F0 tornado, Higginsville to To 1 Sw Dover, Missouri, May 27, 1995

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.

Rating

F0

Date

May 27, 1995

Touchdown

7:45 PM CDT (00:45 UTC)

Path length

4.5 miles (7.2 km)

Path width

40 yards (37 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$5,000 to $50,000

County

Lafayette County

Touchdown point

39.120, -93.780

Lift-off point

39.180, -93.720

Record number

566

A severe thunderstorm dropped up to golfball size hail on Bates City, and then went on to develop 2 weak tornadoes. The first tornado touched down south of Bates City at 1820 CST and was crossing Interstate 70 3 miles west of Odessa at 1831 CST. Only minor tree damage was reported. It then lifted north of Odessa. A second touchdown occurred about 5 miles northwest of Higginsville at 1845 CST. The track took it across State Route 13 5 miles northwest of Higginsville near the Tabo Creek bridge at 1900 CST. At 1905 CST, the tornado crossed Route 213 3 miles southwest of Dover, and then lifted 1 mile southwest of Dover at 1906 CST. A house along state Route 13, 6 miles southeast of the junction with Route E, had shingles removed from the roof as the funnel apparently lifted as it passed overhead. Eyewitnesses reported that the tornado bounced up and down as it continued on a path about 4.5 miles to the east-northeast. The damage path varied from about 30 to 40 yards wide, with most of the path over cultivated farm fields. Most damage was minimal, but the most significant damage occurred at the Humfeldt farm 2.6 miles south of U.S. Route 24 along state Route 213. A corrugated steel equipment building was destroyed when the south and west walls were blown in, and the roof was partially peeled off. There was only minor damage to the equipment inside. The tornado passed to the south of the house and garage, missing them by 25 feet. Only one shutter was blown off of the upper floor of the house with no other damage. Mud was splattered on all four sides of both the house and garage. The tornado was photographed as it was dissipating, in its rope stage between 1901 and 1906 CST. In addition, tree damage occurred in Corder with the gust front ahead of the parent thunderstorm.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

30 minutes of warning. NWS EAX issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:15 UTC, 30 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:00 UTC.

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 Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 05:48 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

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.

Whiteman Afb (SZL), 50 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Pleasant Hill radar (KEAX), 58 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:47 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

The live radar over the trackEvery 1995 tornado in MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are

28 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.