Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 1969

F4 tornado, Washington County, Missouri, June 22, 1969

This F4 tornado ran 20.2 miles across Washington County on June 22, 1969, touching down at 6:40 PM GMT-5 and reaching 800 yards wide. It killed 2 people and injured 22, and did $500,000 to $5 million 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 mph

    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 mphthis tornado

    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
F4
Date
June 22, 1969
Touchdown
6:40 PM GMT-5 (23:40 UTC)
Path length
20.2 miles (32.5 km)
Path width
800 yards (732 m)
Deaths
2
Injuries
22
Property damage
$500,000 to $5 million
County
Washington County
Touchdown point
37.950, -91.100
Lift-off point
38.000, -90.730
Record number
294

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

11.7 hours before the tornado, 146 km from the path. June 22, 1969.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Columbia Regiona, MO at 12:00Z on 1969-06-22Temperature 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 -5498, lifted condensation level 905 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 12:00Z on 1969-06-22The 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 -28 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 59 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-5498 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
905 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
59 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
19 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-28 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-1 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

0.3 hours after it, 146 km from the path. June 23, 1969.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Columbia Regiona, MO at 00:00Z on 1969-06-23Temperature 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 -6137, lifted condensation level 1701 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 1969-06-23The 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 246 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 59 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-6137 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1701 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
59 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
246 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
230 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1969 tornado in MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 22, 1969

11 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 222:00 AM GMT-5F2Furnas, NE4.1101$5,000 to $50,000
June 222:00 AM GMT-5F1Platte, MO0.350$5,000 to $50,000
June 224:00 AM GMT-5F1Nance, NE0.110$5,000 to $50,000
June 226:30 AM GMT-5F1Platte, NE0.110
June 224:35 PM GMT-5F0Warren, IA0.110
June 224:40 PM GMT-5F1Warren, IA0.110$5,000 to $50,000
June 225:25 PM GMT-5F0Marshall, IA1.0200$5,000 to $50,000
June 225:30 PM GMT-5F0Cedar, MO0.310under $50
June 227:35 PM GMT-5F4Saint Francois, MO15.1440414$500,000 to $5 million
June 228:15 PM GMT-5F3Perry, MO18.11006$50,000 to $500,000
June 229:30 PM GMT-5F2Lincoln, OK0.110$500 to $5,000

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.