EF2 tornado, Chilton to Ellsinore, Missouri, December 31, 2010

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 mph

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

3. EF2111 to 135 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. 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.

Rating

EF2

Date

December 31, 2010

Touchdown

1:24 PM CST (19:24 UTC)

Lifted

1:30 PM CST (19:30 UTC)

On the ground

6 minutes

Path length

2.6 miles (4.2 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$200,000

County

Carter County

Touchdown point

36.941, -90.851

Lift-off point

36.970, -90.821

Record number

1012311324-01

A pre-frontal line of thunderstorms developed ahead of a cold front over western Missouri. The broken line of storms extended southwestward across southeast Missouri. Isolated bowing segments and supercells were embedded within portions of the line. The storms existed within a narrow axis of marginal instability with mixed layer capes at or below 500 j/kg. A low level jet axis along the Mississippi River provided more than sufficient vertical wind shear for embedded supercells with isolated tornadoes.

The tornado touched down near County Road 223, where a tin roof was peeled up on a small outbuilding. A gate and fence were blown about 50 feet. The tornado reached its maximum width and its peak intensity as it crossed County Road 225. This is where a permanent home suffered partial wall and roof loss, a mobile home was blown 15 feet off its foundation, and over one hundred trees were uprooted. The residents of the mobile home took refuge in the laundry room, which was the only room not destroyed. Residents of both homes were provided food and shelter by the Red Cross. A large oak tree fell on a vehicle, causing major damage to the vehicle. Two other vehicles were damaged by debris. A shed and outbuildings were destroyed. A bicycle was blown up into a tree. A twin-pole high voltage transmission tower was partially blown over. The tornado crossed U.S. Highway 60, then struck a sawmill on Highway FF. The 40-by-100 foot sawmill was destroyed. None of the eight workers in the sawmill were injured, possibly because they jumped into a sawdust pit. A home near the sawmill lost part of its roof (less than 20 percent), and dozens of large trees were uprooted. As the tornado crossed County Road 327, a few more trees were blown down. Part of a metal roof from a small barn was blown into a tree. Due to damage to the high-voltage transmission lines, over 1,500 customers from Van Buren to Ellsinore were without power for up to four hours. A National Weather Service damage survey confirmed a convergent signature to the debris pattern. A person in the area reported witnessing the tornado. Peak winds in this tornado were estimated near 120 mph.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:42 UTC and running to 21:40 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:23 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.

The Paducah radar (KPAH), 184 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:26 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 2010 tornado in MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are

28 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.