Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 1996

F1 tornado, Joplin, Missouri, April 28, 1996

This F1 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Jasper County on April 28, 1996, touching down at 2:48 AM CDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $1.0 million 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 mphthis tornado

    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
F1
Date
April 28, 1996
Touchdown
2:48 AM CDT (07:48 UTC)
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$1.0 million
County
Jasper County
Touchdown point
37.080, -94.520
Lift-off point
37.080, -94.520
Record number
471

What the Weather Service recorded

An F1 tornado struck the south and southeast part of Joplin along the Jasper and Newton county line. The damage path was centered one-half mile north of the intersection of South Range Line Road and I-44. Eight businesses were heavily damaged, including three hotels. A dozen other businesses suffered minor damage, such as broken winds and trees downed on roofs. Minor wind damage, mostly confined to trees and signs down, occurred throughout the rest of the city.

An F1 tornado briefly touched down in the east part of Joplin 3 miles north of I-44 along South Range Line Road. A small strip mall was destroyed. No injuries were reported.

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

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
07:31 UTC08:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSGF
10:04 UTC11:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm 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 forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 05:45 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 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 (KSGF), 00:00Z

7.8 hours before the tornado, 67 km from the path. April 28, 1996.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 1996-04-28Temperature 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 -52397, lifted condensation level 2514 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 00:00Z on 1996-04-28The 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 66 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 67 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
-52397 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2514 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
67 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
8 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
66 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
261 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
7.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Joplin (JLN), 8 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
06:00 UTC61.8845.8640° 10 kt1005.4
07:00 UTC61.8845.8630° 10 kt1005.1-TSRA
07:43 UTC360° 24 kt29.941004.7+TSRA SHRA
07:47 UTC340° 20 kt29.941005.8TS SH SHRA
08:00 UTC5147.84290° 27 kt341007.8TSRA
08:15 UTC30° 14 kt21.971004.4+TSRA SHRA
08:29 UTC40° 17 kt1004.7+TSRA SHRA
08:40 UTC70° 16 kt1004.4+TSRA SHRA
09:00 UTC515170° 14 kt1004.1-TSRA
09:17 UTC50° 14 kt1004.1+TSRA SHRA
09:37 UTC50° 16 kt20.991003+TSRA SHRA
09:44 UTC20° 17 kt20.991004.1+TSRA SHRA

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

The radar

The Springfield radar (KSGF), 101 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 07:47 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.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1996 tornado in MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 28, 1996

6 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 282:45 AM CDTF1Jasper, MO2.520012$12 million
April 287:00 PM CDTF0Limestone, TX0.120
April 287:10 PM CDTF0Henderson, TX0.120
April 288:10 PM CDTF0Freestone, TX0.120
April 288:22 PM CDTF0Freestone, TX0.120
April 288:22 PM CDTF0Anderson, TX0.120

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.