EF1 tornado, Moselle to Murphy, 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 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.

Rating

EF1

Date

December 31, 2010

Touchdown

11:27 AM CST (17:27 UTC)

Lifted

11:35 AM CST (17:35 UTC)

On the ground

8 minutes

Path length

8.6 miles (13.8 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Jefferson and Franklin counties

Touchdown point

38.307, -90.782

Lift-off point

38.383, -90.657

Record number

1012311127-01

Severe thunderstorms developed ahead of a strong cold front, triggering numerous showers and thunderstorms. A number of tornadoes were reported as well as damaging winds and large hail.

The tornado touched down around three quarters of a mile southwest of Bruns Bridge on Mill Hill Road and four tenths of a mile east of the northern end of Ely Road, within the Meramec River valley. The tornado moved rapidly northeast at 50 mph crossing the Meramec River six times while producing extensive tree damage along its entire path to Robertsville. Large sections of trees were completely leveled within wooded areas in rural southeast Franklin County. Over two dozen structures were also damaged along the path to the southwest of Robertsville, including one house that was totally destroyed at the intersection of Eagle Ridge Road and Woods Creek Road, and another building on south Oak Drive. In Robertsville, seven homes were damaged on Hayfield Drive in the Hayfield Estates subdivision, with two sustaining significant damage. The tornado then hit the Shiloh Baptist Church causing severe damage to its west facing wall, and leveling the old church sanctuary just north of the church. The tornado then destroyed a building at the intersection of Route O and Route N as it exited town. The tornado weakened some as it moved northeast of Robertsville moving across the southeast portion of the Robertsville State Park and crossing Highway N just south of Mueller Road, about six tenths of a mile north of Catawissa. The tornado then continued northeast, crossing Solidarity Drive, which is on the Franklin/Jefferson county line, into Jefferson County.

The tornado initially touched down northeast of Highway 30 and County Road HH in southeast Franklin County. Several medium size tree limbs were snapped in the upper parts of the trees. The width of the tree limb damage was 20 yards. Further to the northeast, a barn sustained moderate roof damage on Woodland Road. The tornado then skipped northeast and moved into northwest Jefferson County.

The tornado skipped northeast and moved into northwest Jefferson County. Additional medium to large tree limbs were snapped while some medium size trees were uprooted along the Dittmer-Catawissa Road or 3 miles northwest of Dittmer. As the tornado continued to skip northeast, several large trees including large pine trees were snapped at the base or uprooted on Highway NN or 3 miles north of Dittmer. The tree damage was on a ridge crest along Highway NN. The damage was rated EF1 at this location. The damage width was approximately 50 yards. The tornado moved northeast and caused minor tree damage on Dutch Creek Road 1.5 miles southwest of Byrnesville. The tornado then lifted and dissipated.

The tornado crossed Solidarity Drive from Franklin County into Jefferson County and continued to the northeast. The path narrowed as it crossed Highway F just west of Lake Cattails. The tornado finally lifted around 1135 am near the northeast corner of Lake Cattails, 2 miles southeast of Pacific. The damage along this segment consisted of snapped trees, tree limbs and downed trees, and missing or damaged shingles on a few homes.

The tornado initially touched down at 11:48 AM approximately one mile east of Murphy, Missouri on W. Lakewood Drive in far northern Jefferson County. The damage path was 40 yards wide. The tornado's second touchdown occurred at the Jefferson, St. Louis County Line at Delmar Gardens on Arbor Terrace. Small trees and minor roof damage occurred at Delmar Gardens. The damage path was 50 yards wide and rated EF0. The tornado continued to the northeast into St. Louis County.

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

31 minutes of warning. NWS LSX issued a tornado warning for this county at 16:56 UTC, 31 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 18:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 13:29 UTC and running to 19:22 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 St Louis radar (KLSX), 40 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 17:26 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.