Missouri, 2009Damaging Winds in Missouri, July 4, 2009
July 4, 2009 · NWS PAH · 2 events in 2 counties and zones
Southeast Missouri was located in the destabilizing warm sector of a surface low across northern Missouri. Mixed layer CAPE values at or above 1000 j/kg aided thunderstorm intensification as large scale lift was maintained ahead of the surface low.
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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- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $170,000
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 2
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.
Southeast Missouri was located in the destabilizing warm sector of a surface low across northern Missouri. Mixed layer CAPE values at or above 1000 j/kg aided thunderstorm intensification as large scale lift was maintained ahead of the surface low. Deep-layer wind shear on the order of 40 to 50 knots contributed to persistent rotating updrafts.
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 Paducah, KY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 4, 2:15 PM CST, 1 hour 20 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jul 4, 2:15 PM CST, 1 hour 20 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
315 PM CDT SAT JUL 4 2009
.DISCUSSION...
ONGOING SVR RISK CONTINUES LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND INTO THE EVENING.
SFC WARM FRONT HAS DRAPED ITSELF RIGHT ALONG THE MS RVR DOWN INTO
THE PAH AREA. SFC BASED CAPES RUNNING 1500-2500 WEST OF THIS
BOUNDARY INTO SE MO. LINE OF CONVECTION SHOULD CONTINUE TO DEVELOP
TO THE NW OF THE OH RVR THIS AFTERNOON...THEN TRAVERSE WRN KY/FAR SE
MO THUS EVENING. MAIN HAZARD SHOULD BE WITH SOME DAMAGING WIND GUSTS
AND HAIL...BUT ANY CELL THAT TRY TO DEVIATE FROM THE MEAN FLOW AND
TRAVERSE THE WARM FRONT (IE MOVE SE AS OPPOSED TO E) COULD SPIN UP
AN ISOLATED TORNADO. SFC LOW SHOULD DEVELOP AND MOVE INTO THE MS/OH
RIVER CONFLUENCE AREA BY SUNSET. THIS LOW WILL MOVE ESE
OVERNIGHT...DRAGGING SFC COLD FRONT THROUGH WITH IT.
WILL DECREASE RAIN CHANCES BEHIND THE LINE OF STORMS AFTER
MIDNIGHT...AS SFC LOW/COLD FRONT MOVES SE OF THE REGION. COULD BE A
FEW LEFTOVER SHOWERS BEHIND THE FRONT SUNDAY...BUT SHOULD BE NO
MAJOR CONCERN. CLOUDS AND NLY WINDS WILL LIKELY HOLD TEMPS DOWN IN
THE 70S TO NEAR 80.
NUMERICAL MODELS IN VERY GOOD AGREEMENT THAT MID LEVEL NWLY FLOW
WILL CONTINUE TO DRIVE THE SURFACE COLD FRONT SOUTH TO THE GULF
COAST STATES BY MONDAY MORNING...ALLOWING SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE TO
BUILD INTO THE REGION MON/TUE. THIS WILL KEEP THINGS DRY...WITH
TEMPS AT OR A BIT BELOW NORMAL...ESP AT NIGHT. MID LEVEL HIGH OUT
OVER THE PLAINS WILL THEN GRADUALLY SHIFT EAST TOWARD THE REGION
MID/LATE WEEK. THIS WILL LEAD TO A GRADUAL RETURN TO DAY TIME
HEAT...WITH MAX TEMPS EXPECTED INTO THE LOWER AND MID 90S BY
THU/FRI. WITH THE MID RIDGE IN CONTROL...WILL LIKELY SEE THERMAL
CAPPING ALOFT AND LITTLE OVERALL MOISTURE. THUS...PRECIP CHANCES
LOOK NIL THROUGH FRI.
THERE IS SOME SUGGESTION BY LATEST MEDIUM RANGE MODELS THAT THE MID
LVL RIDGE WILL BEGIN TO RETREAT BACK TO THE WEST BY NEXT WEEKEND...
RESULTING IN A RETURN TO NW FLOW ALOFT. THIS COULD BRING A COLD
FRONT SOUTH THROUGH THE PLAINS AND CLOSE TO THE FORECAST AREA BY
SAT...SO INTRODUCED A SLIGHT CHC FOR SHOWERS/STORMS AT THAT TIME.
&&
.AVIATION...
WIDESPREAD CONVECTION OCCURRING OVER MOST OF SOUTHERN IL/SOUTHWEST
IN WITH SCATTERED ACTIVITY OVER KY. PRECIP WILL CONTINUE ON AND OFF
AT KEVV/KOWB THROUGH THE AFTERNOON. AT KPAH/KCGI...ACTIVITY WILL BE
MORE ISLD...UNTIL LATE AFTERNOON WHEN ADDITIONAL DEVELOPMENT IS
LIKELY...THAT WILL CONTINUE INTO EVENING HRS. MVFR CIGS AND VSBYS
POSSIBLE WITH THE HEAVIER TSRA...WITH POSSIBLY GUSTY WINDS. AFTER
THE CONVECTION...COULD SEE SOME -RA THROUGH ABOUT 06Z...AFTER WHICH
CIGS COULD GRADUALLY LOWER TO BLO 1000 FT. SHOULD BEGIN TO SEE
IMPROVING CONDITIONS BY LATE SUNDAY MORNING.
&&
.PAH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
KY...NONE.
MO...NONE.
IL...NONE.
IN...NONE.
&&
DISCUSSION...MEFFERT
AVIATION...CW
Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 4, 12:32 PM CST, 3 hours 3 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...CORRECTION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
132 PM CDT SAT JUL 4 2009
ILZ075>078-080>094-INZ081-082-085>088-KYZ001>022-MOZ076-086-087-
100-107>112-114-051000-
JEFFERSON-WAYNE IL-EDWARDS-WABASH-PERRY IL-FRANKLIN-HAMILTON-
WHITE-JACKSON-WILLIAMSON-SALINE-GALLATIN-UNION IL-JOHNSON-POPE-
HARDIN-ALEXANDER-PULASKI-MASSAC-GIBSON-PIKE-POSEY-VANDERBURGH-
WARRICK-SPENCER-FULTON-HICKMAN-CARLISLE-BALLARD-MCCRACKEN-GRAVES-
LIVINGSTON-MARSHALL-CALLOWAY-CRITTENDEN-LYON-TRIGG-CALDWELL-
UNION KY-WEBSTER-HOPKINS-CHRISTIAN-HENDERSON-DAVIESS-MCLEAN-
MUHLENBERG-TODD-PERRY MO-BOLLINGER-CAPE GIRARDEAU-WAYNE MO-CARTER-
RIPLEY-BUTLER-STODDARD-SCOTT-MISSISSIPPI-NEW MADRID-
132 PM CDT SAT JUL 4 2009
THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN
ILLINOIS...SOUTHWEST INDIANA...WESTERN KENTUCKY AND SOUTHEAST
MISSOURI.
.DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT
THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE ENTIRE
AREA THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH TONIGHT FOR THE ENTIRE AREA. SCATTERED
THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE TO IMPACT PORTIONS OF THE AREA EARLY THIS
AFTERNOON. THESE STORMS SHOULD STAY BELOW SEVERE LEVELS...BUT THE
STRONGER STORMS WILL PRODUCE SOME VERY HEAVY RAIN AT TIMES...AS
WELL AS FREQUENT LIGHTNING.
HOWEVER...AS WE HEAD INTO THE MID TO LATE AFTERNOON...ADDITIONAL
THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP NORTHWEST OF THE REGION AND
MOVE SOUTHEASTWARD THROUGH THE EVENING. SOME THUNDERSTORMS DURING
THIS TIME MAY BECOME SEVERE...WITH DAMAGING WIND GUSTS AND LARGE
HAIL BEING THE PRIMARY HAZARDS...IN ADDITION TO FREQUENT CLOUD TO
GROUND LIGHTNING. A BRIEF TORNADO CANNOT BE RULED OUT. THE HIGHEST
POTENTIAL FOR SEVERE WEATHER NOW APPEARS TO BE ACROSS SOUTHEAST
MISSOURI...WEST KENTUCKY AND FAR SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...WHERE THE
INSTABILITY WILL BE MAXIMIZED.
.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY
LATE NEXT WEEK...HUMIDITY LEVELS MAY INCREASE ENOUGH TO BRING HEAT
INDICES AT OR ABOVE 100 TO THE AREA.
.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...
SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL PROBABLY BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON AND
EVENING...ESPECIALLY ACROSS SOUTHEAST MISSOURI...WEST KENTUCKY AND
FAR SOUTHERN ILLINOIS.
Thunderstorm Wind, Stoddard
- When
- July 4, 3:35 PM CST to 3:36 PM CST
- Where
- Stoddard County, Dexter
- Measured
- 56 kt (64 mph) estimated gust
- Property damage
- $70,000
- Reported by
- NWS Storm Survey
- Coordinates
- 36.800, -89.950
Just north of Highway 60 in the northwest part of town, a fence was damaged, and shingles were blown off the roof of a nearby business. Numerous tree limbs were down across town. About a half dozen utility poles were broken. Several tree limbs up to six inches in diameter were broken across the county.
Thunderstorm Wind, Mississippi
- When
- July 4, 4:08 PM CST to 4:15 PM CST
- Where
- Mississippi County, Charleston to Samos
- Measured
- 65 kt (75 mph) estimated gust
- Property damage
- $100,000
- Reported by
- NWS Storm Survey
- Coordinates
- 36.920, -89.330
In Charleston, numerous tree limbs were down, especially north of Highway 62. The historical society building suffered roof damage and a broken chimney. A few houses had minor roof damage. Trees were blown down. Power outages occurred. A bowling alley just south of Charleston on Highway 105 suffered window damage. A nearby church steeple was toppled. In Samos, a large pole barn was partially destroyed along Highway J.
- Thunderstorm Wind
- Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
- Lightning Strike in Florida, July 4, 20091 death · 26 injured · 1 event
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Tennessee, July 4 to 5, 20091 death · $70,000 · 50 kt wind · 10 events
- Flash Flood and Lightning Strike in New Mexico, July 4, 20091 death · 6 injured · $2,000 · 2 events
- Lightning Strike in Montana, July 4, 20091 death · 1 event
- Tornadoes and Damaging Winds in Kentucky, July 4, 2009$221,000 · EF1 · 14 events
- Flash Flooding and Flooding in Iowa, July 4, 2009$285,000 · 20 events
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Wyoming, July 4, 2009$550,000 · 1 in hail · 5 events
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Idaho, July 4, 2009$501,000 · 1 in hail · 4 events
- Flooding in Iowa, July 4 to 8, 2009$50,000 · 3 events
- Lightning Strike in Maine, July 4, 2009$50,000 · 1 event
- Damaging Winds and Lightning Strikes in Tennessee, July 4, 2009$31,000 · 55 kt wind · 4 events
- Damaging Winds in Texas, July 4, 2009$25,000 · 77 kt wind · 3 events
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: 175382, 175381.