F3 tornado, Columbia, Missouri, November 10, 1998

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 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 mphthis tornado

   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

F3

Date

November 10, 1998

Touchdown

1:58 AM CST (07:58 UTC)

Path length

2.0 miles (3.2 km)

Path width

70 yards (64 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

16

Property damage

$6.0 million

County

Boone County

Touchdown point

38.950, -92.330

Lift-off point

38.950, -92.330

Record number

1307

Close to 50 homes or businesses were destroyed or suffered major damage from an early morning tornado that hit on the southeast side of Columbia. Miraculously, only 16 people were injured, most minor cuts and bruises, by the the multiple-vortex tornado which reached F3 intensity. The tornado first touched down in the South Ridge Subdivision where at least 20 homes were virtually destroyed. On Lakespur Court, 5 homes here suffered considerable roof and wall damage as the tornado quickly reached F2 strength. The tornado moved north-northeast and crossed Churchill Street. The upper half of a two-story house in this area was completely destroyed. As the tornado continued northeast, it briefly reached F3 intensity at the corner of Saratoga and Lupine Drives. A ranch home in this area was completely levelled. Other nearby homes in this area sustained severe roof and wall damage. Large trees that were downed fell in a definite convergent pattern. The tornado tracked northeast across Balmoral and Caliente Courts and Hialeah Drive. About 15 homes in this area sustained major damage. Several homes in this area were speared by 2 by 4 boards driven by the wind. Severe roof damage was also noted on several homes on Solano Court. The tornado caused significant damage to seven large homes on Le Mesa Drive. It was noted in this area that the walls of two homes were drawn in toward the center axis of the tornado. The tornado crossed Highway 63 and caused at least $400,000 in damage in the Concorde Office and Industrial Plaza. Metal roofs and walls and loading dock doors were blown away on several buildings. At one warehouse, the damage tripped the sprinkler system which then flooded the inside of the building.

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

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

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 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.

The St Louis radar (KLSX), 145 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 07:57 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 1998 tornado in MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are

11 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.