F2 tornado, La Belle to Monticello, Missouri, April 8, 1999

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 mphthis tornado

   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

F2

Date

April 8, 1999

Touchdown

6:05 PM CDT (23:05 UTC)

Path length

16.0 miles (25.7 km)

Path width

150 yards (137 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

2

Property damage

$2.1 million

County

Lewis County

Touchdown point

40.100, -91.920

Lift-off point

40.230, -91.720

Record number

337

A tornado tore a 16 mile path of destruction across Lewis County causing an estimated $2.1 million in damage. The tornado first formed near LaBelle, where it destroyed a modular home and seriously damaged another home. Several barns were destroyed as were numerous sheds and other farm outbuildings. Several homes in town also sustained roof and siding damage. A pickup truck was picked up and moved about 100 yards. The woman occupant suffered minor injuries. The tornado moved northeast and reached its maximum strength in the Midway area, near the intersection of Highway H and Y. In this area 2 homes were considered destroyed as were 3 barns and numerous sheds and outbuildings. The tornado caused more damage as it moved northeast between Monticello and Williamstown. A couple of barns were destroyed as were several outbuildings. Two homes suffered roof damage. There was 1 injury in this area. A man suffered a cut on his head when hit by flying debris.

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

15 minutes of warning. NWS LSX issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:50 UTC, 15 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:40 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 High Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:58 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.

Keokuk Municipal (EOK), 47 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The St Louis radar (KLSX), 190 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:03 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 1999 tornado in MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are

46 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.