EF3 tornado, Grandin to Burch, Missouri, May 25, 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 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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF3

Date

May 25, 2011

Touchdown

3:49 PM CDT (20:49 UTC)

Lifted

4:46 PM CDT (21:46 UTC)

On the ground

57 minutes

Path length

47.4 miles (76.3 km)

Path width

1,200 yards (1097 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

2

Property damage

$800,000

Counties

Carter, Wayne and Madison counties

Touchdown point

36.815, -90.849

Lift-off point

37.349, -90.310

Record number

1105251449-01

1 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LSX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 83 mph.

• Old machine shed damaged. Collapsed of the east, north and western parts of building. Pieces of tin roofing materials were tossed 40 to 60 yards to the northeast. Width of damage path 30 yards.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

Numerous strong to severe thunderstorms occurred in the warm sector of a low pressure system over central Missouri. The air mass in the warm sector was very unstable, with afternoon mixed-layer cape values in the 2500 to 4000 j/kg range. A 65 to 75 knot mid level jet was located across Arkansas, with the nose of the jet moving into western Kentucky. This feature enhanced the lift and strong deep-layer shear already in place, creating an environment very favorable for supercells and tornadoes. A 40 to 55 knot low level jet across eastern Arkansas moved into western Kentucky during the evening, resulting in a long-track strong tornado.

The tornado reached its peak intensity about a mile east of Ellsinore, where an unanchored modular home with a conventionally-built addition was almost entirely blown away and carried an unknown distance. Several large oak trees were nubbed out. Several homes east of Ellsinore received moderate to major damage. The wall of one house was blown off, along with the back of the roof. Hundreds of trees were blown down. In the Grandin area, two mobile homes were destroyed, and a school suffered major damage, including the loss of an entire roof system. Hundreds of acres of large trees were uprooted or snapped. Between Grandin and Ellsinore, telephone poles were snapped and several cows were killed. A National Weather Service damage survey team found the presence of suction vortices east of Ellsinore. The suction vortices were reported by at least one trained spotter during the tornado. A national television crew aired video of the tornado in progress near Ellsinore. Peak winds were estimated near 150 mph. The average path width was 200 yards. The tornado path continued into Wayne County.

This tornado continued from Carter County into Wayne County. Three homes were destroyed. One log home in far southwestern Wayne County was levelled. Nine houses suffered major damage, and another 39 homes had minor damage. The vast majority of damage was in the Silva area. In Silva, a camper and a mobile home were destroyed. A Silva family reportedly did not make it to their tornado shelter in time. A large tree fell on one of the victims, resulting in a dislocated shoulder. Another family member received minor to moderate injuries to the hip, back, and head. Several vehicles were destroyed or damaged from flying debris and fallen trees. A couple of churches received mainly minor damage. Hundreds of acres of large trees were uprooted or snapped. A half-mile section of Highway 34 east of Silva was closed due to downed trees and power lines. Most streets in Silva were blocked by trees and limbs. Peak winds were estimated near 150 mph. The average path width was about 450 yards. The tornado continued northeast into Madison County.

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

9 minutes of warning. NWS PAH issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:40 UTC, 9 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 16:14 UTC and running to 00:56 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 High Risk, with a 0.30 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 19:39 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), 160 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:51 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

93 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 94 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.