F3 tornado, Liberal to Pittsburg, Missouri, May 4, 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 4, 2003

Touchdown

5:31 PM CDT (22:31 UTC)

Path length

86.0 miles (138.4 km)

Path width

880 yards (805 m)

Deaths

5

Injuries

47

Property damage

$53 million

Counties

Barton, Cedar, Polk and Hickory counties

Touchdown point

37.570, -94.520

Lift-off point

37.800, -92.980

Record number

225

An F-4 tornado tracked over the Kansas-Missouri state line and into west central Barton County. The tornado destroyed several farm houses and outbuildings prior to dissipating one mile north of Liberal. Ten injuries and one fatality can be accounted for from this large tornado. Rex Smith age 88, was in his frame house two miles west of Liberal when the tornado approached. He was deceased from flying debris. While this tornado was dissipating, a second tornado had formed one mile east of Liberal. This feature then tracked 23 miles through mainly rural farm land of central and northeast Barton County, and eventually through Cedar, Polk, Hickory, and Dallas counties. Altogether there were approximately 50 homes and outbuildings that were destroyed from the twisters.

A large tornado laid out a path of destruction across the entire county. During this time, it took a path through the center of Stockton, which is the most populated community in the county. 350 homes, businesses, and outbuildings were destroyed while 650 received major damage. 37 local residents sustained injuries as three individuals lost their lives. The tornado continued on the ground into northern Polk County.Rob Hewitt age 40, was taking cover in his frame home while the tornado completely destroyed the structure. He was deceased from flying debris.Mark Wilcox age 34, was leaving his home to help a neighbor when the tornado approached. He was caught outdoors and deceased from flying debris.John Cassell age 86, was handicapped and refused to take cover in his basement prior to the tornado occurrence. He was then deceased upon the passage of the tornado. His wife who took cover in the basement survived the event.

This tornado is a continuation of the Cedar County tornado that produced F-3 damage in the city of Stockton. The tornado remained on the ground across rural sections of northern Polk County. The tornado destroyed 180 homes and outbuildings while damaging 70. The structural damage was estimated at 3.7 million dollars, with an additional one million dollars of agricultural loss. The tornado continued on the ground into extreme southeastern Hickory County.

This is a continuation of the Polk County tornado that entered the extreme southeastern corner of Hickory County prior to moving into Dallas County. A few trees were downed, however, no damage to any structures were observed.

The deaths

4 direct deaths are recorded for this tornado, each with what Storm Data knows of it.

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

31 minutes of warning. NWS SGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:00 UTC, 31 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:00 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 20:19 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.

Springfield (SGF), 59 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Springfield radar (KSGF), 59 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:32 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

80 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 81 of them

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.