EF1 tornado, Farmer to Booth, Missouri, April 19, 2011

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

April 19, 2011

Touchdown

4:00 PM CDT (21:00 UTC)

Lifted

4:08 PM CDT (21:08 UTC)

On the ground

8 minutes

Path length

4.1 miles (6.6 km)

Path width

150 yards (137 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Pike County

Touchdown point

39.297, -91.297

Lift-off point

39.319, -91.225

Record number

1104191500-01

A warm front was lifting northward through the region, triggering numerous showers and thunderstorms. Some of the storms produced tornadoes as well as a lot of large hail. There were 6 tornadoes with this event, including an EF3.

A tornado touched down about 6 miles southwest of Bowling Green, near the intersection of County Roads 147 and 148, producing minor tree damage. The tornado then moved northeast, damaging a barn south of County Road 482 and then producing extensive tree damage just north of the intersection of County Roads 482 and 481. The tornado continued northeast, striking a farm on Highway Y. A barn was destroyed at this location, and produced extensive damage to the roof and the second story of a home. The tornado then veered a bit to the east and produced its greatest damage to a farmstead about 2.4 miles southwest of Bowling Green and 1.5 miles west of Highway 161. The home at this location suffered extensive damage, while several outbuildings and implements were totally destroyed. Although the tornado lifted shortly after striking the farm, debris was strewn over one-half mile to the east of the farm, with insulation from the farmstead blown across Highway 161. The total length of the tornado was about 4.1 miles, with a maximum damage width of 100 to 150 yards. Maximum damage rated at the second farmstead was high end EF1, with winds of 100 to 110 mph.

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

1 minute of warning. NWS LSX issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:59 UTC, 1 minute before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:05 UTC and running to 00:28 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 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 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.

Pittsfield (PPQ), 55 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The St Louis radar (KLSX), 84 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:01 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 2011 tornado in MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are

69 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 70 of them

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.