F1 tornado, Richwoods to Fletcher, Missouri, September 22, 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 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

F1

Date

September 22, 2006

Touchdown

3:18 PM CDT (20:18 UTC)

Path length

1.5 miles (2.4 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Jefferson and Washington counties

Touchdown point

38.170, -90.770

Lift-off point

38.170, -90.730

Record number

903

The tornado touched down just south of County Road A, west of the intersection of Road A and State Highway 47. The tornado was 50 yards wide with tree damage in this location. The tornado traveled to the east northeast, just south of Richwoods. The tornado crossed State Highway 47 half a mile south of the intersection with County Roads A and H. The tornado damaged a roof on a home at this location and produced significant damage to trees. Debris from the house was thrown 200 yards to the southeast. At this location, the tornado was 150 yards wide with F1 intensity damage. The tornado continued east northeast and lifted three-quarters of a mile east of State Highway 47 on County Road H. No injuries or deaths were reported.

The tornado touched down in Washington County just south of County Road H, 1.6 miles west of the intersection of County Roads H and WW. The tornado removed the roof of a pole barn. Damage at this location was rated F1. The tornado continued east just south of County Road H for another mile where it damaged the roof of another pole barn and numerous trees. The damage width in this location was 100 yards wide and rated F1 in intensity. The tornado continued to the east northeast and crossed County Road H as it goes into Jefferson County, which is approximately three tenths of a mile west of the intersection with County Road WW. No injuries or deaths were reported.

As the tornado moved into Jefferson County from Washington County, it was 50 yards wide and produced F1 damage to trees just north of County Road H. The tornado dissipated just northeast of this location, just to the northwest of Fletcher. No injuries or deaths were reported.

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

35 minutes of warning. NWS LSX issued a tornado warning for this county at 19:43 UTC, 35 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:24 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:18 UTC and running to 02:00 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 19:56 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.

Farmington (FAM), 53 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The St Louis radar (KLSX), 59 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:16 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

32 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.