Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 2004

F0 tornado, Worth County, Missouri, May 24, 2004

This F0 tornado ran 2.0 miles across Worth County on May 24, 2004, touching down at 7:12 PM CDT and reaching 100 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.

  1. F040 to 72 mphthis tornado

    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 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.

The record

Rating
F0
Date
May 24, 2004
Touchdown
7:12 PM CDT (00:12 UTC)
Path length
2.0 miles (3.2 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Worth County
Touchdown point
40.500, -94.420
Lift-off point
40.500, -94.420
Record number
1057

The warnings

10 minutes of warning. NWS EAX issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:02 UTC, 10 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:45 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
00:02 UTC00:45 UTCTornado WarningEAX

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 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 21:44 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.

Omaha, NE (KOAX), 00:00Z

0.2 hours before the tornado, 188 km from the path. May 25, 2004.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Omaha, NE at 00:00Z on 2004-05-25Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN 0, lifted condensation level 508 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
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.
HodographHodograph, Omaha, NE at 00:00Z on 2004-05-25The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -118 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 48 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
0 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
508 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
48 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-118 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-81 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
2.1
0-3 km lapse rate
3.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Omaha, NE (KOAX), 12:00Z

11.8 hours after it, 188 km from the path. May 25, 2004.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Omaha, NE at 12:00Z on 2004-05-25Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -83445, lifted condensation level 1035 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
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.
HodographHodograph, Omaha, NE at 12:00Z on 2004-05-25The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -108 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 51 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-83445 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1035 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
51 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-108 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-139 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Lamoni (LWD), 46 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
22:56 UTC7268160° 7 kt1004.1-RA BR
23:56 UTC6862150° 11 kt211003
00:56 UTC6260340° 26 kt441006.1+RA FG SQ
01:56 UTC616040° 19 kt261003.7-RA

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

The radar

The Des Moines radar (KDMX), 149 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:14 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 trackEvery 2004 tornado in MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 24, 2004

52 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 243:05 PM CDTF0Nuckolls, NE2.050$40,000
May 243:20 PM CDTF0Nuckolls, NE0.125
May 243:28 PM CDTF0Nuckolls, NE0.125
May 243:35 PM CDTF1Holt, MO2.0300$10,000
May 243:35 PM CDTF0Nuckolls, NE0.115
May 243:41 PM CDTF0Nuckolls, NE0.115$1,000
May 243:52 PM CDTF0Nuckolls, NE0.115
May 243:58 PM CDTF1Nuckolls, NE2.0100$100,000
May 244:02 PM CDTF0Thayer, NE2.075$30,000
May 244:06 PM CDTF1Thayer, NE2.0450$500,000
May 244:15 PM CDTF0Republic, KS0.150
May 244:16 PM CDTF0Nuckolls, NE0.125
May 244:18 PM CDTF0Republic, KS0.150
May 244:24 PM CDTF0Republic, KS0.150
May 244:28 PM CDTF0Nodaway, MO0.550
May 244:29 PM CDTF0Thayer, NE0.125
May 244:30 PM CDTF0Fremont, IA3.040
May 245:30 PM EDTF1Broome, NY6.0100$100,000
May 244:55 PM CDTF2Gentry, MO17.02501$10 million
May 244:57 PM CDTF0Republic, KS0.150
May 244:58 PM CDTF0Madison, IA0.550
May 245:08 PM CDTF0Republic, KS0.150
May 245:12 PM CDTF0Republic, KS0.150
May 245:25 PM CDTF0Republic, KS0.150
May 245:29 PM CDTF0Washington, KS0.150
May 245:40 PM CDTF0Warren, IA0.230
May 245:53 PM CDTF0Harrison, MO0.550
May 246:18 PM CDTF1Livingston, MO9.5200$1.7 million
May 246:21 PM CDTF1Caddo, OK0.225$40,000
May 246:24 PM CDTF0Harrison, MO0.550
May 246:27 PM CDTF1Caddo, OK0.230$50,000
May 246:47 PM CDTF1Linn, MO5.0150$200,000
May 247:20 PM CDTF0Ringgold, IA0.230
May 247:21 PM CDTF0Tillman, OK0.530
May 247:25 PM CDTF1Shawnee, KS1.275$100,000
May 247:27 PM CDTF0Tillman, OK0.730$1,000
May 247:29 PM CDTF0Tillman, OK0.350$1,000
May 247:29 PM CDTF0Wabaunsee, KS0.150
May 247:32 PM CDTF0Tillman, OK0.230
May 247:39 PM CDTF0Wabaunsee, KS0.150
May 247:45 PM CDTF1Macon, MO1.0100$300,000
May 247:48 PM CDTF0Osage, KS0.150
May 247:53 PM CDTF0Appanoose, IA0.125$2,000
May 247:58 PM CDTF0Tillman, OK0.130
May 2410:55 PM CDTF0Marion, MO2.050
May 2410:55 PM CDTF0Ralls, MO0.240
May 2411:00 PM CDTF0Pike, IL1.040
May 2411:05 PM CDTF1Pike, IL5.050
May 2411:15 PM CDTF1Pike, IL3.050
May 2411:19 PM CDTF1Scott, IL7.310011
May 2411:35 PM CDTF2Morgan, IL1.21001$4.0 million
May 2412:09 AM CDTF1Sangamon, IL0.375

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.