Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 1958

F2 tornado, Webster and Dallas counties, Missouri, November 17, 1958

This F2 tornado ran 12.8 miles across Webster and Dallas counties on November 17, 1958, touching down at 1:30 PM GMT-6 and reaching 127 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $5,000 to $50,000 of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. F040 to 72 mph

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. F173 to 112 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. F2113 to 157 mphthis tornado

    Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

  4. F3158 to 206 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. F4207 to 260 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. F5261 to 318 mph

    Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

  7. Unrated

    The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

The record

Rating
F2
Date
November 17, 1958
Touchdown
1:30 PM GMT-6 (19:30 UTC)
Path length
12.8 miles (20.6 km)
Path width
127 yards (116 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$5,000 to $50,000
Counties
Webster and Dallas counties
Touchdown point
37.450, -93.050
Lift-off point
37.580, -92.880
Record number
557

The air that afternoon

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Columbia Regiona, MO (KCOU), 12:00Z

7.5 hours before the tornado, 160 km from the path. November 17, 1958.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Columbia Regiona, MO at 12:00Z on 1958-11-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 528 joules per kilogram, CIN -88, lifted condensation level 670 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Columbia Regiona, MO at 12:00Z on 1958-11-17The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 428 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 63 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
528 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-88 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
670 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
63 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
47 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
428 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
449 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
3.9
0-3 km lapse rate
4.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Columbia Regiona, MO (KCOU), 00:00Z

4.5 hours after it, 160 km from the path. November 18, 1958.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Columbia Regiona, MO at 00:00Z on 1958-11-18Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -13990, lifted condensation level 1395 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Columbia Regiona, MO at 00:00Z on 1958-11-18The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -54 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 53 knots.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-13990 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1395 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
53 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-54 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-346 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Springfield (SGF), 48 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
18:00 UTC7767158° 28 kt
19:00 UTC7069158° 23 kt
20:00 UTC6260225° 30 kt
21:00 UTC6047225° 28 kt

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1958 tornado in MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of November 17, 1958

33 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
November 175:00 AM GMT-6F2Crawford, KS0.110
November 175:30 AM GMT-6F2Nowata, OK0.110$500 to $5,000
November 176:00 AM GMT-6F2Haskell, TX1.0337$50,000 to $500,000
November 176:15 AM GMT-6F2Jackson, OK14.8100
November 176:31 AM GMT-6F1Throckmorton, TX0.3174under $50
November 176:45 AM GMT-6F2Young, TX7.61331$50,000 to $500,000
November 177:00 AM GMT-6F2Caddo, OK5.410
November 177:10 AM GMT-6F1Palo Pinto, TX7.867$5,000 to $50,000
November 177:15 AM GMT-6F2Wichita, TX4.9200$5,000 to $50,000
November 177:35 AM GMT-6F3Cotton, OK65.8504
November 178:08 AM GMT-6F3Garfield, OK39.210under $50
November 178:30 AM GMT-6F2Murray, OK3.6300$5,000 to $50,000
November 178:30 AM GMT-6F2Pontotoc, OK8.8500under $50
November 178:47 AM GMT-6F1Carter, OK0.1204under $50
November 179:15 AM GMT-6F1Grayson, TX4.333$500 to $5,000
November 179:23 AM GMT-6F3Seminole, OK18.330015$50,000 to $500,000
November 179:30 AM GMT-6F1Cowley, KS10.3220$5,000 to $50,000
November 179:30 AM GMT-6F2Jackson, OK1.010
November 179:45 AM GMT-6F0Elk, KS0.110
November 179:45 AM GMT-6F3Elk, KS8.5880$5,000 to $50,000
November 1710:20 AM GMT-6F2Leavenworth, KS0.110$500 to $5,000
November 1710:50 AM GMT-6F0Coffey, KS0.110
November 1710:55 AM GMT-6F2Osage, KS0.110
November 1711:00 AM GMT-6F2Franklin, KS0.110$50 to $500
November 1711:10 AM GMT-6F1Douglas, KS0.110
November 1711:15 AM GMT-6F0Leavenworth, KS0.110
November 1711:20 AM GMT-6F1Craig, OK3.6127$5,000 to $50,000
November 1711:30 AM GMT-6F3Barton, MO30.24001$50,000 to $500,000
November 171:30 PM GMT-6F1Putnam, MO2.750$5,000 to $50,000
November 171:45 PM GMT-6F2Grundy, MO14.950$50,000 to $500,000
November 172:00 PM GMT-6F2Harrison, MO4.1100$50,000 to $500,000
November 172:15 PM GMT-6F0Harrison, TX0.567
November 172:30 PM GMT-6F2Hot Spring, AR8.610$5,000 to $50,000

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.