A very weak storm produced a weak and brief tornado in the city of Mendon, Missouri. Some minor structure damage occurred as a result of this tornado.
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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.
The episode as NWS EAX wrote it up.
A very weak storm produced a weak and brief tornado in the city of Mendon, Missouri. Some minor structure damage occurred as a result of this tornado.
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 Kansas City, MO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 14, 5:32 PM CST, 1 hour 48 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KANSAS CITY/PLEASANT HILL MO 632 PM CDT Thu May 14 2015 .SHORT TERM...(This Evening through Saturday Night) Issued at 356 PM CDT THU MAY 14 2015 The stratiform rain that encompassed the forecast area earlier today has moved on out, leaving behind it more convectively-driven widely scattered showers, sans thunder at the moment. Some instability is slowly working its way back into the area and while slight chance thunder appears in the forecast this evening through early tomorrow, better chances for thunderstorms appear in the afternoon on Friday as temperatures warm into the upper 70s to lower 80s despite the anticipated cloud cover, thanks to warm, moist air advecting in with fervor under the southerly to southwesterly flow. This surge of warm air and moisture will continue to pool in through Saturday night, setting the stage for convection to persist throughout the short-term period, particularly later on Saturday. Given the ingredients in place and unsettled nature of the pattern we're currently in, pop-up showers and thunderstorms will be the norm through tomorrow with little focus for the convection to fire up on. That changes on Saturday as the previously advertised upper jet inches closer to eastern KS and western MO, along with a low pressure system traversing across western KS brushing past here, making its way through central NE and into SD/MN, dragging a cold front along with it. As a low-level jet pumps up Saturday night, the focus for the best storm chances shifts to that time period. The better dynamics will still be hanging back over central to eastern KS and surface-based instability will have lost its punch with the loss of diurnal heating. That said, the western third of the forecast area will still need to be monitored closely for strong to severe activity as 30-40+ kts. of deep-layer shear makes an appearance out ahead of the jet streak making its eastward progression across the state of KS, along with plentiful SBCAPE, dewpoints in the mid to upper 60s, and highs flirting with the 80 degree mark, leaning more on the greater than 80 side. Storms Saturday night currently look to become more elevated as the aforementioned loss of SBCAPE commences but is based on model information that of course may change. As the pressure gradient tightens with the approaching low, southerly gradient winds will respond, increasing Saturday through Saturday night. Low temps throughout this forecast period will struggle to drop below the mid 60s, with tonight being the exception as locations north of the MO River get down into the upper 50s to lower 60s. .LONG TERM...(Sunday through Thursday) Issued at 356 PM CDT THU MAY 14 2015 There may be some lingering showers and storms Sunday morning depending on the timing of the front. But at this time, any stronger storms look to be to our east as by the afternoon hours, the entire forecast area should be post-frontal with drier air settling into the region. Cooler and drier air will then move into the area for Monday as high pressure slides down the Plains. This will be the main influence across the area for the first half of next work week so dry conditions with cooler than normal temperatures are expected. By late in the day Wednesday and into Thursday, a weak upper level shortwave trough will try to move into the Plains. But it will be moving into shortwave ridging over the Missouri Valley with the end result being to flatten the upper flow. But there will be enough lift associated with this trough to lead to another round of showers and storms developing to our west and moving into our area. Models show very weak to nil MUCAPE values so at this time the threat of severe weather looks low. Actually, the threat of storms is fairly low given the weak/non-existent instability. By late Thursday and into the end of next week, high pressure will again influence the area, which looks to keep thing dry beyond the mid-week system. && .AVIATION...(For the 00Z TAFS through 00Z Friday Evening) Issued at 632 PM CDT THU MAY 14 2015 Ceilings have lifted into VFR across much of the region. There are a few indications that MVFR could return late tonight and early Friday, but without any such clouds upstream at the moment, will go ahead with a VFR forecast. A few showers near the MO River will be east of KC by the top of the hour. Could see some isolated showers/storms again late tonight, especially east of KC, but chances for these are decreasing. Better chances will be Friday afternoon with scattered thunderstorms in the area. && .EAX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... KS...NONE. MO...NONE. && SHORT TERM...lg LONG TERM...CDB AVIATION...Hawblitzel
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KANSAS CITY/PLEASANT HILL MO 1257 PM CDT THU MAY 14 2015 KSZ025-057-060-102>105-MOZ001>008-011>017-020>025-028>033-037>040- 043>046-053-054-151800- ATCHISON KS-MIAMI-LINN KS-DONIPHAN-LEAVENWORTH-WYANDOTTE-JOHNSON KS- ATCHISON MO-NODAWAY-WORTH-GENTRY-HARRISON-MERCER-PUTNAM-SCHUYLER- HOLT-ANDREW-DE KALB-DAVIESS-GRUNDY-SULLIVAN-ADAIR-BUCHANAN-CLINTON- CALDWELL-LIVINGSTON-LINN MO-MACON-PLATTE-CLAY-RAY-CARROLL-CHARITON- RANDOLPH-JACKSON-LAFAYETTE-SALINE-HOWARD-CASS-JOHNSON MO-PETTIS- COOPER-BATES-HENRY- 1257 PM CDT THU MAY 14 2015 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHWEST...NORTH CENTRAL AND WEST CENTRAL MISSOURI...AS WELL AS EXTREME EASTERN KANSAS. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT A FEW THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT HOWEVER... NO SEVERE WEATHER IS EXPECTED. MORE DETAILED INFORMATION CAN BE ACCESSED AT... HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/EAX/HWO .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOWEVER... NO SEVERE WEATHER IS EXPECTED. SEVERE STORMS ARE POSSIBLE AREA-WIDE ON SATURDAY EVENING AND SATURDAY NIGHT. THE MAIN THREATS WILL BE DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL. MORE DETAILED INFORMATION CAN BE ACCESSED AT... HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/EAX/HWO
The Pleasant Hill radar (KEAX), 130 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:20 UTC.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A very weak supercell, that barely showed up on radar produced a brief and weak tornado in Mendon. Some minor structure damage and power lines down were reported, but otherwise no injuries were reported.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Missouri in 2015Every state in 2015This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Missouri, 2015Warnings in Missouri, May 2015
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: 568451.