2019 Harper, Kansas Tornado

The 2019 Harper, Kansas Tornado was a violent and catastrophic, high-end EF4-rated tornado that struck the city of Harper, Kansas in the late afternoon-early evening hours of May 3, 2019.

Coming on the 20-year anniversary of the incredibly violent, strong, and catastrophic F5 tornado that struck Central Oklahoma, the tornado was responsible for 30 deaths, 95 injuries, and $4.36 billion (2019 USD) in damages.

Meteorological Synopsis
In the late-evening hours of May 2, 2019, a system that began to develop over the Rockies exploded over Kansas, causing multiple strong and violent tornadoes, including an EF4 that struck Hudson, Kansas, killing 9 and injuring 84.

In the early-morning hours of May 3, the National Weather Service (NWS), issued an High Risk for the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska as the system was intensifying and had a 45% to produce a violent tornado.

At 8:51 AM CDT, the first tornado of the outbreak that would formed touched down in the Texas Panhandle and tracked into the Oklahoma Panhandle before entering Kansas as an EF4 with 185 mph winds. Killing 22 and injuring 479, this EF4 caused $5.67 billion (2019 USD) in damages.

Between 9:00 AM CDT and 4:30 PM CDT, 76 tornadoes touched down in the plains, including another 3 EF4's and 7 EF3's.

Tornado Warning
After an active day for tornadoes, a supercell formed over Oklahoma City and transitioned over Southern Kansas, causing another 19 tornadoes to touch down. A tornado watch was issued at 3:14 PM CDT for the counties of Comanche, Kiowa, Pratt, Clark, Kingman, Barber, Harper, Sedgwick, and Sumner counties.