Alert archive / Missouri / Tornado Watches in 2026

Tornado Watch 153

April 26, 202634 counties in Missouri

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 26, 2026, 6:55 PM CDT for 34 counties in Missouri. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Apr 26, 2026, 6:55 PM CDT (23:55 UTC)
Expired: Apr 27, 2026, 2:00 AM CDT
In force: 7 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 2.5 in
Strongest gust expected: 60 kt

All 34 counties

Barry County, MO, Barton County, MO, Benton County, MO, Camden County, MO, Cedar County, MO, Christian County, MO, Dade County, MO, Dallas County, MO, Dent County, MO, Douglas County, MO, Greene County, MO, Hickory County, MO, Howell County, MO, Jasper County, MO, Laclede County, MO, Lawrence County, MO, Maries County, MO, McDonald County, MO, Miller County, MO, Morgan County, MO, Newton County, MO, Oregon County, MO, Ozark County, MO, Phelps County, MO, Polk County, MO, Pulaski County, MO, Shannon County, MO, St. Clair County, MO, Stone County, MO, Taney County, MO, Texas County, MO, Vernon County, MO, Webster County, MO, Wright County, MO

The radar

The Springfield radar (KSGF), 109 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:55 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 SPC expected

The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.

Two or more tornadoes: 50%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes: 20%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 60%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 20%
Ten or more severe hail reports: 40%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more: 40%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 90%

Warnings issued inside it

47 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 26, 7:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Cedar, St. Clair, Vernon	62 min
Apr 26, 7:19 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SGF	Cedar, St. Clair, Vernon	41 min
Apr 26, 7:22 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	SGF	Benton, Camden, Morgan	38 min
Apr 26, 7:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Destructive damage threat	SGF	Benton, Camden, Dallas, Hickory, Polk	63 min
Apr 26, 7:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	SGF	Cedar, Dade, Greene, Polk	60 min
Apr 26, 7:42 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SGF	Dade, Greene, Polk	48 min
Apr 26, 7:54 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SGF	Cedar, Hickory, Polk, St. Clair	51 min
Apr 26, 7:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Camden, Miller, Morgan	50 min
Apr 26, 8:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Cedar, Dade, Polk	29 min
Apr 26, 8:19 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SGF	Greene, Polk	41 min
Apr 26, 8:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Camden	52 min
Apr 26, 8:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	SGF	Dallas, Polk	47 min
Apr 26, 8:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	SGF	Benton, Cedar, Hickory, Polk, St. Clair	41 min
Apr 26, 8:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Maries, Miller	66 min
Apr 26, 8:54 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SGF	Dallas, Polk, Webster	51 min
Apr 26, 9:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	SGF	Dallas, Polk	39 min
Apr 26, 9:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	SGF	Dallas, Hickory, Polk	63 min
Apr 26, 9:32 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SGF	Dallas, Laclede	43 min
Apr 26, 9:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Maries, Phelps	53 min
Apr 26, 9:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	St. Clair	66 min
Apr 26, 9:42 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SGF	St. Clair	48 min
Apr 26, 9:54 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	SGF	Dallas, Laclede	51 min
Apr 26, 10:02 PM CDT	Tornado Warning Tornado observedConsiderable damage threat	SGF	Jasper, Newton	43 min
Apr 26, 10:05 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	SGF	Camden, Dallas, Hickory, Laclede	55 min
Apr 26, 10:07 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SGF	St. Clair	38 min
Apr 26, 10:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Destructive damage threat	SGF	Laclede, Pulaski, Texas	60 min
Apr 26, 10:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Benton, Hickory, St. Clair	41 min
Apr 26, 10:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	SGF	Jasper, Newton	38 min
Apr 26, 10:41 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SGF	Dade, Jasper, Lawrence, Newton	49 min
Apr 26, 10:46 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	SGF	Dallas	6 hr
Apr 26, 10:48 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SGF	Benton, Hickory	42 min
Apr 26, 10:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	SGF	Camden, Dallas, Laclede, Pulaski	39 min
Apr 26, 11:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	SGF	Benton, Camden, Hickory	50 min
Apr 26, 11:12 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	SGF	Laclede	6 hr
Apr 26, 11:20 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	SGF	Jasper, Newton	6 hr
Apr 26, 11:21 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	SGF	Barry, Jasper, Lawrence, Newton	39 min
Apr 26, 11:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Camden, Laclede, Maries, Miller, Pulaski	51 min
Apr 26, 11:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Benton	18 min
Apr 26, 11:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	SGF	Camden, Dallas, Laclede	46 min
Apr 26, 11:53 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Barry, Jasper, Lawrence, Newton	52 min
Apr 27, 12:06 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	SGF	Dent, Phelps, Pulaski	39 min
Apr 27, 12:23 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	SGF	Camden, Maries, Miller, Phelps, Pulaski	52 min
Apr 27, 12:35 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Barry, Christian, Lawrence, Stone, Taney	40 min
Apr 27, 12:40 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Dent, Maries, Phelps	50 min
Apr 27, 12:43 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	SGF	Camden, Maries, Phelps, Pulaski	6 hr
Apr 27, 1:08 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Christian, Stone, Taney	16 min
Apr 27, 1:20 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	SGF	Dent, Phelps	40 min

Discussions around it

SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.

The nearest sounding before it

Springfield, MO (KSGF), launched 12:00Z, 11.9 hours before the alert went out and 157 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: 5 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -295 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1183 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 195 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 203 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 26, 11:24 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Buchanan, Holt, Platte	96 min
Apr 26, 12:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Bates, Buchanan, Cass, Clay, Clinton, Cooper and 7 more	9 hr
Apr 26, 3:22 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Barton, Bates, Benton, Cass, Cedar, Dade and 10 more	8 hr
Apr 26, 6:32 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Benton, Boone, Callaway, Camden, Carter, Cedar and 34 more	88 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Missouri, 2026 Every tornado watch in 2026

Sources

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