Alert archive / Missouri / Tornado Warnings in 2001

Tornado Warning 15, NWS St. Louis, MO

October 23, 2001Osage County, Missouri

NWS St. Louis, MO issued this tornado warning at Oct 23, 2001, 5:21 PM CDT for Osage County, Missouri. It was in force for 54 min. 2 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline the Iowa Environmental Mesonet reconstructed for it; the warning itself named whole counties, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: Oct 23, 2001, 5:21 PM CDT (22:21 UTC)
Expired: Oct 23, 2001, 6:15 PM CDT
In force: 54 min
Issued by: NWS St. Louis, MO
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Osage County, MO

The radar

The St Louis radar (KLSX), 115 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:24 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
Oct 23, 5:38 PM CDT	Hail 1.5	Meta, MO	Storm spotters reported 1 1/2 inch hail in Meta.
Oct 23, 6:15 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Rich Fountain, MO	A cooperative weather observer reported 1 inch hail near Rich Fountain.

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.

The watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Oct 23, 5:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Springfield, MO (KSGF), launched 12:00Z, 10.4 hours before the alert went out and 235 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: 1568 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -35 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 720 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 54 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 237 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 246 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 2.2
Supercell composite: 8.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

112 
WFUS53 KLSX 232222
TORSTL
MOC151-232315-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO
521 PM CDT TUE OCT 23 2001

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ST LOUIS HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  OSAGE COUNTY IN CENTRAL MISSOURI

* UNTIL 615 PM CDT

* AT 521 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  TORNADO 10 MILES WEST OF KOELTZTOWN...MOVING EAST AT 35 MPH.

* LOCATIONS IN THE PATH...
  KOELTZTOWN
  WESTPHALIA
  FREEBURG
  RICH FOUNTAIN
  LINN
  BABBTOWN
  META

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM...SEEK SHELTER NOW A BASEMENT
OFFERS THE BEST PROTECTION. IF A BASEMENT IS NOT AVAILABLE...MOVE TO
THE LOWEST FLOOR AND SEEK SHELTER IN A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM. STAY AWAY
FROM OUTSIDE WALLS AND WINDOWS. MOBILE HOMES SHOULD BE ABANDONED IN
FAVOR OF A MORE SUBSTANTIAL STRUCTURE. DO NOT TRY TO OUTRUN A TORNADO
IN A VEHICLE.

LAT...LON 3845 9213 3830 9218 3831 9167 3864 9167

$$

MB

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 23, 11:42 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Madison	48 min
Oct 23, 2:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Iron, Reynolds	45 min
Oct 23, 2:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Madison	46 min
Oct 23, 5:02 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LSX	Cole	43 min
Oct 23, 6:09 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LSX	Gasconade, Osage	51 min
Oct 23, 6:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Franklin	64 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Missouri, 2001 Every tornado warning in 2001 Tornadoes in 2001

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.