Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 2012

EF0 tornado, Weaubleau, Missouri, April 30, 2012

This EF0 tornado ran 1.2 miles across Hickory County on April 30, 2012, touching down at 1:56 AM CDT and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $5,000 of property damage.

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
April 30, 2012
Touchdown
1:56 AM CDT (06:56 UTC)
Lifted
1:58 AM CDT (06:58 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
1.2 miles (1.9 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$5,000
County
Hickory County
Touchdown point
37.828, -93.566
Lift-off point
37.831, -93.544
Record number
1204300056-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A stalled frontal boundary over the Ozarks and an upper trough over the region resulted in the development of several rounds of thunderstorms which produced very heavy rainfall. There were a few strong to severe thunderstorms that produced marginal severe hail and one weak tornado.

A weak tornado briefly touched down between Panther Creek along Farm Road 11 and Highway 123 in far southwest Hickory County. The tornado uprooted trees and destroyed a barn. Maximum winds were estimated at 70 mph.

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

The warnings

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 severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 01:05 UTC and running to 08:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
13:14 UTC19:00 UTCFlood AdvisorySGF
13:33 UTC19:00 UTCFlash Flood WarningSGF
23:00 UTC12:00 UTCFlash Flood WatchSGF
01:05 UTC08:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchSGF
07:55 UTC00:00 UTCFlood AdvisorySGF

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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 05:59 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

6.9 hours before the tornado, 106 km from the path. April 30, 2012.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 2012-04-30Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 913 joules per kilogram, CIN -33, lifted condensation level 985 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 2012-04-30The 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 177 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 48 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
913 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-33 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1541 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
985 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
48 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
177 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
159 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.7
Supercell composite
4.3
0-3 km lapse rate
5.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Clinton (GLY), 60 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
05:15 UTC62.662.60° 0 kt1014.6+RA
05:35 UTC62.662.60° 0 kt1015.2RA
05:55 UTC62.662.60° 0 kt1013.9-RA
06:15 UTC62.662.6340° 3 kt1013.9-RA
06:35 UTC62.662.610° 9 kt141014.6+RA
06:55 UTC60.860.870° 6 kt1014.9RA
07:15 UTC60.860.8100° 4 kt1013.5RA
07:35 UTC62.662.6270° 5 kt1014.2RA
07:55 UTC62.662.6250° 3 kt1014.2RA
08:15 UTC62.662.6150° 3 kt1014.2-RA
08:35 UTC62.662.6150° 5 kt1013.9RA
08:55 UTC62.662.6150° 5 kt1013.5-RA

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

The radar

The Springfield radar (KSGF), 67 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 06:55 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
04:39 UTCFLASH FLOODEl Dorado SpringsCedar, MOSEVERAL STREETS FLOODED AND IMPASSABLE WITHIN THE CITY LIMITS OF EL DORADO SPRINGS.
06:54 UTCTORNADO 02 Nne HumansvilleHickory, MOA WEAK TORNADO BRIEFLY TOUCHED DOWN BETWEEN PANTHER CREEK ALONG FARM ROAD 11 AND HIGHWAY 123 IN FAR SOUTHWEST HICKORY COUNTY. THE TORNADO UPROOTED TREES AND DESTROYED A BARN. TIN FROM THE BARN FOUND WEST OF THE BARN AND

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2012 tornado in MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 30, 2012

22 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 305:38 PM CDTEF0Clark, KS0.475
April 305:52 PM CDTEF0Ford, KS0.025
April 305:57 PM CDTEF0Edwards, KS0.375
April 306:39 PM CDTEF0Kiowa, KS0.750
April 307:12 PM CDTEF0Kiowa, KS0.675
April 307:34 PM CDTEF0Alfalfa, OK0.120
April 307:40 PM CDTEF0Alfalfa, OK3.230
April 307:45 PM CDTEF2Comanche, KS2.6200
April 308:10 PM CDTEF0Nowata, OK0.150
April 308:12 PM CDTEF1Nowata, OK0.275
April 308:13 PM CDTEF1Grant, OK16.0300
April 308:25 PM CDTEF0Nowata, OK0.150
April 308:30 PM CDTEF0Collingsworth, TX1.3150
April 308:33 PM CDTEF0Nowata, OK0.275$5,000
April 308:59 PM CDTEF1Nowata, OK1.5200$2,000
April 309:06 PM CDTEF1Grant, OK1.050
April 309:10 PM CDTEF1Grant, OK14.0400
April 309:29 PM CDTEF1Grant, OK12.0200
April 3010:05 PM CDTEF0Craig, OK1.075
April 3010:07 PM CDTEF1Kay, OK2.050
April 3010:25 PM CDTEF1Kay, OK7.0100
April 3012:42 AM CDTEF1Nowata, OK6.5300$10,000

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.