F3 tornado, Bellflower to Olney, Missouri, March 13, 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 13, 2006

Touchdown

1:20 AM CST (07:20 UTC)

Path length

44.5 miles (71.6 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

6

Property damage

$2.7 million

Counties

Montgomery, Lincoln, Pike and Calhoun counties

Touchdown point

39.050, -91.370

Lift-off point

39.300, -90.670

Record number

142

A supercell thunderstorm produced a tornado that tracked from northeast Montgomery County, across northern Lincoln County, crossed into southeast Pike County, and then crossed the Mississippi River into Calhoun County, IL during the early morning hours of Monday, March 13, 2006. The total damage track was almost 45 miles with the tornado reaching a maximum damage width of 300 yards and a F3 rating. The tornado first formed and caused damage in northeast Montgomery County about 1:20 am CST along Union Chapel Road northwest of Bellflower. A home suffered roof damage with several trusses on the northwest side destroyed. The tornado was about 100 yards wide at this point and was rated F1. The tornado moved northeast and crossed Highway E several times. In the small community of Gamma, two homes suffered major roof damage, a barn and several outbuildings destroyed. The tornado was rated F2 at this location and was about 200 years wide. The tornado weakened and caused tree damage near the West Fork of the Cuivre River as it crossed into Lincoln County southwest of Olney.

The tornado that formed in Montgomery County north of Bellflower moved into Lincoln County, strengthened, and caused extensive damage along Highway E on the north side of Olney. A home was completely destroyed as the tornado reached F3 intensity and was about 300 yards wide. The family at home escaped injury as they had taken shelter in the basement. About 1:35 am CST, the tornado destroyed a home and caused damage to a home business along Highway H northwest of Silex. At this point the tornado was a strong F2 and about 200 yards wide. A man in the home that was destroyed suffered a broken leg. At the home business, the home suffered roof damage and had the north side brick wall pulled off of the house. A large machine shed suffered extensive damage and a 50 foot travel trailer and the pickup truck it was attached too were blown onto their sides. The tornado continued northeast and primarily crossed over wildlife and conservation areas south of Whiteside. The tornado crossed US Highway 61 near the intersection with Highway F about 1:40 am CST and caused minor damage at a farm and a couple of homes. An old barn was destroyed, a metal shed was destroyed, a garage had the door buckled and windows blown out. A nearly constant trail of tree damage continued as the tornado approached the Lincoln Pike County line west of Dameron about 1:46 am CST.

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

31 minutes of warning. NWS LSX issued a tornado warning for this county at 06:49 UTC, 31 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 07:29 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 02:49 UTC and running to 09:58 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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 06:13 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), 60 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 07:21 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

19 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.