Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 2012

EF0 tornado, Cape Girardeau to Hines Lndg, Missouri, March 23, 2012

From Cape Girardeau to Hines Lndg, this EF0 tornado ran 0.3 miles across Cape Girardeau County on March 23, 2012, touching down at 11:33 AM CDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $10,000 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
March 23, 2012
Touchdown
11:33 AM CDT (16:33 UTC)
Path length
0.3 miles (0.4 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$10,000
County
Cape Girardeau County
Touchdown point
37.326, -89.505
Lift-off point
37.326, -89.505
Record number
1203231033-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A large upper level low pressure system moved east from Missouri into an area of warm, moist air with dewpoint temperatures in the 60s. Strong mid level winds helped to produce severe thunderstorms, including supercells.

The tornado touched down on the north side of downtown Cape Girardeau just west of the river. Several homes had minor roof (primarily shingles) and siding damage. A manhole cover was lofted and blown into a metal fence. Several smaller trees were snapped. Peak winds were estimated at 85 mph.

An Emergency Management survey revealed an EF1 tornado with peak winds of about 105 mph. Two wooden power poles were broken and several large trees were uprooted along Hwy 535 near Neely's Landing. There were several eyewitness accounts along with a cell phone video of the tornado. Eyewitnesses reported the tornado lifted as it crossed the Mississippi river.

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.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
15:38 UTC16:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningPAH
16:14 UTC16:41 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningPAH
16:44 UTC19:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchPAH

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 Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 16:26 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.

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), 12:00Z

4.6 hours before the tornado, 280 km from the path. March 23, 2012.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Little Rock, AR at 12:00Z on 2012-03-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -36454, lifted condensation level 829 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Little Rock, AR at 12:00Z on 2012-03-23The 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 -12 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 40 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-36454 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
829 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
40 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
25 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-12 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
85 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), 00:00Z

7.4 hours after it, 280 km from the path. March 24, 2012.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Little Rock, AR at 00:00Z on 2012-03-24Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 20 joules per kilogram, CIN -3, lifted condensation level 1437 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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, Little Rock, AR at 00:00Z on 2012-03-24The 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 96 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 52 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
20 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-3 J/kg
Surface CAPE
69 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1437 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
52 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
96 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
130 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
7.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Paducah radar (KPAH), 71 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 16:34 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
14:19 UTCHAIL 0.25Scott CityScott, MO
15:56 UTCHAIL 0.25JacksonCape Girardeau, MO
16:00 UTCHAIL 0.751 S DeltaCape Girardeau, MO
16:05 UTCHAIL 0.753 W JacksonCape Girardeau, MO
16:07 UTCHAIL 1.75JacksonCape Girardeau, MOSPOTTER ALSO REPORTED 50 MPH.
16:11 UTCHAIL 2.5JacksonCape Girardeau, MO
16:33 UTCTORNADO1 W Neelys LandingCape Girardeau, MOFIRE DEPARTMENT REPORTS POSSIBLE BRIEF TORNADO TOUCHDOWN
16:36 UTCFUNNEL CLOUDE FruitlandCape Girardeau, MOPUBLIC REPORTS POSSIBLE FUNNEL NEAR P AND G PLANT ON 177 EAST OF FRUITLAND.

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 March 23, 2012

13 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 239:26 AM CDTEF1Pike, AL1.7700
March 2311:38 AM CDTEF1Cape Girardeau, MO0.6300
March 2312:14 PM CDTEF0Jackson, IL1.850
March 2312:24 PM CDTEF1Jackson, IL7.5125$75,000
March 2312:48 PM CDTEF0Geneva, AL1.725$25,000
March 231:26 PM CDTEF2Jefferson, IL2.610012$150,000
March 231:57 PM CDTEF0Marion, IL0.010
March 233:07 PM EDTEF1Jefferson, KY2.470$300,000
March 233:20 PM EDTEF0Early, GA3.525$5,000
March 233:28 PM EDTEF1Shelby, KY2.250$25,000
March 234:30 PM EDTEF0Switzerland, IN0.125
March 237:50 PM EDTEF0Clinton, OH0.450$50,000
March 238:30 PM EDTEF0Warren, OH0.450$20,000

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.