Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 2007

EF0 tornado, Metz to Walker, Missouri, April 27, 2007

From Metz to Walker, this EF0 tornado ran 12.9 miles across Vernon County on April 27, 2007, touching down at 6:30 PM CDT and reaching 25 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 Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. EF186 to 110 mph

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

  3. EF2111 to 135 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. EF3136 to 165 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. EF4166 to 200 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. EF5over 200 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
EF0
Date
April 27, 2007
Touchdown
6:30 PM CDT (23:30 UTC)
Lifted
7:00 PM CDT (00:00 UTC)
On the ground
30 minutes
Path length
12.9 miles (20.8 km)
Path width
25 yards (23 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$10,000
County
Vernon County
Touchdown point
38.000, -94.450
Lift-off point
37.900, -94.250
Record number
0704271730-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A few storms became severe causing large hail and damaging winds in a few spots. One tornado touched down in Vernon County that was rated an EF-0.

A National Weather Service storm survey revealed that a small tornado intermittently touched down along a path from Metz to Walker. One barn was damaged along with numerous trees.

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

The warnings

20 minutes of warning. NWS SGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:10 UTC, 20 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
23:10 UTC00:00 UTCTornado WarningSGF
23:59 UTC00:32 UTCTornado WarningSGF

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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:37 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.

Springfield, MO (KSGF), 12:00Z

11.5 hours before the tornado, 126 km from the path. April 27, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2007-04-27Temperature 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 -104905, lifted condensation level 1325 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2007-04-27The 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 65 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 37 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
-104905 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1325 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
37 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
65 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
70 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
2.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Springfield, MO (KSGF), 00:00Z

0.5 hours after it, 126 km from the path. April 28, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 2007-04-28Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 6 joules per kilogram, CIN -43, lifted condensation level 895 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 2007-04-28The 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 161 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
6 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-43 J/kg
Surface CAPE
41 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
895 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
52 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
161 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
225 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
6.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Pleasant Hill radar (KEAX), 96 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:30 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
23:10 UTCHAIL 1.752 S HortonVernon, MO
23:15 UTCHAIL 1HumeBates, MOHAIL COVERED GROUND...LOOKED LIKE IT SNOWED.
23:15 UTCHAIL 1.75HumeBates, MOHAIL 3 INCHES DEEP.
23:20 UTCHAIL 1.75HumeBates, MONICKEL TO GOLFBALL SIZED HAIL UP TO THREE INCHES DEEP REPORTED IN AND AROUND HUME. MANY LEAVES STRIPPED FROM TREES.
23:20 UTCTORNADO1 S HumeBates, MOSPOTTER REPORTED A TORNADO WHICH HAD A CONDENSATION FUNNEL EXTENDING MOST OF THE WAY TO THE GROUND WITH AN ASSOCIATED DUST WHIRL. ALSO 4-5 INCH DIAMETER BRANCHES BROKEN OFF THE TOP OF SEVERAL TREES AT THIS LOCATION.
23:30 UTCTSTM WND DMGMetzVernon, MOFOUR INCH DIAMETER TREE LIMBS DOWN
23:30 UTCHAIL 2.75MetzVernon, MO
00:05 UTCHAIL 1WalkerVernon, MO
00:10 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD6 W El Dorado SpringsVernon, MOCEDAR COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT REPORT
00:10 UTCHAIL 0.886 W El Dorado SpringsVernon, MO

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2007 tornado in MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 27, 2007

2 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 2712:30 PM EDTEF0Gloucester, VA5.1100$50,000
April 276:20 PM CDTEF0Bates, MO1.125

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.