F3 tornado, Higbee to Madison, Missouri, March 12, 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 12, 2006

Touchdown

9:18 PM CST (03:18 UTC)

Path length

19.7 miles (31.7 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

4

Injuries

26

Property damage

$5.0 million

Counties

Randolph and Monroe counties

Touchdown point

39.320, -92.480

Lift-off point

39.450, -92.180

Record number

123

Deadly tornado touched down at 2118 CST 2 miles east of Higbee. The tornado traveled northeast and attained F3 strength near the Monroe/Randolph county line. The tornado killed 4 people just to the east and southeast of Renick and there were 26 injuries. 13 of the injuries occurred when a bus transporting college students was overturned. Three businesses were destroyed as well as 30 residences. Thirty other dwelling places had minor to moderate damage. The tornado exited Randolph county into Monroe county at 2133 CST...8 miles southeast of Moberly.

The tornado that hit Randolph County continued northeast into Monroe County southwest of Middle Grove. The tornado moved through rural areas damaging farm structures and trees. The tornado continued northeast causing tree damage to near Madison. Two miles south of Madison a mobile home was destroyed and a two story home was damaged. The damage was rated F2 at this location. The tornado destroyed another mobile home 2 miles southeast of Madison before dissipating. As this tornado dissipated, another formed just to the southeast.

As the first Monroe County tornado dissipated, another formed just to the southeast. The two tornadoes traveled parallel for about 100 yards. The second tornado damaged a home shortly after forming and then continued northeast causing tree, barn and farm outbuilding damage and as it moved through rural areas near Holliday and then to Paris. About 1 mile north of Paris the tornado destroyed 2 homes, one very well built, near the Highway 15 Spur. A pickup truck was tossed over 100 yards into the living room of one home. This home had one wall that remained standing while the other was completely leveled. Debris from one home was found over a half mile to the northeast. The damage was rated F4 and was about one quarter mile wide. The tornado moved northeast and destroyed 2 mobile homes and damaged 2 other homes near US 24. Numerous trees were also either snapped or uprooted. The tornado continued through rural areas and moved into Monroe City. Several mobile homes were destroyed on the west side of town. A church sustained considerable roof and wall damage and other buildings suffered roof damage. The tornado dissipated over the northeast side of town.

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.

24 minutes of warning. NWS EAX issued a tornado warning for this county at 02:54 UTC, 24 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 02:42 UTC and running to 08:09 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 0.30 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 01:01 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), 161 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:17 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

54 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.