Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 2009

EF0 tornado, Thomasville, Missouri, June 9, 2009

This EF0 tornado ran 0.0 miles across Oregon County on June 9, 2009, touching down at 7:59 PM CDT and reaching 20 yards wide. It killed nobody.

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
June 9, 2009
Touchdown
7:59 PM CDT (00:59 UTC)
Lifted
8:00 PM CDT (01:00 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.0 miles (0.0 km)
Path width
20 yards (18 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Oregon County
Touchdown point
36.780, -91.524
Lift-off point
36.780, -91.524
Record number
0906091859-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Numerous severe thunderstorms impacted extreme southeast Kansas and the Missouri Ozarks. These storms developed along and near a warm front that surged into the region. Large hail, damaging winds, and one tornado resulted from these storms. Flash flooding was also observed in many areas of southern Missouri.

A National Weather Service storm survey revealed that an EF-0 tornado briefly touched down in an open field southeast of Thomasville. The tornado did very little damage, and wind speeds were estimated at 70 mph.

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 00:39 UTC, 20 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:31 UTC and running to 02:47 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
18:31 UTC02:47 UTCTornado WatchSGF
00:23 UTC01:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSGF
00:39 UTC01:45 UTCTornado WarningSGF
01:05 UTC06:00 UTCFlash Flood WarningSGF
02:13 UTC13:00 UTCFlash Flood WarningSGF
02:47 UTC10:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchSGF

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 20:00 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

1.0 hours before the tornado, 203 km from the path. June 10, 2009.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 2009-06-10Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1799 joules per kilogram, CIN -64, lifted condensation level 818 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 2009-06-10The 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 230 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 26 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
1799 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-64 J/kg
Surface CAPE
161 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
818 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
230 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
321 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
16.4
0-3 km lapse rate
4.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Springfield, MO (KSGF), 12:00Z

11.0 hours after it, 203 km from the path. June 10, 2009.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2009-06-10Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1058 joules per kilogram, CIN -178, lifted condensation level 888 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 12:00Z on 2009-06-10The 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 390 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 39 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
1058 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-178 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
888 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
39 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
390 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
408 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
16.5
0-3 km lapse rate
3.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

West Plains (UNO), 35 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
23:43 UTC78.869.880° 4 kt1012.9TS
23:53 UTC777170° 8 kt1012.9TS
00:08 UTC75.269.830° 10 kt141013.5VCTS HZ
00:30 UTC71.664.480° 7 kt171012.2VCTS
00:53 UTC706450° 8 kt1013.5VCTS
01:05 UTC69.864.440° 7 kt1013.5
01:19 UTC69.864.4100° 6 kt1013.5
01:53 UTC706490° 6 kt1013.2
02:53 UTC7164130° 5 kt1012.5

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

The radar

The Springfield radar (KSGF), 174 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:00 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
23:33 UTCTSTM WND GST 60EuniceTexas, MO
23:38 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD5 W HunterCarter, MOREPORT RELAYED THROUGH MEDIA TV STATION.
00:06 UTCFLASH FLOODVan BurenCarter, MOSEVERAL STREETS HAVE AT LEAST ONE HALF FOOT OF WATER.
00:59 UTCTORNADO3 Se ThomasvilleOregon, MOBASED ON AN NWS SURVEY AND EYE WITHNESS REPORTS AN F-0 TORNADO TOUCED DOWN BRIEFLY SOUTHEAST OF THOMASVILLE. THE TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN IN AN OPEN FIELD AND DID VERY LITTLE DAMAGE. WIND SPEED WAS ABOUT 70 MPH AND WIDTH WAS
01:25 UTCHAIL 1.758 Ese AltonOregon, MOGOLF BALL SIZE HAIL AT RIVERTON.

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 9, 2009

7 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 91:33 PM CDTEF0Allen, KS0.850
June 92:25 PM CDTEF0Neosho, KS1.665
June 92:12 PM MDTEF0Cheyenne, NE0.130
June 93:15 PM MDTEF0Cherry, NE0.110
June 95:21 PM EDTEF0Baltimore, MD1.0150
June 95:11 PM MDTEF0Weld, CO0.150
June 96:53 PM CDTEF0Kiowa, KS0.650

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.