead county-segments of tornado tracks. This causes inflation of the tornado totals often reported by media and others who do not notice this important distinction. Source: SPC'

Mike

 

[samuel stone]

I think the 117(by 9/30/05) tornado segments for kansas is a little low because kansas also picked up a significant amount of tornadoes on the November 27, 2005 cold core outbreak. link to event index map is here http://www.spc.noaa.gov/exper/archive/even...1127/index.html