Tornadoes and Hail in Missouri, May 15, 1986

Name: Tornadoes and Hail in Missouri, May 15, 1986
Start: 1986-05-15T16:00
End: 1986-05-15T20:26
Location: Missouri

May 15, 1986 · 10 events in 4 counties and zones

8 tornado, 2 hail, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

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The toll

Deaths: 1
Injuries: 34
Property damage: $55 million
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 10

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

Event by event

8 tornado, 2 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Stoddard

When: May 15, 4:00 PM CST
Where: Stoddard County
Rating: F1
Path length: 0.5 mi
Path width: 100 yd
Property damage: $2.5 million
Coordinates: 36.900, -89.900

Tornado, Stoddard

When: May 15, 4:51 PM CST
Where: Stoddard County
Rating: F0
Path length: 0.2 mi
Path width: 73 yd
Coordinates: 36.780, -89.850

Tornado, Stoddard

When: May 15, 5:00 PM CST
Where: Stoddard County
Rating: F0
Path length: 0.2 mi
Path width: 73 yd
Coordinates: 36.680, -89.800

Hail, New Madrid

When: May 15, 5:06 PM CST
Where: New Madrid County
Measured: 1.75 in hail
Coordinates: 36.850, -89.680

Tornado, Stoddard

When: May 15, 5:15 PM CST
Where: Stoddard County
Rating: F1
Path length: 5 mi
Path width: 200 yd
Property damage: $25,000
Coordinates: 36.800, -89.750

Tornado, Scott

When: May 15, 5:25 PM CST
Where: Scott County
Rating: F1
Path length: 10 mi
Path width: 200 yd
Property damage: $25,000
Coordinates: 36.880, -89.680

Tornado, New Madrid

When: May 15, 5:30 PM CST
Where: New Madrid County
Rating: F2
Path length: 3 mi
Path width: 500 yd
Property damage: $25 million
Coordinates: 36.870, -89.620

Tornado, Scott

When: May 15, 5:36 PM CST
Where: Scott County
Rating: F2
Path length: 6 mi
Path width: 500 yd
Injuries: 19 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $25 million
Coordinates: 36.880, -89.580

Tornado, Scott

When: May 15, 6:30 PM CST
Where: Scott County
Rating: F2
Path length: 4 mi
Path width: 400 yd
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Injuries: 15 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $2.5 million
Coordinates: 36.970, -89.700

Hail, Cape Girardeau

When: May 15, 8:26 PM CST
Where: Cape Girardeau County
Measured: 1.75 in hail
Coordinates: 37.200, -89.650

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

Event	Date	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
Tornado, Scott	1986-05-15				Direct

What these are

Tornado: A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.
Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Missouri in 1986 Every state in 1986 This day in weather history The tornado archive for Missouri, 1986 Warnings in Missouri, May 1986

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 10073010, 10073011, 10073012, 10073013, 10073014, 10073015, 10073016, 10073017, 10073018, 10073019.