Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 2002

F0 tornado, Portageville, Missouri, April 28, 2002

Name: F0 tornado, Portageville, Missouri, April 28, 2002
Start: 2002-04-28T07:29:00.000Z
Location: Portageville, Missouri

This F0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across New Madrid County on April 28, 2002, touching down at 2:29 AM CDT and reaching 70 yards wide. It killed nobody.

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 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mph
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: F0
Date: April 28, 2002
Touchdown: 2:29 AM CDT (07:29 UTC)
Path length: 0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width: 70 yards (64 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
County: New Madrid County
Touchdown point: 36.350, -89.600
Lift-off point: 36.350, -89.600
Record number: 67

What the Weather Service recorded

A brief touchdown occurred in a small wooded area along Route 162 in extreme southeast New Madrid County. Several large trees were snapped at the base. No structures were involved.

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

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Paducah, KY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Apr 27, 2:11 PM CDT, 12 hours 18 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 27, 2:11 PM CDT, 12 hours 18 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
211 PM CDT SAT APR 27 2002

BIGGEST FORECAST CHALLENGE WITH THIS PACKAGE WILL BE THE NEXT 18-24
HOURS AS STRONG SYSTEM LIFTS NE ACROSS THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER
VALLEY.

MODELS IN DECENT AGREEMENT IN LIFTING THIS SYSTEM OUT OF THE
SOUTHERN PLAINS INTO THE GREAT LAKES REGION BY 12Z SUNDAY. MIDDAY
SFC ANAL SHOWED LOW PRESSURE CENTERED OVER THE KS/NE BORDER. FROM
THE LOW A WARM FRONT STRETCHED SE ACROSS SE KS...ERN OK...EXTREME SW
AR...AND THEN EWD ACROSS CNTRL MS AND AL. AS THE LOW INTESIFIES AND
MOVES NE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...IT IS EXPECTED TO LIFT THE
WARM FRONT TO A NW-SE ORIENTATION THAT CLOSELY PARALLELS THE
MISSISSIPPI RIVER AT AROUND 00Z. UNTIL THEN EXPECT COVERAGE OF
RW/TRW TO INCREASE SO WILL GO LIKELY ACROSS ALL OF CWA...BUT WITH
MENTION OF EARLY WORDING ACROSS THE SW HALF AND THROUGH MIDNIGHT
OVER THE NE HALF. BOTH AVN/NGM HINT AT A RIBBON OF HIGHER RH
COINCIDENT WITH A VORT LOBE SWINGING ACROSS THE CWA AFTER MIDNIGHT
SO WILL KEEP A CHANCE EVERYWHERE AFTER MIDNIGHT. AT 12Z SUNDAY A
COLD FRONT (1) IS EXPECTED TO BISECT THE CWA FROM NE-SW SO WILL
MENTION CHC POPS THERE SUNDAY EARLY AM. AFTER THAT MONDAY NIGHT A
FAST MOVING SHORT WAVE CLIPS THE NE QUADRANT OF THE CWA AND CRANKS A
FEW HUNDRETHS OF QPF SO WILL MENTION CHC POP THERE. ON TUESDAY A SFC
LOW OVER THE CENTRAL PLAINS WILL BEGIN TO LIFT FRONT 1 NORTHWARD
AND BACK ACROSS OUR CWA. FRONTAL FORCING AND ISENTROPIC LIFT ASSOC
WITH THIS FEATURE AND A TRAILING COLD FRONT (2) WILL PROVIDE THE
TRIGGER MECHANISMS FOR RW/TRW THROUGH WEDNESDAY. ON THURSDAY THE
NEXT SFC LOW OVER THE SOUTHERN PLAINS WILL LIFT FRONT 2 NORTHWARD
PUTTING THE CWA AGAIN IN AN ISENTROPIC LIFT SITUATION THURSDAY
NIGHT. ON FRIDAY AND SATURDAY MRF SHOWS THE CWA IN GOOD SHAPE WITH
SOUTHERN STREAM ENERGY STAYING TO THE SOUTH AND NORTHERN STREAM
ENERGY STAYING TO THE NORTH.

EXCEPT FOR SUNDAYS HIGHS...FWC/MAV TEMPS SIMILAR SO WILL GO WITH A
CONCENSUS BUT LEANING TOWARD THE MAV MOS NUMBERS.

.PAH...NONE.

PACKETT

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Apr 27, 8:50 PM CDT, 5 hours 39 minutes before

ILZ075>078-080>094-INZ081-082-085>088-KYZ001>022-MOZ076-086-087-100-
107>112-114-280500-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
850 PM CDT SAT APR 27 2002

...HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR SOUTHEAST MISSOURI...SOUTHERN
ILLINOIS...WESTERN KENTUCKY...AND SOUTHWEST INDIANA...

...MOST OF THE REGION HAS BEEN UPGRADED TO A MODERATE RISK
TONIGHT....

THREATS...
THERE IS A MDOERATE RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS ALL OF THE
QUAD STATE REGION OVERNIGHT....EXCEPT SOUTHWEST OF A
PIEDMONT...DEXTER MISSOURI LINE WHERE THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVERNIGHT.  THE PRIMARY THREAT IS DAMAGING
WINDS AND LARGE HAIL...BUT THERE IS A RISK TORNADOES AS WELL.

DISCUSSION...
AN INTENSE SURFACE LOW PRESSURE CENTER OVER IOWA THIE EVENING WILL
MOVE NORTHEAST TOWARD MICHIGAN OVERNIGHT WITH ITS ASSOCIATED COLD
FRONT MOVING ACROSS OUR REGION SUNDAY MORNING.

THE AIRMASS ACROSS THE QUAD STATE WILL CONTINUE TO BECOME MORE
UNSTABLE OVERNIGHT AS STRONG SOUTHERLY WINDS CONTINUE AHEAD OF THE
COLD FRONT. THESE STRONG SOUTHERLY WINDS AT THE SURFACE COMBINED
WITH INCREASINGLY STRONG WINDS ALOFT WILL PRODUCE FAVORABLE WIND
PROFILES FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH ISOLATED TORNADOES POSSIBLE.
A SQUALL LINE MAY DEVELOP IMMEDIATELY AHEAD OF THE COLD FRONT AFTER
MIDNIGHT TONIGHT...ALTHOUGH LIMITED MOISTURE MAY ONLY PRODUCE
SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WITH THE SQUALL LINE.  ISOLATED TO SCATTERED
THUNDERSTORMS CAN BE EXPECTED AHEAD OF THE POTENTIAL SQUALL LINE AS
WELL.

THE GREATEST RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS APPEARS TO BE ACROSS THE
NORTHERN HALF OF THE QUAD STATE REGION.  THE TIME FRAME OF GREATEST
THREAT FOR THE ENTIRE REGION IS AROUND MIDNIGHT THROUGH AROUND
DAYBREAK.

SPOTTER ACTIVATION...
SPOTTERS SHOULD MONITOR THE LATEST INFORMATION FROM THE NATIONAL
WEATHER SERVICE AS ACTIVATION HAS BECOME MORE LIKELY FOR THE
OVERNIGHT HOURS.

&&

SHANKLIN

Local storm report, Apr 28, 1:56 AM CDT, 33 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
156 AM CDT SUN APR 28 2002

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1221 AM    SESSER                    IL   TORNADO
04/28/02   FRANKLIN                       POSSIBLE TORNADO. LARGE
                                          TREES AND BARNS BLOWN
                                          DOWN ALONG ROUTE 154 EAST
                                          OF SESSER.  REPORT FROM
                                          FRANKLIN COUNTY DISPATCH.

1245 AM    MARBLE HILL               MO   TORNADO
04/28/02   BOLLINGER                      HOUSES FLATTENED. PEOPLE
                                          REPORTED MISSING...NUMBER
                                           UNKNOWN. SOUTHEAST OF
                                          MARBLE HILL NEAR HIGHWAY
                                          FF (COUNTY HIGHWAY 512).

0109 AM    GALATIA                   IL   TORNADO
04/28/02   SALINE                         POSSIBLE TORNADO. TRAILER
                                           OVERNTURNED. ROOF BLOWN
                                          OFF CAR WASH DAMAGED
                                          POLICE CAR. ROUTE 34
                                          BLOCKED WITH TREES. TREES
                                          ON TRAILERS LOCATED
                                          BEHIND A LAUNDROMAT.

Local storm report, Apr 28, 2:19 AM CDT, 10 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
219 AM CDT SUN APR 28 2002

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1240 AM    JOHNSONVILLE              IL   0.75 INCH HAIL
04/28/02   WAYNE                          DIME SIZE HAIL EAST OF
                                          JOHNSONVILLE.

1245 AM    MURPHYSBORO               IL   1.00 INCH HAIL
04/28/02   JACKSON

1252 AM    ROYALTON                  IL   60 MPH WIND GUST
04/28/02   FRANKLIN                       PEA SIZE HAIL ALSO
                                          REPORTED.

1255 AM    CARBONDALE                IL   WIND DAMAGE
04/28/02   JACKSON                        TREES BLOWN DOWN. 1 TREE
                                          ON HOUSE. ROAD BLOCKED ON
                                          TRUAX BLACKTOP. LOCATION
                                          6 MILES N OF CARBONDALE.
                                          TREES DOWN AND 1 BARN
                                          BLOWN OVER 3 MILES N OF
                                          MURPHYSBORO ON ROUTE 127

1208 AM    PIEDMONT                  MO   FUNNEL CLOUD
04/28/02   WAYNE                          1 1/2 TO 2 MILES EAST OF
                                          PIEDMONT AT INTERSECTION
                                          OF ROUTE U AND B.

Local storm report, Apr 28, 2:23 AM CDT, 6 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
223 AM CDT SUN APR 28 2002

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0127 AM    DONGOLA                   IL   TORNADO
04/28/02   UNION                          DAMAGE REPORTED BETWEEN
                                          MILL CREEK AND DONGOLA.
                                          NUMEROUS DAMAGE TO
                                          TRAILERS WITH MANY
                                          INJURIES...NUMBER
                                          UNKNOWN.REPORTED BY UNION
                                          COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE .

Local storm report, Apr 28, 2:24 AM CDT, 5 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
224 AM CDT SUN APR 28 2002

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0109 AM    GALATIA                   IL   1.00 INCH HAIL
04/28/02   SALINE

0111 AM    ALBION                    IL   60 MPH WIND GUST
04/28/02   EDWARDS                        ALSO PEA SIZE HAIL.

0112 AM    BUCKNER                   IL   FUNNEL CLOUD
04/28/02   FRANKLIN                       REPORTED NEAR
                                          BUCKNER...MOVING
                                          NORTHEAST TOWARD WEST
                                          CITY AND BENTON AREA. NO
                                          DAMAGE REPORTED AT THIS
                                          TIME. REPORT FROM
                                          FRANKLIN COUNTY

0134 AM                              IN   WIND DAMAGE
04/28/02   GIBSON                         COUNTY-WIDE. MULTIPLE
                                          TREES DOWN. 1 TREE DOWN
                                          IN VEHICLE. 1 OUT
                                          BUILDING DESTROYED ON
                                          HIGHWAY 41 NEAR TOYOTA
                                          PLANT. REPORTS SPANNED
                                          FROM 134 TO 144 AM.

0232 AM                              IL   70 MPH WIND GUST
04/28/02   MASSAC                         REPORTED BY SPOTTER 1
                                          MILE SOUTH OF JOHNSON
                                          COUNTY LINE IN MASSAC
                                          COUNTY ON INTERSTATE 24.
                                          HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION
                                          SIGNS BLOWN DOWN.

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.

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), 00:00Z

7.5 hours before the tornado, 172 km from the path. April 28, 2002.

Skew-T log-p

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.

Hodograph

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: 1817 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -7 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 2356 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 653 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 65 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 41 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 480 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 529 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 6.4
Supercell composite: 25.1
0-3 km lapse rate: 5.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Dyersburg(Awos) (DYR), 43 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)	Temp (°F)	Dew point (°F)	Wind	Gust (kt)	Pressure (mb)	Weather
00:00 UTC

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

The radar

The Paducah radar (KPAH), 109 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 07:29 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 track Every 2002 tornado in Missouri Every tornado in Missouri since 1950 Warnings in force in Missouri now The forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 28, 2002

37 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 28	1:07 AM CDT	F2	Saline, IL	7.5	200		3	$3.5 million
April 28	1:18 AM CDT	F3	Union, IL	19.3	400	1	10	$8.0 million
April 28	1:46 AM CDT	F2	Johnson, IL	7.0	400		2	$100,000
April 28	1:59 AM CDT	F3	Pope, IL	22.0	200		1	$440,000
April 28	2:35 AM CDT	F1	Crittenden, KY	2.0	100			$20,000
April 28	2:39 AM CDT	F1	Crittenden, KY	1.0	200			$3,000
April 28	2:40 AM CDT	F1	Lake, TN	3.5	75			$750,000
April 28	2:49 AM CDT	F3	Crittenden, KY	22.0	880		26	$17 million
April 28	3:05 AM CDT	F2	Breckinridge, IN to KY	32.3	150	1	19	$1.6 million
April 28	3:40 AM CDT	F1	Ohio, KY	9.5	100			$500,000
April 28	4:55 AM EDT	F1	Hardin, KY	2.0	60			$150,000
April 28	4:00 AM CDT	F0	Henry, TN	5.0	50			$50,000
April 28	4:35 AM CDT	F1	Edmonson, KY	3.0	100			$100,000
April 28	7:34 AM CDT	F3	Rutherford, TN	3.2	350		31	$2.3 million
April 28	7:45 AM CDT	F2	Cannon, TN	0.9	30
April 28	1:58 PM EDT	F2	Stark, OH	7.2	440		2	$46 million
April 28	2:35 PM EDT	F0	Mercer, PA	6.0	50			$150,000
April 28	2:45 PM EDT	F1	Mercer, PA	16.0	200			$1.0 million
April 28	2:50 PM EDT	F0	Erie, NY	0.7	25			$40,000
April 28	3:01 PM EDT	F1	Butler, PA	7.0	50			$200,000
April 28	3:15 PM EDT	F1	Marshall, WV	1.0	150			$100,000
April 28	3:45 PM EDT	F0	Armstrong, PA	4.0	150			$170,000
April 28	3:50 PM EDT	F2	Allegany, NY	6.5	300			$500,000
April 28	4:00 PM EDT	F2	Indiana, PA	5.0	250		1	$750,000
April 28	4:10 PM EDT	F1	Indiana, PA	2.0	100		1	$250,000
April 28	4:31 PM EDT	F1	Bedford, VA	0.5	100			$1.2 million
April 28	3:42 PM CDT	F0	Maury, TN	0.1	10
April 28	4:43 PM EDT	F2	Bedford, VA	10.0	150		12	$6.0 million
April 28	4:55 PM EDT	F2	Shenandoah, VA	4.0	75		2	$1.6 million
April 28	5:55 PM EDT	F1	Columbia, PA	6.0	30			$90,000
April 28	6:13 PM EDT	F1	Lebanon, PA	1.5	150			$780,000
April 28	6:56 PM EDT	F4	La Plata tornado, MD	38.0	650	3	122	$124 million
April 28	7:02 PM EDT	F2	Charles, MD	3.0	100			$1.0 million
April 28	7:35 PM EDT	F1	Greensville, VA	6.0	150		3	$750,000
April 28	7:42 PM EDT	F1	Calvert, MD	5.0	50			$10,000
April 28	7:55 PM EDT	F3	Dorchester, MD	18.0	150			$150,000
April 28	8:28 PM EDT	F0	Wicomico, MD	4.0	100			$10,000

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.