Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 2009

EF1 tornado, Faith, Missouri, June 10, 2009

This EF1 tornado ran 0.6 miles across Miller County on June 10, 2009, touching down at 8:05 PM CDT and reaching 200 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $50,000 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 mph

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

  2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

    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
EF1
Date
June 10, 2009
Touchdown
8:05 PM CDT (01:05 UTC)
Lifted
8:06 PM CDT (01:06 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.6 miles (1.0 km)
Path width
200 yards (183 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$50,000
County
Miller County
Touchdown point
38.030, -92.321
Lift-off point
38.034, -92.311
Record number
0906101905-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Widespread strong to severe thunderstorms impacted portions of southwest and central Missouri. The primary hazard with these storms were severe wind gusts that caused damage to trees, power poles, and a few structures. Two weak tornadoes also occurred from these storms.

A National Weather Service storm survey revealed that an EF-1 tornado impacted sections of rural Miller County. The tornado damaged several trees along with some farm trailers and fences. Estimated wind gusts from the tornado were 100 mph.

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

The warnings

13 minutes of warning. NWS SGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:52 UTC, 13 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:18 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 22:20 UTC and running to 01:56 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
22:00 UTC10:52 UTCFlash Flood WatchSGF
22:20 UTC01:56 UTCTornado WatchSGF
23:43 UTC00:45 UTCTornado WarningSGF
00:34 UTC04:50 UTCFlash Flood WarningSGF
00:38 UTC01:25 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSGF
00:52 UTC01:18 UTCTornado WarningSGF
01:01 UTC01:33 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSGF
04:48 UTC14:00 UTCFlood 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:58 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), 00:00Z

1.1 hours before the tornado, 182 km from the path. June 11, 2009.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 2009-06-11Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 3767 joules per kilogram, CIN -1, lifted condensation level 909 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 2009-06-11The 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 45 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 21 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
3767 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-1 J/kg
Surface CAPE
4526 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
909 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
45 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
62 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.9
Supercell composite
4.9
0-3 km lapse rate
7.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Springfield, MO (KSGF), 12:00Z

10.9 hours after it, 182 km from the path. June 11, 2009.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2009-06-11Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 321 joules per kilogram, CIN -65, lifted condensation level 759 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, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2009-06-11The 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 38 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 30 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
321 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-65 J/kg
Surface CAPE
237 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
759 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
38 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
86 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
0.5
0-3 km lapse rate
4.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Springfield radar (KSGF), 130 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:03 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
23:20 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD5 N Gravois MillsMorgan, MOROTATING WALL CLOUD WITH FUNNEL...GOOD INFLOW NOTED
23:56 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD2 Ene RollaPhelps, MO
00:25 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 S Macks CreekCamden, MOTREE DOWN
00:25 UTCTSTM WND DMGCamdentonCamden, MOTREE DOWN OVER A CAR
00:25 UTCTSTM WND DMGMacks CreekCamden, MO
00:25 UTCNON-TSTM WND GST 50Macks CreekCamden, MO
00:25 UTCNON-TSTM WND DMGCamdentonCamden, MOTREE DOWN OVER A CAR
00:30 UTCHAIL 0.25EugeneCole, MO
00:34 UTCTSTM WND GST 504 W LebanonLaclede, MO
00:37 UTCHAIL 0.55 E EldonMiller, MO
00:38 UTCTSTM WND DMGLebanonLaclede, MOESTIMATED 70 MPH WINDS HAVE DOWNED TREES AND BLOWN TRANSFORMERS FROM ELDRIDGE TO LEBANON.
00:40 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 E Linn CreekCamden, MOTREE DOWN
00:40 UTCTSTM WND DMG6 N LebanonLaclede, MOSIGNIFICANT TREE DAMAGE WEST OF HIGHWAY 5 ON INDEPENDENCE ROAD.
00:40 UTCTSTM WND GST 64LebanonLaclede, MO
00:45 UTCTSTM WND DMGLaurieMorgan, MOTREE DOWN
00:55 UTCTSTM WND DMGStoutlandLaclede, MOSEVERAL TREES DOWNED AND ROOF DAMAGE TO WATER TREATMENT PLANT.
01:05 UTCTORNADO4 Ssw IberiaMiller, MOA NWS STORM SURVEY TEAM CONFIRMED THAT AN EF-1 TORNADO WITH ESTIMATED WINDS OF 100 MPH TOUCHED DOWN APPROXIMATELY 4 MILES SOUTH OF IBERIA IN SOUTHEAST MILLER COUNTY. THE TORNADO DOWNED TREES AND DAMAGED FARM TRAILERS AND
01:10 UTCTSTM WND DMGWaynesvillePulaski, MOWINDS ESTIMATED OVER 70 MPH HAVE DOWNED TREES AND KNOCKED OUT POWER IN SEVERAL LOCATIONS.
01:19 UTCTSTM WND DMGFort Leonard WoodPulaski, MOPOWER LINE DOWN
01:30 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 S RollaPhelps, MOROOF REMOVED FROM HOME AND A SHED WAS OVERTURNED. POWER LINES ALSO BLOWN DOWN. WITNESSES REPORTED STRAIGHT LINE WINDS AND NO ROTATION.
01:30 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 S RollaPhelps, MOLARGE TREE BLOWN DOWN
02:00 UTCFLASH FLOOD2 Ssw BelleMaries, MO3 FEET OF WATER OVER HIGHWAY 42 ONE HALF MILE OFF HIGHWAY 28.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2009 tornado in MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 10, 2009

17 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 1012:59 PM MDTEF0Scotts Bluff, NE0.140
June 101:55 PM MDTEF0Goshen, WY0.130
June 102:30 PM MDTEF0Weld, CO0.050
June 102:38 PM MDTEF0Morrill, NE3.730$10,000
June 104:05 PM MDTEF0Weld, CO0.150
June 106:20 PM EDTEF0Glades, FL0.510$50,000
June 105:41 PM CDTEF0Vernon, MO1.450
June 106:00 PM CDTEF0Haskell, OK0.130
June 106:11 PM CDTEF0Haskell, OK0.450$30,000
June 106:40 PM CDTEF0Denton, TX2.350$5,000
June 106:50 PM CDTEF0Denton, TX0.150
June 106:53 PM CDTEF1Denton, TX0.250$200,000
June 107:05 PM CDTEF0Denton, TX0.650
June 108:28 PM CDTEF0Seward, KS0.350
June 109:22 PM CDTEF0Red River, TX2.5100
June 109:25 PM CDTEF0Titus, TX2.6100
June 1010:15 PM CDTEF0Cass, TX0.575

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.