F2 tornado, Perry, Missouri, April 2, 2006

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 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

F2

Date

April 2, 2006

Touchdown

4:25 PM CDT (21:25 UTC)

Path length

3.5 miles (5.6 km)

Path width

350 yards (320 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Ralls County

Touchdown point

39.530, -91.630

Lift-off point

39.570, -91.630

Record number

217

The tornado formed around 425 pm CDT 1.5 miles north of Clarence Cannon Dam on County Highway J. Three businesses at this location sustained damage. A convenience store suffered minor exterior damage to shingles, siding, windows and trim. A pole barn suffered substantial roof damage from an airborne camper that was blown from an outdoor storage lot to the east. Damage from this building was scattered 200-300 feet. Four campers in the outdoor lot were damaged with two of these being completely destroyed. Two boats were also flipped over. A camper dealership was located directly across highway J. This building sustained extensive damage. An attached service bay to the south was completely leveled. The second story above the office was obliterated with only the west facing wall left standing. At least 30 campers sustained some type of damage. Eight to ten were completely destroyed. Some of the camper frames were found 150 to 200 feet north of their initial positions. Debris from this area was scattered over 1/4 mile away. Three 1x3 inch boards were found stuck in the dealerships hard packed gravel lot. There was also substantial tree damage. Cedar trees with a diameter of 12 to 15 inches were snapped off at ground level bordering the dealership lot. The tornado was 350 yards wide at this location and produced F2 damage. The tornado continued northeast for 1.3 miles and damaged a pole barn on Clinton Road. The pole barn suffered light roof and trim damage. Southwest of the pole barn, an isolated cedar tree 1.5 to 2 feet in diameter was snapped off 3 feet above the ground. The top portion of the tree was found 150 feet to the northeast. The tornado was 100 yards at this location and produced F1damage. The tornado continued 1.7 miles northeast passing through the Salt River Valley. On township road CC, there was a 2 foot square metal sign buried 4-6 inches into a tilled field. At this location, the tornado was 40 yards wide and produced F0 damage. The tornado dissipated just northeast of this location.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:29 UTC and running to 21:59 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 19:55 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), 57 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), 125 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:27 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.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2006 tornado in MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are

66 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 67 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.