Tornado in Missouri, August 12, 2002

Name: Tornado in Missouri, August 12, 2002
Start: 2002-08-12T21:35
End: 2002-08-12T21:45
Location: Missouri

August 12, 2002 · NWS SGF · 1 event in 1 county or zone

An F1 tornado damaged eight outbuildings and downed numerous trees in north central Ozark County. The tornado extended 3 miles north of Wasola, then south to the junction of Highways 5 & 95.

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: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $50,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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.

What happened

The episode as NWS SGF wrote it up.

An F1 tornado damaged eight outbuildings and downed numerous trees in north central Ozark County. The tornado extended 3 miles north of Wasola, then south to the junction of Highways 5 & 95.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Springfield, MO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 12, 1:25 PM CST, 8 hours 10 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 12, 1:25 PM CST, 8 hours 10 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO
225 PM CDT MON AUG 12 2002

HEAVY RAINFALL AND SEVERE WEATHER POTENTIAL WILL HIGHLIGHT FORECAST.

MESOSCALE VORTICITY CENTER APPARENT ON SATELLITE AND PROFILERS WAS
PUSHING INTO SOUTHWEST MISSOURI THIS AFTERNOON.  CONVECTION WAS
INCREASING ACROSS SOUTHERN MISSOURI AHEAD OF THIS SYSTEM.  WATER
VAPOR IMAGERY ALSO DEPICTS A POTENT SHORTWAVE COMING ACROSS THE
NORTHERN ROCKIES.  AT THE SURFACE...A COLD FRONT STRETCHED FROM
NORTHWEST IOWA TO WESTERN KANSAS.

MODELS SIMILAR WITH EVOLUTION OF THE UPPER TROUGH BUT DIFFER ON
TIMING OF THE FRONTAL PASSAGE. WILL FOLLOW CLOSER TO THE ETAS
DEPICTION OF THE FRONTAL POSITION AND PRECIPITATION AXIS.

FOR THIS EVENING...THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP AHEAD OF
THE VORTICITY CENTER AS IT PUSHES EAST ACROSS SOUTHERN MISSOURI.  AN
ISOLATED SEVERE STORM NOT OUT OF THE QUESTION...BUT A WEAK WIND
FIELD WILL PRECLUDE SIGNIFICANT ACTIVITY THIS EVENING.

OVERNIGHT...STORMS WILL DEVELOP ALONG THE COLD FRONT OVER CENTRAL
AND EASTERN KANSAS. ACTIVITY WILL BE ENHANCED AS AREA COMES UNDER
INFLUENCE OF RIGHT ENTRANCE REGION OF THE 250 MB JET...AND STRONG
LEVEL MOISTURE CONVERGENCE.  ACTIVITY WILL LIKELY ORGANIZE INTO A
LINEAR TYPE CONVECTIVE COMPLEX AS THE SHORTWAVE SWINGS INTO THE
CENTRAL PLAINS.   THE STORM COMPLEX WILL SHIFT INTO SOUTHEAST KANSAS
AND FAR SOUTHWEST MISSOURI LATE TONIGHT AND EARLY TUESDAY.  WITH
PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES AROUND 2 INCHES...HEAVY RAINFALL AMOUNTS
ARE LIKELY.  ALTHOUGH FLASH FLOOD GUIDANCE VALUES ARE HIGH...I HAVE
ISSUED A FLOOD WATCH WEST OF A NEOSHO TO OSCEOLA LATE TONIGHT AND
TUESDAY MORNING.   IF 2-4 INCH AMOUNTS MATERIALIZE...LOCALIZED
FLOODING PROBLEMS WILL BE LIKELY.

ACTIVITY WILL SPREAD SOUTHEAST INTO SOUTHERN MISSOURI TUESDAY
MORNING AS THE FRONT SAGS SOUTH.  CONVECTION WILL BE ON A WEAKENING
TREND DURING THE MORNING BEFORE HEATING OF THE DAY INTENSIFIES THE
ACTIVITY OVER SOUTH CENTRAL MISSOURI ALONG THE FRONT.  ISENTROPIC
LIFT OVER THE FRONT COMBINED WITH DECENT UPPER JET DYNAMICS...WILL
SUPPORT WIDESPREAD SHOWERS AND CLOUDS BEHIND THE FRONT. THIS WILL
KEEP TEMPERATURES CONSIDERABLY COOLER.

PLEASANT WEATHER EXPECTED WEDNESDAY AS A SURFACE HIGH BUILDS INTO
THE AREA.  THE UPPER PATTERN WILL FLATTEN DURING THE LATE WEEK WITH
A SHORTWAVE PROGGED TO APPROACH THE REGION FRIDAY.  THIS ALONG WITH
A REMNANT FRONTAL BOUNDARY LIFTING NORTH COULD SPARK SOME
CONVECTION.  SO I WILL CONTINUE TO MENTION RAIN CHANCES FRIDAY.

THANKS FOR THE COORDINATION ICT AND HPC.

ISC GRIDS ARE OUT.

.SGF...FLOOD WATCH FOR LATE TONIGHT AND TUESDAY MORNING FOR
SOUTHEAST KANSAS AND FAR SOUTHWEST MISSOURI NORTHWEST OF A LINE FROM
NEOSHO TO OSCEOLA.

FOSTER

In the hours before

Local storm report, Aug 12, 7:06 PM CST, 2 hours 29 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO
806 PM CDT MON AUG 12 2002

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0700 PM    6 NE (SGF)SPRINGFIELD ARP MO   WIND DAMAGE
08/12/02   GREENE                         REPORTED BY PUBLIC.
                                          TREE DOWN ACROSS HWY AA

0759 PM    FORDLAND                  MO   .75 INCH HAIL
08/12/02   WEBSTER                        REPORTED BY FIRE AND
                                          RESCUE.

Local storm report, Aug 12, 7:13 PM CST, 2 hours 22 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO
813 PM CDT MON AUG 12 2002

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0720 PM    STRAFFORD                 MO   WIND DAMAGE
08/12/02   GREENE                         REPORTED BY MEDIA.
                                          TREES AND POWER LINES
                                          DOWN.

Local storm report, Aug 12, 7:31 PM CST, 2 hours 4 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO
831 PM CDT MON AUG 12 2002

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0825 PM    4 S SEYMOUR               MO   WIND DAMAGE
08/12/02   WEBSTER                        REPORTED BY EMERGENCY
                                          MANAGEMENT. TREE ACROSS
                                          ROAD JUST OFF HWY BB.

Local storm report, Aug 12, 8:11 PM CST, 1 hour 24 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO
911 PM CDT MON AUG 12 2002

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0730 PM    FORDLAND                  MO   WIND DAMAGE
08/12/02   WEBSTER                        REPORTED BY EMERGENCY
                                          MANAGEMENT.

0838 PM    SEYMOUR                   MO   .75 INCH HAIL
08/12/02   WEBSTER                        REPORTED BY EMERGENCY
                                          MANAGEMENT.

Local storm report, Aug 12, 8:55 PM CST, 40 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO
955 PM CDT MON AUG 12 2002

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0950 PM    GOODHOPE                  MO   .88 INCH HAIL
08/12/02   DOUGLAS                        REPORTED BY STORM
                                          SPOTTER.

0950 PM    ROY                       MO   .88 INCH HAIL
08/12/02   DOUGLAS                        REPORTED BY STORM
                                          SPOTTER.

Local storm report, Aug 12, 9:23 PM CST, 12 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO
1023 PM CDT MON AUG 12 2002

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1010 PM    ROGERSVILLE               MO   FLOOD
08/12/02   WEBSTER                        WATER 6 INCHES DEEP AT
                                          HIGHWAY YY AND JAMES
                                          RIVER. REPORTED BY
                                          STORM SPOTTER.

The radar

The Springfield radar (KSGF), 84 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 03:36 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Ozark

When: August 12, 9:35 PM CST to 9:45 PM CST
Where: Ozark County, 3 mi N of Wasola
Rating: F1
Path length: 8 mi
Path width: 200 yd
Property damage: $50,000
Reported by: NWS STORM SURVEY
Coordinates: 36.850, -92.583

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.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Missouri in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history The tornado archive for Missouri, 2002 Warnings in Missouri, August 2002

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: 5313283.