F3 tornado, Ely, Missouri, May 10, 2003

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

May 10, 2003

Touchdown

6:37 PM CDT (23:37 UTC)

Path length

12.0 miles (19.3 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Marion and Ralls counties

Touchdown point

39.670, -91.730

Lift-off point

39.750, -91.500

Record number

213

After crossing the extreme northwest corner of Ralls County, the second tornado from the Monroe County supercell crossed back into Marion County southwest of Ely. Approximately one mile north of Ely, three farmsteads sustained varying degrees of damage including damaged or destroyed machine sheds, grain bins, and barns. The garage attached to a home one mile north of Ely was completely destroyed while the farm house sustained roof and side damage and was moved off its foundation. A relatively new home 200 yards to the east experienced severe damage with the roof of the home tossed over 1/3 mile to the northeast. Much of the south, and parts of the east and west walls of the home were destroyed. A nearby barn located 30 yards to the northwest was completely destroyed with debris tossed 1/4 mile to the north-northeast. Several two-by-four wood planks were driven into the ground at 45 to 60 degree angles and were located from 50 to 150 yards downwind from the home. The damage intensity over these areas were rated high-end F2 and low-end F3. The width of the damage area was over 200 yards. The tornado continued on a northeast path and damaged several machine sheds and homes on two additional farmsteads northwest of the town of West Ely (or 7-8 miles south-southwest of Palmyra Missouri). Numerous trees were damaged or destroyed in the path of the tornado. The width of the damage varied from 50 to 100 yards while the damage area was rated F1. The tornado traveled across U.S. Highway 61/24 and dissipated about four miles south southeast of Palmyra. One semi-tractor trailer was overturned on Highway 61/24. The damage path of the tornado at this point was less than 50 yards and rated F0 intensity.

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

24 minutes of warning. NWS LSX issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:13 UTC, 24 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:00 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, with a 0.25 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 12:05 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.

Quincy (UIN), 44 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), 138 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:39 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 2003 tornado in MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are

50 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.