Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 1968

F2 tornado, Howell County, Missouri, June 24, 1968

This F2 tornado ran 0.2 miles across Howell County on June 24, 1968, touching down at 6:00 PM GMT-5 and reaching 50 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
June 24, 1968
Touchdown
6:00 PM GMT-5 (23:00 UTC)
Path length
0.2 miles (0.3 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$5,000 to $50,000
County
Howell County
Touchdown point
36.700, -92.070
Record number
395

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

11.0 hours before the tornado, 236 km from the path. June 24, 1968.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Columbia Regiona, MO at 12:00Z on 1968-06-24Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 543 joules per kilogram, CIN -95, lifted condensation level 1065 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 1968-06-24The 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 65 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 13 knots.193958Sfc1 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
543 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-95 J/kg
Surface CAPE
437 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1065 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
65 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
68 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

1.0 hours after it, 236 km from the path. June 25, 1968.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Columbia Regiona, MO at 00:00Z on 1968-06-25Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 59 joules per kilogram, CIN -38, lifted condensation level 1171 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 00:00Z on 1968-06-25The 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 -37 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 4 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
59 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-38 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1356 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1171 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
4 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-37 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-35 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
6.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

This ground now

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The other tornadoes of June 24, 1968

18 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 243:15 AM GMT-5F1Washington, NE0.110
June 246:30 AM GMT-5F2Smith, TX0.533$500 to $5,000
June 2411:00 AM GMT-5F1San Augustine, TX0.8100$5,000 to $50,000
June 2412:51 PM GMT-5F0Caldwell Parish, LA0.133
June 246:00 PM GMT-5F2Baxter, AR17.61002$500 to $5,000
June 246:00 PM GMT-5F2Oregon, MO2.050$5,000 to $50,000
June 247:45 PM GMT-4F0Wood, OH0.110
June 246:50 PM GMT-5F2Texas, MO4.550$5,000 to $50,000
June 246:55 PM GMT-5F1Shannon, MO1.050$500 to $5,000
June 247:00 PM GMT-5F1Wright, IA0.3100$500 to $5,000
June 247:15 PM GMT-5F0Texas, MO0.520under $50
June 247:35 PM GMT-5F0Monona, IA0.110
June 247:35 PM GMT-5F0Monona, IA0.110
June 247:40 PM GMT-5F0Douglas, NE0.110$500 to $5,000
June 247:00 PM GMT-6F1Prowers, CO0.417$50 to $500
June 247:15 PM GMT-6F2Prowers, CO0.11001$5,000 to $50,000
June 247:15 PM GMT-6F0Prowers, CO0.110
June 248:35 PM GMT-5F0Thomas, KS2.010

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.