EF1 tornado, Greenfield to Aldrich, Missouri, February 28, 2012

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

February 28, 2012

Touchdown

11:26 PM CST (05:26 UTC)

Lifted

11:45 PM CST (05:45 UTC)

On the ground

19 minutes

Path length

18.4 miles (29.6 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$250,000

Counties

Dade and Polk counties

Touchdown point

37.453, -93.853

Lift-off point

37.537, -93.530

Record number

1202282326-01

A strong system moved across the Midwest and brought a round of severe storms to the Ozarks late on the 28th and early on the 29th of February. A squall line with embedded bows and super cellular type storms produced large hail and very strong damaging winds along with several deadly and destructive tornadoes.

An EF-1 rated tornado with a maximum wind speed of 90 to 100 mph tracked across eastern Dade County and continued into Polk County from three miles north northwest of Greenfield to two miles east southeast of Aldrich. The tornado damaged or destroyed a total of 10 barns and outbuildings along with causing roof damage to two homes as it tracked from central Dade County into southwestern Polk County. The tornado crossed both the Big Sac and Little Sac arms of the Stockton Lake.

This is a continuation of the EF-1 rated tornado that touched down in eastern Dade County at 23:26 and continued into Polk County west of Aldrich before lifting two miles southeast of Aldrich. The tornado damaged or destroyed a total of 10 barns and outbuildings along with causing roof damage to two homes. Most of this damage was in Dade County. The tornado crossed both the Big Sac and Little Sac arms of the Stockton Lake.

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

19 minutes of warning. NWS SGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 05:07 UTC, 19 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 05:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 04:30 UTC and running to 06:23 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 01:44 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.

Springfield (SGF), 39 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Springfield radar (KSGF), 39 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 05:26 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 2012 tornado in MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are

12 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.