An article in the local newsrag in Wichita KS a couple of days ago (08 March 2011) comments on the Kansas reputation for having lots of tornadoes. In fact, a couple of other states have many more, but when it comes to THE BIG ONES it appears that Kansas is a real leader:

"They are the rarest and most dangers of tornadoes and research shows Kansas has more of them than any other state.

      F5s.

Kansas has had 14 of the tornadoes at the top of the Fujita Scale, according to data compiled by severe-weather-research meteorologist Jon Davies of Kansas City.

Texas and Iowa share second place at 10 on the list, which dates back to 1880.

"I'm not sure people realize how statistically rare F4s and F5s are," said Mike Smith, president of WeatherData, a Wichita-based subsidiary of AccuWeather. "Out of every 1,000 tornadoes, roughly 50 are F4, and two or three are F5."

The fact that Kansas has had 14 F5 tornadoes is a reminder of why people in Kansas need to take tornado safety precautions seriously, …"

(This week has been designated "Severe Weather Awareness Week" in Kansas)

For reference:

Kansas = 81,814.88 sq miles of land - - 1,343.92 sq miles per F5
Texas = 261,797.12 sq miles - - 26,179.71 sq miles per F5
Iowa = 55,869.36 sq miles - - 5,586.94 sq miles per F5

So the BIG ONES are, in fact, about 5 times as likely at any given point in Kansas as in Iowa, and on a "storm density" measure Texas doesn't really measure up (to much of anything).

"No state in the country has had more F5 or EF-5 tornadoes than Kansas, according to research done by a pair of meteorologists. This list was compiled by severe-weather-research meteorologist Jon Davies."

The list:

May 1. 1895 —Halstead/Newton area, 8 killed
May 17, 1896 — Seneca¬Oneida-Sabetha-Reserve, 21 killed
June 11, 1915 — Northwest of Greensburg, no deaths
May 25, 1917 — Northwest and north of Wichita, 23 killed
May 7, 1927 — From south¬east of Medicine Lodge to Hutchinson, 10 killed
April 29, 1942 — near Oberlin, 15 killed
May 25, 1955 — Udall, 80 killed
May 20, 1957, From Ottawa to Spring Hill. Mo., 7 killed in Kansas.
May 19, 1960, Northwest of Topeka, no deaths.
June 8, 1966 — Topeka, 16 killed
March 13, 1990 — Pretty Prairie-Hesston, 1 killed
March 13, 1990 — Goessel, 1 killed
April 26. 1991 — Haysville¬southeast Wichita-Andover, 17 killed
May 4. 2007 — Greensburg. 11 killed
Sources: "Significant Tornadoes 1880- 2010" by Tom Grazulis, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climatic Data Center Storm Data."

TORNADO RANKINGS
Starting in 1971, tornadoes were ranked on a Fujita Scale of 0 to 5, with 5 being the most destructive. In February 2007, forecasters adopted the Enhanced Fujita Scale. Both estimate wind speed based on damage.
Original F scale
FO: 45-78 mph
Fl: 79-117 mph
F2: 118-161 mph
F3: 162-209 mph
F4: 210-261 mph
F5: 262-317 mph
Enhanced F scale
EF-0: 65-85 mph
EF-1: 86-110 mph
EF-2: 110-135 mph
EF-3: 136-165 mph
EF-4: 166-200 mph
EF-5: Greater than 200 mph
Source: National Weather Service

Note that tornadoes are ranked based on the amount of damage, and the earlier Fujita F5 was based on "the wind had to be at least 262 mph to do that" while the enhanced Fujita Scale EF-5 comes from someone deciding "nope, 200 mph could do it." (more or less)

A similar article "celebrating" the 20th anniversary of the closest (local) F5 tornado to the Wichita KS area points to a set of "Historic Tornado Phots online" at:

        Historic Tornado Photos

The real point of the thread is not really to point out that Kansas really is best at something, but on the chance that someone here might be interested in the pictures. Most of the tornadoes shown in the pictures were, in fact, ranked as F5s, although a couple of smaller ones are included.

(LiK says none of the Kansas ones measure up to the one that wiped out Higgins TX - her home town then - the week before she was born, but I think it's just "exaggerated childish memories," although she may be able to find a link to those photos if someone begs nicely.)

John