F2 tornado, Roselle to Silver Lake, 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 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. 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.

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

F2

Date

September 22, 2006

Touchdown

3:30 PM CDT (20:30 UTC)

Path length

25.0 miles (40.2 km)

Path width

880 yards (805 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

1

Property damage

$150,000

Counties

Madison, Saint Francois and Perry counties

Touchdown point

37.600, -90.470

Lift-off point

37.670, -90.050

Record number

905

The tornado touched down just west of Route K approximately one mile north of Highway 72. As it traveled east, numerous trees and tree limbs were blown down. The tornado moved across U.S. Highway 67 about 4 miles northwest of Fredericktown, knocking down additional trees and tree limbs. The damage path was about 50 yards wide with a damage intensity of F0. As it approached the Fredericktown Municipal Airport, along Copper Mines Road, it began to produce multiple vortices. Two tornadic damage tracks were uncovered across a lake west of Highway OO along County Roads 271 and 272. Over 20 homes, mobile homes and machine sheds sustained varying degrees of damage. Several witnesses observed twin tornadoes merging into one large tornado over this area. The width of the damage path of the northern track was approximately 150 yards wide while the southern damage path was about 100 yards wide. The damage intensity ranged from F1 to F2 in this location. As the large tornado crossed Highway OO, five homes, four mobile homes and several machine sheds sustained varying degrees of damage. The damage path was 300 yards wide and high end F1 intensity. The tornado continued east along County Road 217. Four homes sustained F1 to F2 damage with debris from two of the homes thrown between 50 to 100 yards to the east. Also, numerous trees were either snapped or uprooted in this area. The width of the damage path in this area was about 250 yards. Further east, two tornadic damage tracks were uncovered about half a mile to a mile north of the intersection of County Roads 215 and 217. Four homes sustained varying degrees of damage while one mobile home was completely destroyed. One person was critically injured near the destroyed mobile home. Debris from the mobile home was tossed over 150 yards to the east. The width of the northern damage path was about 150 yards, while the width of the southern track was about 50 yards. The damage was rated high end F1 in this location. Witnesses observed the twin tornadoes merge again into one large funnel as it crossed a second small lake north of County Road 217. Four homes and several machine sheds sustained damage. Also, over a thousand trees around the lake were snapped or uprooted. The damage path was a quarter of a mile wide in this location and was rated F1 to low end F2. The tornado continued eastward into northeast Madison County crossing County Road 219 just south of the Madison/St. Francois County line. Three homes were damaged and three machine sheds were destroyed, as well as thousands of trees snapped or uprooted. The width of the damage path in this area was half a mile and was rated F2. The tornado then crossed into extreme southeastern St. Francois County near Martin Road.

The tornado entered Perry County from the extreme southeast corner of St. Francois County. The tornado was at its strongest along and north of County Road 738, shortly after entering Perry County. In this area, the damage path was about 400 yards wide, and peak winds were estimated near 120 MPH. A farm building was levelled, roofs were torn off houses, and dozens of acres of trees were flattened. The tornado weakened to F-1 intensity as it crossed Highway BB, where nearly 100 trees were uprooted and roofs were partially damaged. The path width was estimated around 200 yards at Highway BB. As the tornado continued east across County Road 730, a barn was destroyed, and dozens of trees were down. The path width was about 100 yards when the tornado reached Lake Perry, close to where it lifted along Highway T. At a campground on Lake Perry, recreational vehicles were overturned and damaged by falling trees. The path ended southwest of Silver Lake at Highway T. The average path width was 200 yards. In total, hundreds of acres of timber were flattened, several barns were destroyed, and others were severely damaged. Shingles and decking were ripped off several homes. The parent supercell that produced this tornado later produced a separate F-4 tornado in eastern parts of Perry County.

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

17 minutes of warning. NWS LSX issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:13 UTC, 17 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:00 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), 20 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), 124 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:31 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.

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.