Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 2006

F0 tornado, Vida, Missouri, March 11, 2006

This F0 tornado ran 3.0 miles across Phelps County on March 11, 2006, touching down at 7:50 PM CST and reaching 25 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
March 11, 2006
Touchdown
7:50 PM CST (01:50 UTC)
Path length
3.0 miles (4.8 km)
Path width
25 yards (23 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Phelps County
Touchdown point
37.850, -91.820
Lift-off point
37.850, -91.770
Record number
76

What the Weather Service recorded

A tornado caused weak tree damage in a rural section of Phelps County south of Rolla.

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

The warnings

21 minutes of warning. NWS SGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:29 UTC, 21 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:05 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 00:50 UTC and running to 07:13 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
18:48 UTC00:50 UTCTornado WatchSGF
00:50 UTC07:13 UTCTornado WatchSGF
01:29 UTC02:05 UTCTornado WarningSGF
02:17 UTC03:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSGF
02:41 UTC03:24 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSGF
03:54 UTC04:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSGF
04:40 UTC05:22 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSGF
07:13 UTC09:53 UTCTornado WatchSGF
17:50 UTC02:43 UTCTornado WatchSGF

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 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 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.

Springfield, MO (KSGF), 12:00Z

10.2 hours after it, 206 km from the path. March 12, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2006-03-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 262 joules per kilogram, CIN -159, lifted condensation level 728 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2006-03-12The 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 94 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 55 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
262 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-159 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
728 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
55 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
94 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
127 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.5
0-3 km lapse rate
3.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The St Louis radar (KLSX), 135 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:51 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.

What was reported nearby

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

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
01:45 UTCHAIL 13 S RollaPhelps, MO
01:47 UTCTSTM WND GST 65Edgar SpringsPhelps, MO
02:00 UTCHAIL 2.756 Se SteelvilleCrawford, MO
02:00 UTCTORNADOSteelvilleCrawford, MOONE HOUSE DAMAGED...LARGE PINE TREES SNAPPED.
02:00 UTCTSTM WND DMG8 S RollaPhelps, MOTHUNDERSTORM WIND DAMAGE TO STRUCTURES. IN ADDITION...GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL WHICH BROKE WINDSHIELD ON VEHICLE. LOCATION WAS ON HIGHWAY 72 SOUTH OF ROLLA
02:02 UTCHAIL 4.255 Nw BeulahPhelps, MOSOFTBALL SIZE HAIL NEAR DUKE IN PHELPS COUNTY
02:05 UTCTORNADO5 Nw Cook StationCrawford, MOREPORT VIA PHELPS CO SHERIFF - DAMAGE EXTENDED FROM PHELPS CO INTO CRAWFORD CO BETEEN ROUTES NN AND YY
02:05 UTCHAIL 1.57 Ne RollaPhelps, MO
02:05 UTCTORNADO9 Se RollaPhelps, MOTORNADO TRACKED BY PHELPS COUNTY DEPUTY. DAMAGE WAS REPORTED NEAR HIGHWAY O AND COUNTY ROAD 5440...DAMAGE INCLUDED ROOF AND TREE DAMAGE AND HAIL COVERED THE ROAD AT THAT LOCATION. TORNADO THEN CROSSED HIGHWAY 72 NEAR THE
02:22 UTCHAIL 1SteelvilleCrawford, MO
02:25 UTCHAIL 1.75SteelvilleCrawford, MO
02:28 UTCHAIL 1CherryvilleCrawford, MO
02:32 UTCHAIL 1.7513 E SteelvilleCrawford, MO
02:40 UTCHAIL 1.753 N Cook StationCrawford, MOLOCATED IN WESCO
02:48 UTCHAIL 15 Nw BeulahPhelps, MOONE INCH HAIL REPORTED IN DUKE
02:48 UTCHAIL 15 Nw BeulahPhelps, MOONE INCH HAIL REPORTED IN DUKE
02:52 UTCHAIL 1.25Edgar SpringsPhelps, MOEDGAR SPRINGS FIRE DEPT REPORTED GROUND COVERED IN QUARTER TO HALF DOLLAR SIZE HAIL
03:00 UTCHAIL 12 S DavisvilleCrawford, MO
03:05 UTCTSTM WND DMGLake SpringDent, MOROOF BLOWN OFF A HOUSE
03:13 UTCHAIL 1.755 N SalemDent, MO
03:19 UTCHAIL 0.88SalemDent, MODIME TO NICKEL SIZE HAIL IN SALEM
03:28 UTCFLOODCook StationCrawford, MOSEVERAL LOW WATER CROSSINGS NEAR COOK STATION FLOODED AND IMPASSIBLE
03:28 UTCHAIL 1.75Cook StationCrawford, MO
03:40 UTCHAIL 1DavisvilleCrawford, MO
03:45 UTCHAIL 1Devil'S ElbowPulaski, MO

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

This ground now

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

The other tornadoes of March 11, 2006

14 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 1112:12 AM CSTF1LeFlore, OK1.5100$700,000
March 1112:11 PM PSTF0San Diego, CA2.045$30,000
March 114:35 PM CSTF0Taney, MO8.020
March 115:15 PM CSTF0Pike, IL0.140
March 115:20 PM CSTF0Pike, IL0.150
March 115:50 PM CSTF0Douglas, MO0.120$10,000
March 117:55 PM CSTF2Reynolds, MO35.5450
March 118:48 PM CSTF1Madison, MO0.775
March 118:54 PM CSTF1Madison, MO11.0300
March 119:20 PM CSTF3Sainte Genevieve, MO53.5400212$2.2 million
March 119:42 PM CSTF3Monroe, MO to IL5.1200
March 119:46 PM CSTF1Monroe, IL2.4100
March 1111:26 PM CSTF1Wayne, IL1.0600$70,000
March 1111:50 PM CSTF1Searcy, AR0.825

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.