Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 2006

F0 tornado, Leeton to Green Ridge, Missouri, March 30, 2006

From Leeton to Green Ridge, this F0 tornado ran 9.0 miles across Johnson and Pettis counties on March 30, 2006, touching down at 8:20 PM CST and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $10,000 of property damage.

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 30, 2006
Touchdown
8:20 PM CST (02:20 UTC)
Path length
9.0 miles (14.5 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$10,000
Counties
Johnson and Pettis counties
Touchdown point
38.580, -93.580
Lift-off point
38.630, -93.430
Record number
197

What the Weather Service recorded

F0 tornado touched down 6 miles east of Leeton at 2020 CST...and exited from Johnson county into Pettis county at 2024 CST. Tornado traveled northeast over rural areas of southeastern Johnson county. One barn suffered minor damage.

F0 tornado crossed from Johnson county into Pettis county 5 miles west of Green Ridge at 2024 CST. The tornado dissipated 2 miles northwest of Green Ridge at 2027 CST. No significant damage was observed.

Tornado touched down at 2028 CST 2 miles northwest of green Ridge producing damage to trees. The tornado traveled northeast and crossed Highway 50 just west of Sedalia. It produced high end F0 damage to a Morton Building and to a farmstead. Low end F1 damage was noted to a home 3 miles north of Sedalia...just west of Highway 65...where a modular home lost its roof and a large calenabra on a broadcast tower was bent. The tornado damaged a total of 57 homes, with one being completely destroyed. The tornado lifted after this at 2042 CST. A 66 year old man injured in the tornado, died from his injuries on June 15th.

The deaths

1 direct deaths are recorded for this tornado, each with what Storm Data knows of it.

AgeSexWhereKind
66MPermanent HomeDirect

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

The warnings

1 minute of warning. NWS EAX issued a tornado warning for this county at 02:19 UTC, 1 minute before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:33 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:19 UTC and running to 03:16 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
20:19 UTC03:16 UTCTornado WatchEAX
00:59 UTC01:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningEAX
01:05 UTC02:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningEAX
01:40 UTC02:15 UTCTornado WarningEAX
01:58 UTC02:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningEAX
02:19 UTC02:33 UTCTornado WarningEAX
02:23 UTC03:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningEAX

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 Slight Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:42 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.

Topeka, KS (KTOP), 00:00Z

2.3 hours before the tornado, 190 km from the path. March 31, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Topeka, KS at 00:00Z on 2006-03-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1075 joules per kilogram, CIN -25, lifted condensation level 868 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, Topeka, KS at 00:00Z on 2006-03-31The 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 342 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 52 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
1075 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-25 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1307 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
868 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
52 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
342 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
340 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
2.0
Supercell composite
8.9
0-3 km lapse rate
7.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Topeka, KS (KTOP), 12:00Z

9.7 hours after it, 190 km from the path. March 31, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Topeka, KS at 12:00Z on 2006-03-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -105386, lifted condensation level 1481 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Topeka, KS at 12:00Z on 2006-03-31The 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 -52 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 49 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-105386 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1481 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
49 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-52 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
47 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Whiteman Afb (SZL), 14 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
00:45 UTC62.662.6180° 20 kt281003.7BR
00:55 UTC64.462.6180° 24 kt321003.4BR
01:08 UTC64.460.8180° 20 kt261003.7-SHRA
01:34 UTC64.459180° 21 kt261003.7TS
01:55 UTC64.459190° 14 kt211004.4-TSRA
02:21 UTC5955.4260° 32 kt391005.4TSRAGS
02:42 UTC57.255.4250° 27 kt421005.8-TSRA
02:55 UTC53.653.6200° 23 kt421005.8-TSRA
03:22 UTC55.455.4190° 22 kt281004.4
03:55 UTC57.248.2190° 19 kt261005.4

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The radar

The Pleasant Hill radar (KEAX), 70 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:22 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
01:51 UTCHAIL 0.75UrichHenry, MO0.75 INCH HAIL NEAR THE HENRY AND CASS COUNTY LINE
02:00 UTCHAIL 1.752 E ChilhoweeJohnson, MOGOLF BALL HAIL AND 55 MPH WINDS
02:04 UTCHAIL 0.884 N ChilhoweeJohnson, MO
02:16 UTCHAIL 1.752 E ChilhoweeJohnson, MO
02:20 UTCTORNADO6 S Whiteman AfbJohnson, MO
02:21 UTCTORNADO6 S Whiteman AfbJohnson, MOBARN DAMAGE REPORTED FROM TORNADO TOUCHDOWN.
02:28 UTCHAIL 1WarrensburgJohnson, MO
02:41 UTCTORNADOSedaliaPettis, MO*** 1 INJ *** TORNADO ON GROUND IN THE CITY OF SEDALIA PRODUCING DAMAGE. REPORT OF ONE BUSINESS DESTROYED AS IT CROSSED US 50. TORNADO TRACKED JUST NORTH OF CITY LIMITS.
02:41 UTCTORNADOSedaliaPettis, MOTORNADO ON GROUND IN THE CITY OF SEDALIA PRODUCING DAMAGE
03:35 UTCHAIL 0.75OttervilleCooper, MO
03:48 UTCHAIL 0.75VersaillesMorgan, MO
03:55 UTCHAIL 0.883 N StoverMorgan, MONICKEL SIZE HAIL AND 40 TO 50 MPH WINDS REPORTED AT N HIGHWAY AND BB.
03:57 UTCHAIL 1VersaillesMorgan, 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 30, 2006

25 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 301:25 PM CSTF0Reno, KS3.050$80,000
March 302:13 PM CSTF1Marion, KS6.0751$70,000
March 302:18 PM CSTF0Stephens, OK0.550
March 302:23 PM CSTF0Butler, NE0.5440
March 302:29 PM CSTF0Colfax, NE0.5440
March 303:35 PM CSTF0Saunders, NE0.3100$50,000
March 303:50 PM CSTF0Wilson, KS2.550
March 303:55 PM CSTF0Woodbury, IA0.5100$100,000
March 304:00 PM CSTF0Sarpy, NE3.0150
March 304:04 PM CSTF1Brown, KS3.0100$350,000
March 304:06 PM CSTF2Montgomery, KS16.01251$1.0 million
March 305:35 PM CSTF1Wilson, KS10.075$20,000
March 305:57 PM CSTF0Union, IA0.230$40,000
March 306:00 PM CSTF0Woodson, KS0.150
March 306:00 PM CSTF0Union, IA0.125
March 306:03 PM CSTF0Allen, KS0.550
March 306:04 PM CSTF0Dallas, IA0.125
March 307:10 PM CSTF2Andrew, MO5.08008$800,000
March 307:15 PM CSTF0Cooke, TX0.115
March 308:10 PM CSTF0Harrison, MO1.050
March 308:28 PM CSTF1Pettis, MO13.6751$450,000
March 308:30 PM CSTF0Grayson, TX0.115
March 308:36 PM CSTF0Grayson, TX0.110$10,000
March 3010:55 PM CSTF1Pike, IL4.5200
March 3011:10 PM CSTF1Pike, IL2.7250

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.