Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 1982

F2 tornado, Crawford and Franklin counties, Missouri, December 2, 1982

This F2 tornado ran 13.0 miles across Crawford and Franklin counties on December 2, 1982, touching down at 5:50 AM CST and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 3, and did $50,000 to $500,000 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
December 2, 1982
Touchdown
5:50 AM CST (11:50 UTC)
Path length
13.0 miles (20.9 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
3
Property damage
$50,000 to $500,000
Counties
Crawford and Franklin counties
Touchdown point
36.130, -91.350
Lift-off point
36.300, -91.180
Record number
960

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.

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), 00:00Z

11.8 hours before the tornado, 195 km from the path. December 2, 1982.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Little Rock, AR at 00:00Z on 1982-12-02Temperature 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 -71204, lifted condensation level 3589 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, Little Rock, AR at 00:00Z on 1982-12-02The 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 215 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 59 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
-71204 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
3589 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
59 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
215 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
273 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
6.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), 12:00Z

0.2 hours after it, 195 km from the path. December 2, 1982.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Little Rock, AR at 12:00Z on 1982-12-02Temperature 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 -81538, lifted condensation level 3587 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, Little Rock, AR at 12:00Z on 1982-12-02The 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 232 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 56 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
-81538 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
3587 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
56 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
232 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
333 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
6.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1982 tornado in MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of December 2, 1982

28 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
December 212:13 AM CSTF1Des Moines, IA2.517$5,000 to $50,000
December 22:00 AM CSTF0Bureau, IL0.533$500 to $5,000
December 23:30 AM CSTF2Douglas, MO23.01509$500,000 to $5 million
December 28:30 AM CSTF1Texas, MO11.0100$5,000 to $50,000
December 29:45 AM CSTF1Montgomery, MO2.0702$50,000 to $500,000
December 212:36 PM CSTF3Crawford, AR1.0500$50,000 to $500,000
December 21:28 PM CSTF2Hot Spring, AR34.0220$50,000 to $500,000
December 22:40 PM CSTF1Texas, MO1.050$5,000 to $50,000
December 22:50 PM CSTF3Saline, AR18.0233253$5 million to $50 million
December 22:50 PM CSTF1Ozark, MO1.050$50 to $500
December 23:15 PM CSTF1Howell, MO6.52001$50,000 to $500,000
December 23:50 PM CSTF3Faulkner, AR24.03503$50,000 to $500,000
December 24:20 PM CSTF1Hot Spring, AR6.03001$50,000 to $500,000
December 25:10 PM CSTF3Faulkner, AR32.03007$500,000 to $5 million
December 26:30 PM CSTF1Independence, AR6.0200$50,000 to $500,000
December 26:45 PM CSTF3Sharp, AR9.02503$5 million to $50 million
December 26:50 PM CSTF1Phelps, MO0.350$5,000 to $50,000
December 27:00 PM CSTF1Wayne, MO2.0508$50,000 to $500,000
December 27:05 PM CSTF1Phelps, MO0.350$50 to $500
December 27:15 PM CSTF2Carter, MO13.5200$50,000 to $500,000
December 27:55 PM CSTF1Saint Francois, MO1.0502$5,000 to $50,000
December 27:55 PM CSTF2Iron, MO12.050$50,000 to $500,000
December 28:00 PM CSTF1Carter, MO0.5502$5,000 to $50,000
December 28:00 PM CSTF1Madison, MO0.550$5,000 to $50,000
December 28:30 PM CSTF3Van Buren, AR23.0400$500,000 to $5 million
December 28:30 PM CSTF1Jefferson, MO0.550$50,000 to $500,000
December 28:30 PM CSTF1Reynolds, MO1.070$50,000 to $500,000
December 29:10 PM CSTF3Clinton, IL10.51002$5 million to $50 million

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.