EF2 tornado, Kimberling City to Kissee Mills, Missouri, February 29, 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 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

February 29, 2012

Touchdown

1:13 AM CST (07:13 UTC)

Lifted

1:32 AM CST (07:32 UTC)

On the ground

19 minutes

Path length

24.3 miles (39.1 km)

Path width

400 yards (366 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

47

Property damage

$21 million

Counties

Stone and Taney counties

Touchdown point

36.622, -93.460

Lift-off point

36.658, -93.024

Record number

1202290113-01

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-2 tornado tracked from near Kimberling City near Joe Bald Road to 1.5 miles west of Branson where it crossed the county line into Taney County. Estimated maximum wind speeds were from 120 to 130 mph. Maximum path width was 400 yards. Path in Stone County was nearly eight miles and the overall length was approximately 22 miles. Damage was reported to 30 homes in Kimberling City, as well as the Joe Bald, Indian Point, Compton Ridge and Gobbler's Mountain areas. Significant damage occurred to the Kimberling Inn. At the Port of Kimberling Marina, four large boat docks were damage or destroyed and nearly 150 boats were damaged though only one was sunk. The tornado track continued into Taney County and struck Branson, Missouri.

This is a continuation of the EF-2 rated tornado that touched down in Stone County at 01:13 CST then tracked into western Taney County west of Branson. The path length in Taney County was near 16 miles and the overall path length was approximately 22 miles. While mostly rated EF1 in Taney County, there was evidence of EF2 damage as well. The tornado caused 37 injuries as it tracked down the business district of Branson, heavily damaging 14 theaters and attractions, 25 restaurants and 21 hotels down the Branson Strip. Additional damage also occurred to several other small businesses and two shopping centers. The tornado skipped through residential areas in unincorporated portions of the county and in portions of Branson severely damaging or destroying around 100 homes including several mobile homes. The tornado then heavily damaged the Branson Landing including Hilton Branson Convention Center Hotel Complex before moving into more rural areas east of Branson and lifting near Kissee Mills. Nearly 70 percent of the windows of the Hilton were blown out or damaged.

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

15 minutes of warning. NWS SGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 06:58 UTC, 15 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 07:23 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 04:30 UTC and running to 08:22 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 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 Springfield radar (KSGF), 68 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 07:14 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

31 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.