Tornadoes · United States · Missouri

1999 tornadoes in Missouri

40 tornadoes touched down in Missouri in 1999, 14 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

1998 2000 The whole country in 1999

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 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.

Every tornado in Missouri in 1999

January 21 12 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
January 214:50 PM CSTF0Scott0.840
January 215:32 PM CSTF0Butler0.330
January 215:50 PM CSTF0New Madrid0.330
January 216:00 PM CSTF0Stoddard0.230
January 216:05 PM CSTF0Dunklin0.110
January 216:15 PM CSTF1Scott0.840$50,000
January 219:15 PM CSTF0Dunklin0.110
January 2110:07 PM CSTF1Scott1.70$10,000
January 2110:10 PM CSTF0Pemiscot0.110
January 2110:40 PM CSTF1Stoddard0.580$50,000
January 2111:00 PM CSTF0Scott0.230
January 2111:05 PM CSTF1Scott0.530$150,000

February 11 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
February 111:53 PM CSTF1Lincoln6.070$100,000
February 111:59 PM CSTF2Calhoun to IL21.10$700,000

April 5 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 57:38 PM CDTF1Ripley1.0250$30,000

April 8 13 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 82:30 PM CDTF1Andrew13.502$750,000
April 84:20 PM CDTF2Carroll53.52802$1.9 million
April 84:20 PM CDTF1Livingston7.00$250,000
April 85:25 PM CDTF2Macon17.0270$1.0 million
April 85:30 PM CDTF1Cooper4.00$750,000
April 85:55 PM CDTF2Boone4.01205
April 86:05 PM CDTF2Lewis16.01502$2.1 million
April 86:05 PM CDTF2Boone10.0120
April 86:30 PM CDTF1Audrain10.0100
April 86:30 PM CDTF1Cole12.0200
April 87:00 PM CDTF1Osage8.0200$1.0 million
April 87:15 PM CDTF0Webster0.10$20,000
April 87:34 PM CDTF2Pike to IL27.3120$150,000

May 4 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 41:49 PM CDTF3St. Clair3.02001$50,000
May 42:45 PM CDTF0Benton0.150$10,000

June 1 7 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 15:25 PM CDTF1Maries1.0200$70,000
June 16:20 PM CDTF3Phelps7.0300$3.5 million
June 16:55 PM CDTF1Phelps5.0400$100,000
June 17:05 PM CDTF0Crawford0.20$1,000
June 17:10 PM CDTF2Phelps2.0250$240,000
June 17:22 PM CDTF0Dent0.2100
June 17:35 PM CDTF0Wright0.250

June 3 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 36:45 PM CDTF0Dunklin11.050$10,000

June 4 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 44:45 PM CDTF0Lewis0.550

June 28 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 2810:20 AM CDTF1Jasper0.240$220,000

Crossed into Missouri

Tornadoes that touched down in a neighboring state and ran into Missouri. They are counted under the state they began in.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 34:50 PM CSTF1Fulton, AR to MO10.5502$50,000

Nearby

Every tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in MissouriThe live radar over Missouri

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.