Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 1982

F0 tornado, Callaway County, Missouri, March 15, 1982

This F0 tornado ran 24.0 miles across Callaway County on March 15, 1982, touching down at 11:05 PM CST and reaching 200 yards wide. It killed nobody, 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 mphthis tornado

    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 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
F0
Date
March 15, 1982
Touchdown
11:05 PM CST (05:05 UTC)
Path length
24.0 miles (38.6 km)
Path width
200 yards (183 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$50,000 to $500,000
County
Callaway County
Touchdown point
38.830, -91.970
Lift-off point
39.030, -91.580
Record number
56

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.

Salem-Leckrone, IL (KSLO), 00:00Z

5.1 hours before the tornado, 251 km from the path. March 16, 1982.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Salem-Leckrone, IL at 00:00Z on 1982-03-16Temperature 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 -12266, lifted condensation level 777 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, Salem-Leckrone, IL at 00:00Z on 1982-03-16The 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 164 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 64 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-12266 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
777 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
64 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
164 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
178 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
2.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Salem-Leckrone, IL (KSLO), 12:00Z

6.9 hours after it, 251 km from the path. March 16, 1982.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Salem-Leckrone, IL at 12:00Z on 1982-03-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 685 joules per kilogram, CIN -49, lifted condensation level 825 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, Salem-Leckrone, IL at 12:00Z on 1982-03-16The 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 195 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 74 knots.1939587897117136Sfc1 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
685 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-49 J/kg
Surface CAPE
198 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
825 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
74 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
195 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
215 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.9
Supercell composite
4.5
0-3 km lapse rate
6.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Columbia (COU), 40 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
03:34 UTC120° 18 kt998
04:00 UTC6054140° 15 kt998
04:36 UTC160° 17 kt997.3
04:37 UTC170° 16 kt997.6
04:59 UTC200° 14 kt41998.3
05:00 UTC6257210° 9 kt997.6
05:31 UTC200° 14 kt997.6
06:00 UTC6053260° 13 kt998.6
07:00 UTC5754170° 5 kt997.6

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

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 March 15, 1982

23 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 153:15 PM CSTF1Calhoun, AL8.077$5,000 to $50,000
March 154:49 PM CSTF2Greenwood, KS1.0300$500,000 to $5 million
March 155:00 PM CSTF2Woodson, KS30.0500$500,000 to $5 million
March 155:10 PM CSTF1Seminole, OK0.510$5,000 to $50,000
March 155:57 PM CSTF3Pontotoc, OK6.060136$500,000 to $5 million
March 156:00 PM CSTF2Hughes, OK0.110$50,000 to $500,000
March 156:15 PM CSTF3Montgomery, KS6.030011$500,000 to $5 million
March 156:40 PM CSTF1Montgomery, KS0.110$5,000 to $50,000
March 156:40 PM CSTF2Osage, OK0.1101$50,000 to $500,000
March 156:45 PM CSTF1Osage, OK0.110$50,000 to $500,000
March 156:55 PM CSTF1Washington, OK0.110
March 157:02 PM CSTF2Washington, OK3.017757$5 million to $50 million
March 157:10 PM CSTF2Crawford, KS17.06003$500,000 to $5 million
March 157:10 PM CSTF2Nowata, OK12.0177$50,000 to $500,000
March 157:15 PM CSTF2Nowata, OK0.110$50,000 to $500,000
March 157:20 PM CSTF1Haskell, OK0.110$50,000 to $500,000
March 157:35 PM CSTF3Crawford, KS to MO70.060028$5 million to $50 million
March 157:40 PM CSTF3Labette, KS30.016716$500,000 to $5 million
March 158:17 PM CSTF0Cherokee, KS0.110
March 158:45 PM CSTF3Crawford, KS to MO9.0400$50,000 to $500,000
March 159:45 PM CSTF3Benton, MO14.07001$500,000 to $5 million
March 1510:30 PM CSTF2Morgan, MO5.0600$50,000 to $500,000
March 1510:45 PM CSTF1Moniteau, MO5.0150$50,000 to $500,000

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.