Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 2006
F2 tornado, Guthrie, Missouri, March 13, 2006
This F2 tornado ran 13.0 miles across Callaway County on March 13, 2006, touching down at 12:30 AM CST and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 2.
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.
F040 to 72 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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
- F2
- Date
- March 13, 2006
- Touchdown
- 12:30 AM CST (06:30 UTC)
- Path length
- 13.0 miles (20.9 km)
- Path width
- 100 yards (91 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 2
- County
- Callaway County
- Touchdown point
- 38.770, -92.070
- Lift-off point
- 38.850, -91.880
- Record number
- 141
What the Weather Service recorded
A tornado initially formed at approximately 12:30 am CST along County Road 337 about 2 miles northeast of Guthrie. Light tree damaged occurred in this area. The tornado traveled northeast and moderately damaged a home just north of County Road 328 approximately 1.5 miles west of US Highway 54. The home was moved approximately 25 feet off the foundation. Extensive tree damage occurred to the southwest and northeast of this location. Two people were injured at this location and were hospitalized for several days. Another home just to the east suffered roof damage. The damage width in this area was about 100 yards wide and was rated as F2 intensity. The tornado damaged a barn along US Highway 54 approximately 2 miles southwest of Fulton. Debris from the barn was thrown into the highway median. The track continued to the northeast and damaged trees along Highway NN, and damaged outbuildings along Highway C approximately 1.5 miles south of Fulton. The damage in this area was rated as F0 intensity. The tornado track continued northeast crossing Highways O and UU causing tree damage. The tornado dissipated approximately 3 miles east of Fulton along highway JJ. The damage in this area was rated as F0 intensity. The complete tornado track was approximately 13 miles long.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
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 02:49 UTC and running to 09:58 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16:02 UTC | 17:50 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | LSX |
| 17:50 UTC | 02:49 UTC | Tornado Watch | LSX |
| 23:13 UTC | 00:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | LSX |
| 02:49 UTC | 09:58 UTC | Tornado Watch | LSX |
| 05:10 UTC | 06:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | LSX |
| 06:30 UTC | 07:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LSX |
| 06:35 UTC | 07:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | LSX |
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 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), 00:00Z
6.5 hours before the tornado, 266 km from the path. March 13, 2006.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1549 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -16 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 2497 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1450 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 61 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 23 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 200 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 264 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.5
- Supercell composite
- 13.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 7.5 K/km
Springfield, MO (KSGF), 12:00Z
5.5 hours after it, 266 km from the path. March 13, 2006.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -119020 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 2996 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 68 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 33 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -221 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- -31 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.3 K/km
The radar
The St Louis radar (KLSX), 113 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 06:31 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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 05:00 UTC | TORNADO | Brazito | Cole, MO | REPORTED ALONG HIGHWAY 54. |
| 05:05 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | Jefferson City | Cole, MO | |
| 05:10 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | Jefferson City | Cole, MO | |
| 05:15 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | Holts Summit | Callaway, MO | |
| 05:20 UTC | HAIL 1 | Holts Summit | Callaway, MO | |
| 05:25 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 W Tebbetts | Callaway, MO | MOBLIE HOME BLOWN OVER...NO KNOWN INJURIES. |
| 06:10 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | 1 W Jamestown | Moniteau, MO | |
| 06:20 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | Columbia | Boone, MO | |
| 06:30 UTC | TORNADO | Jonesburg | Montgomery, MO | *** 1 INJ *** SEVERAL HOUSES DAMAGED...3 MOBILE HOMES DAMAGED...NUMEROUS SHEDS AND OUTBUILDINGS DESTROYED. 1 INJURY REPORTED BY COUNTY EMA. |
| 06:40 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 Sw Fulton | Callaway, MO | BARN BLOWN DOWN ALONG COUNTY ROAD 407. |
| 06:40 UTC | TORNADO | Jonesburg | Montgomery, MO | *** 1 INJ *** SEVERAL HOUSES DAMAGED...3 MOBILE HOMES DAMAGED...NUMEROUS SHEDS AND OUTBUILDINGS DESTROYED. 1 INJURY REPORTED BY COUNTY EMA. |
| 07:00 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | Auxvasse | Callaway, 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 13, 2006
19 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 13 | 12:00 AM CST | F3 | Montgomery, MO | 6.0 | 300 | 1 | $800,000 | |
| March 13 | 1:20 AM CST | F3 | Montgomery, MO to IL | 44.5 | 300 | 6 | $2.7 million | |
| March 13 | 1:36 AM CST | F1 | Lincoln, MO | 0.2 | 75 | |||
| March 13 | 1:50 PM CST | F0 | Montgomery, MS | 1.5 | 50 | |||
| March 13 | 2:18 PM CST | F0 | Webster, MS | 1.0 | 30 | |||
| March 13 | 2:26 PM CST | F0 | Webster, MS | 1.0 | 30 | $10,000 | ||
| March 13 | 3:15 PM CST | F0 | Clay, MS | 1.0 | 30 | |||
| March 13 | 4:04 PM CST | F0 | Lamar, AL | 0.1 | 25 | $10,000 | ||
| March 13 | 4:45 PM CST | F0 | Fayette, AL | 1.1 | 50 | $30,000 | ||
| March 13 | 4:55 PM CST | F1 | Fayette, AL | 1.6 | 50 | $10,000 | ||
| March 13 | 5:15 PM CST | F0 | Lamar, AL | 2.6 | 75 | $20,000 | ||
| March 13 | 5:39 PM CST | F1 | Walker, AL | 1.3 | 25 | $30,000 | ||
| March 13 | 5:43 PM CST | F0 | Fayette, AL | 3.4 | 30 | $3,000 | ||
| March 13 | 5:54 PM CST | F0 | Tuscaloosa, AL | 0.1 | 20 | |||
| March 13 | 5:56 PM CST | F0 | Cullman, AL | 0.1 | 20 | |||
| March 13 | 6:15 PM CST | F0 | Blount, AL | 0.1 | 25 | $10,000 | ||
| March 13 | 6:45 PM CST | F0 | Cullman, AL | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| March 13 | 6:47 PM CST | F0 | Cullman, AL | 0.1 | 20 | |||
| March 13 | 6:50 PM CST | F0 | Cullman, AL | 0.1 | 20 |
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.