Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 2001
F1 tornado, Seymour to Cedar Gap, Missouri, February 24, 2001
From Seymour to Cedar Gap, this F1 tornado ran 6.5 miles across Webster and Wright counties on February 24, 2001, touching down at 3:24 PM CST and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $150,000 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.
F040 to 72 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mphthis tornado
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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
- February 24, 2001
- Touchdown
- 3:24 PM CST (21:24 UTC)
- Path length
- 6.5 miles (10.5 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $150,000
- Counties
- Webster and Wright counties
- Touchdown point
- 37.100, -92.720
- Lift-off point
- 37.130, -92.680
- Record number
- 24
What the Weather Service recorded
A tornado developed in northeast Webster County near Highway K or 5 miles southeast of Seymour. It moved northeast into extreme southwest Wright County near Highway 60. Damage was relatively light as it remained in rural areas. Four outbuildings were damaged near the intersection of Foxgrape Road and Pee Wee Crossing. A hay barn was damaged near Highway 60. Tree damage was intermittent along the path of the tornado. Top winds were estimated at 115 mph.
This is the continuation of the Webster County tornado that moved into extreme southwest Wright County. Damage was mainly confined to trees approximately 1 to 1.5 miles across the Wright County line. Top winds were estimated around 70 mph.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
2 minutes of warning. NWS SGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:22 UTC, 2 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:00 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21:22 UTC | 22:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | SGF |
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 Moderate Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 20:12 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), 12:00Z
9.4 hours before the tornado, 101 km from the path. February 24, 2001.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- 0 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 429 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 50 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 44 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 326 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 371 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 2.0 K/km
Springfield, MO (KSGF), 00:00Z
2.6 hours after it, 101 km from the path. February 25, 2001.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -73661 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 12 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 916 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 88 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 36 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -149 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- -233 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.4 K/km
The surface observations
Springfield (SGF), 63 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19:32 UTC | 57.2 | 57.2 | 160° 14 kt | 22 | 999.3 | TSRA BR |
| 19:44 UTC | 59 | 57.2 | 150° 16 kt | 999.3 | -TSRA BR | |
| 19:54 UTC | 59 | 57 | 160° 18 kt | 21 | 998.6 | TSRA BR |
| 20:10 UTC | 59 | 57.2 | 230° 14 kt | 26 | 1001.4 | +TSRA BR |
| 20:18 UTC | 57.2 | 55.4 | 210° 13 kt | 30 | 1000.7 | +TSRA FG |
| 20:23 UTC | 55.4 | 53.6 | 200° 13 kt | 30 | 1000.3 | +TSRA BR |
| 20:54 UTC | 55 | 53 | 170° 9 kt | 999.3 | -TSRA | |
| 21:07 UTC | 55.4 | 53.6 | 170° 14 kt | 1000.3 | ||
| 21:54 UTC | 56 | 52 | 180° 9 kt | 999.7 | ||
| 22:54 UTC | 55 | 53 | 200° 10 kt | 1001.4 | RA BR | |
| 23:01 UTC | 55.4 | 53.6 | 190° 8 kt | 1000.7 | -RA BR |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2001 tornado in MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of February 24, 2001
20 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 24 | 3:31 PM CST | F2 | Pulaski, AR | 14.3 | 200 | 8 | ||
| February 24 | 1:50 PM PST | F0 | Orange, CA | 0.1 | 100 | $50,000 | ||
| February 24 | 3:50 PM CST | F1 | Pulaski, AR | 2.2 | 85 | |||
| February 24 | 4:06 PM CST | F2 | Lonoke, AR | 8.0 | 300 | |||
| February 24 | 4:14 PM CST | F1 | White, AR | 7.0 | 100 | |||
| February 24 | 4:21 PM CST | F1 | Lonoke, AR | 9.0 | 60 | 3 | ||
| February 24 | 4:27 PM CST | F1 | White, AR | 3.5 | 40 | |||
| February 24 | 4:46 PM CST | F2 | Fulton, AR | 8.0 | 300 | 1 | 3 | |
| February 24 | 5:34 PM CST | F2 | Jackson, AR | 11.0 | 200 | $70,000 | ||
| February 24 | 5:43 PM CST | F1 | Drew, AR | 5.5 | 100 | 1 | ||
| February 24 | 6:01 PM CST | F3 | Desha, AR | 42.0 | 300 | |||
| February 24 | 6:10 PM CST | F0 | Ashley, AR | 0.5 | 200 | $1,000 | ||
| February 24 | 6:13 PM CST | F1 | Lonoke, AR | 2.7 | 100 | |||
| February 24 | 6:25 PM CST | F2 | Prairie, AR | 12.7 | 200 | |||
| February 24 | 6:30 PM CST | F0 | Chicot, AR | 0.5 | 200 | $1,000 | ||
| February 24 | 6:35 PM CST | F2 | Washington, MS | 37.0 | 440 | $1.5 million | ||
| February 24 | 6:42 PM CST | F2 | Desha, AR | 9.0 | 200 | 2 | $50,000 | |
| February 24 | 8:20 PM CST | F0 | Humphreys, MS | 0.5 | 350 | $10,000 | ||
| February 24 | 8:37 PM CST | F3 | Leflore, MS | 22.0 | 400 | $2.3 million | ||
| February 24 | 9:35 PM CST | F3 | Calhoun, MS | 52.0 | 1,000 | 6 | 73 | $31 million |
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.