Alert archive / Missouri / Tornado Warnings in 1994

Tornado Warning 2, NWS St. Louis, MO

April 15, 1994Jefferson County, Missouri

NWS St. Louis, MO issued this tornado warning at Apr 15, 1994, 4:52 AM CDT for Jefferson County, Missouri. It was in force for 38 min. 2 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: Apr 15, 1994, 4:52 AM CDT (09:52 UTC)
Expired: Apr 15, 1994, 5:30 AM CDT
In force: 38 min
Issued by: NWS St. Louis, MO
Area: Whole counties

County Jefferson County, MO

The radar

The St Louis radar (KLSX), 50 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 09:53 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Apr 15, 4:52 AM CDT	Tornado F0	Cedar Hill To, MO	Numerous large trees were uprooted or snapped at the base when a small tornado touched down initially west of Cedar Hill. The tornado moved rapidly east and uplifted the roof of a small business complex located near the intersection of Highway 30 and County R
Apr 15, 5:12 AM CDT	Tornado F1	Barnhart To, MO	A tornado touched down in Barnhart and nearly destroyed two mobile homes and heavily damaged five homes in a subdivision. Power poles were snapped off near the track with nearby trees uprooted or snapped off at the base. As the tornado moved north-northeast,

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in. Storm Data before 1996 records only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail.

The nearest sounding before it

Paducah/Barkley, KY (KPAH), launched 00:00Z, 9.9 hours before the alert went out and 209 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 2422 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 25 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 46 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 115 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KSTL 150953
TORSTL
MOC099-151030-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO
452 AM CDT FRI APR 15 1994
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ST LOUIS HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  530 AM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN EAST CENTRAL MISSOURI
 
   ...NORTHERN JEFFERSON COUNTY
 
AT 452 AM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE
TORNADO IN EXTREME WESTERN JEFFERSON COUNTY...MOVING EAST AT 35 MILES AN
HOUR. THIS STORM IS HEADING TOWARDS THE COMMUNITIES OF DITTMER AND HOUSE
SPRINGS AND WILL MOVE IN TO THAT AREA BETWEEN 500 AND 515 AM.
 
IF YOU LIVE IN A HOME OR APARTMENT...SEEK SHELTER IN THE
INNERMOST PORTION OF THE BUILDING ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  GET TO
A BASEMENT IF ONE IS AVAILABLE.  AVOID WINDOWS AND PROTECT YOUR
BODY FROM FLYING DEBRIS WITH CUSHIONS...BLANKETS...OR PILLOWS.
 
SHEA

The office that day

Everything else NWS St. Louis, MO issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 14, 11:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Schuyler	22 min
Apr 15, 2:17 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Monroe	28 min
Apr 15, 4:22 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	LSX	Franklin, Warren	43 min
Apr 15, 4:42 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Saint Charles	48 min
Apr 15, 4:50 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Jefferson, Saint Louis	40 min
Apr 15, 4:50 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	City of Saint Louis	40 min
Apr 15, 6:28 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	LSX	Perry	32 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Missouri, 1994 Every tornado warning in 1994 Tornadoes in 1994

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.