F3 tornado, Festus to Fults, Missouri, March 11, 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 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

March 11, 2006

Touchdown

9:42 PM CST (03:42 UTC)

Path length

5.1 miles (8.2 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Monroe and Jefferson counties

Touchdown point

38.120, -90.330

Lift-off point

38.180, -90.250

Record number

81

The second Jefferson County tornado first formed about 9:42 pm CST about 8.5 miles south southeast of Festus, near Interstate 55 where it sheared off the tops of several trees. The tornado then hit a small subdivision on the east side of the highway destroying three homes. The tornado crossed Highway 61 and destroyed another home and caused one minor injury. The tornado continued northeast causing minor to moderate damage to homes and outbuildings. At it approached the Mississippi River, the tornado blew down two high power electric transmission towers. It then crossed the river into Monroe County Illinois. The Jefferson County portion of the tornado track was about 3.1 miles with a maximum width of 200 yards and a F3 rating.

The second Jefferson County, MO tornado crossed the Mississippi River into Monroe County Illinois at about 9:47 pm CST and moved north northeast for about 2 miles. Several trees were and outbuildings were damaged just to the southwest and northwest of Fults. The maximum width was 100 yards with a F2 rating.

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

37 minutes of warning. NWS LSX issued a tornado warning for this county at 03:05 UTC, 37 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 00:54 UTC and running to 07:37 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 01:07 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.

The St Louis radar (KLSX), 70 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:40 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

14 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.