Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 1977

F3 tornado, Bates and Cass counties, Missouri, May 4, 1977

This F3 tornado ran 29.8 miles across Bates and Cass counties on May 4, 1977, touching down at 12:40 PM CDT and reaching 500 yards wide. It killed 2 people and injured 15.

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 mphthis tornado

    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
F3
Date
May 4, 1977
Touchdown
12:40 PM CDT (17:40 UTC)
Path length
29.8 miles (47.9 km)
Path width
500 yards (457 m)
Deaths
2
Injuries
15
Counties
Bates and Cass counties
Touchdown point
38.430, -94.550
Lift-off point
38.470, -94.520
Record number
195

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.

Topeka, KS (KTOP), 12:00Z

5.7 hours before the tornado, 114 km from the path. May 4, 1977.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Topeka, KS at 12:00Z on 1977-05-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 470 joules per kilogram, CIN -82, lifted condensation level 1227 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, Topeka, KS at 12:00Z on 1977-05-04The 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 22 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 25 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
470 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-82 J/kg
Surface CAPE
596 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1227 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
25 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
22 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
38 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.3
0-3 km lapse rate
5.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Topeka, KS (KTOP), 00:00Z

6.3 hours after it, 114 km from the path. May 5, 1977.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Topeka, KS at 00:00Z on 1977-05-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1430 joules per kilogram, CIN -23, lifted condensation level 1822 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, Topeka, KS at 00:00Z on 1977-05-05The 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 123 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 38 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
1430 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-23 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3381 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1822 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
123 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
186 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.2
Supercell composite
10.6
0-3 km lapse rate
7.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1977 tornado in MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 4, 1977

29 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 49:30 AM CDTF1Allen, KS0.350$500 to $5,000
May 412:30 PM CDTF2Miami, KS11.950$50,000 to $500,000
May 42:00 PM CDTF1Saline, MO0.150$5,000 to $50,000
May 42:15 PM CDTF3Lafayette, MO26.210015$500,000 to $5 million
May 42:45 PM CDTF3Pettis, MO11.270024$5 million to $50 million
May 42:58 PM CDTF1Davis, IA4.320$5,000 to $50,000
May 43:30 PM CDTF2Lee, IA2.060$50,000 to $500,000
May 43:56 PM CDTF2Des Moines, IA2.010$5,000 to $50,000
May 44:00 PM CDTF2Henry, IA0.1301$50,000 to $500,000
May 44:10 PM CDTF1Henry, IA0.120$5,000 to $50,000
May 44:20 PM CDTF3Colfax, NE7.6200$50,000 to $500,000
May 44:25 PM CDTF0Stanton, NE0.220
May 45:15 PM CDTF1Saunders, NE0.520$500 to $5,000
May 45:40 PM CDTF4Clay, MO12.04005$500,000 to $5 million
May 46:15 PM CDTF4Ray, MO48.68801$500,000 to $5 million
May 46:18 PM CDTF1Swift, MN2.017$5,000 to $50,000
May 47:05 PM CDTF3Douglas, KS31.63001$500,000 to $5 million
May 47:20 PM CDTF2Webster, IA1.0704$500,000 to $5 million
May 47:30 PM CDTF1Pocahontas, IA1.010$500 to $5,000
May 47:32 PM CDTF4Webster, IA2.07014$50,000 to $500,000
May 48:00 PM CDTF2Johnson, KS7.870$50,000 to $500,000
May 48:15 PM CDTF0Guthrie, IA1.010
May 48:26 PM CDTF1Guthrie, IA1.030$5,000 to $50,000
May 49:00 PM CDTF2Martin, MN0.110$5,000 to $50,000
May 49:30 PM CDTF1Boone, IA0.110$5,000 to $50,000
May 410:00 PM CDTF3Tama, IA17.830$50,000 to $500,000
May 411:15 PM CDTF1Tama, IA1.020$5,000 to $50,000
May 411:30 PM ESTF1Carroll, IN1.0501$5,000 to $50,000
May 411:45 PM CDTF1Jasper, IN0.520$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.