Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 1992

F0 tornado, Vernon County, Missouri, February 14, 1992

This F0 tornado ran 0.2 miles across Vernon County on February 14, 1992, touching down at 5:20 PM CST and reaching 10 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 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
February 14, 1992
Touchdown
5:20 PM CST (23:20 UTC)
Path length
0.2 miles (0.3 km)
Path width
10 yards (9 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$5,000 to $50,000
County
Vernon County
Touchdown point
37.750, -94.320
Record number
26

The warnings

16 minutes of warning. NWS SGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:04 UTC, 16 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:40 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
22:13 UTC23:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSGF
23:04 UTC23:40 UTCTornado WarningSGF

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

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.

Springfield, MO (KUMN), 12:00Z

11.3 hours before the tornado, 105 km from the path. February 14, 1992.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 1992-02-14Temperature 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 -8626, lifted condensation level 669 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, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 1992-02-14The 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 422 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 45 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
-8626 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
669 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
45 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
44 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
422 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
437 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
2.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Springfield, MO (KUMN), 00:00Z

0.7 hours after it, 105 km from the path. February 15, 1992.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 1992-02-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 392 joules per kilogram, CIN -17, lifted condensation level 1450 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 1992-02-15The 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 230 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 65 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
392 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-17 J/kg
Surface CAPE
698 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1450 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
65 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
230 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
290 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.3
Supercell composite
3.3
0-3 km lapse rate
6.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Joplin (JLN), 68 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
22:00 UTC6757180° 13 kt999
23:00 UTC6654200° 15 kt998.3
00:00 UTC6550210° 14 kt999
01:00 UTC6246220° 10 kt1000

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1992 tornado in MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of February 14, 1992

1 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
February 144:45 PM CSTF1Barton, MO16.023$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.