About 95 percent of the town of 1,500 was destroyed by an EF5 tornado with wind speeds of about 205 miles per hour. At least 60 people were injured in Greensburg alone. This was probably the strongest tornado of an outbreak that spanned several states with tornadoes reported across Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas and South Dakota.

For a full listing of the SPC reports of tornadoes for that day please read this archive page here.

This is a map I created from information I found on the Dodge City NWS website. The map shows the tornado on the ground for well over one hour and hitting Greensburg dead on.

To the left is a Doppler radar veloctiy image from NOAA National Weather Service office in Dodge City Kansas showing the tornado as it moved in on Greensburg Kansas.

     NOAA forecasters in Dodge City were able to issue a Tornado Warning 39 minutes before the 1.7 mile wide wedge tornado hit the town. Noting intensification in radar images and a bearing directly toward Greensburg, Dodge City weather staff updated with a Tornado Emergency message 10-12 minutes before the twister hit  urging residents to get to shelter immediately.

Read NOAA Magazine's full story here...... 

While chasing storms later in May we found that Dodge City motels were filled with survivors of this terrible tornado.  There wasn't any quick fix for the residents who lost their homes to this violent storm. 

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