Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 2012
EF0 tornado, Harrelson to Raymore, Missouri, May 6, 2012
From Harrelson to Raymore, this EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Cass County on May 6, 2012, touching down at 5:17 PM CDT and reaching 25 yards wide. It killed nobody.
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.
EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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
- May 6, 2012
- Touchdown
- 5:17 PM CDT (22:17 UTC)
- Lifted
- 5:18 PM CDT (22:18 UTC)
- On the ground
- 1 minutes
- Path length
- 0.1 miles (0.1 km)
- Path width
- 25 yards (23 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Cass County
- Touchdown point
- 38.790, -94.450
- Lift-off point
- 38.790, -94.449
- Record number
- 1205061617-01
What the Weather Service recorded
A cold front moved southeast across the area, during the late morning through|evening hours, of May 6, 2012. The front produced scattered thunderstorms, with a|few becoming severe. There were numerous reports of hail, along with two reported|tornadoes, and several reports of damaging winds.
A brief EF0 tornado touchdown was observed at 1615CST, about a mile south of Raymore and just east of Highway 71. It barely moved east and lifted at 1616CST. |No damage was observed.
A brief EF0 tornado touchdown was observed at 1717CST, in an open field near 195th Street and Old School Road. The tornado barely moved east and lifted at 1718CST. No damage was observed.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
1 minute of warning. NWS EAX issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:16 UTC, 1 minute before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:45 UTC.
The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 20:49 UTC and running to 04:00 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20:49 UTC | 04:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | EAX |
| 21:31 UTC | 22:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | EAX |
| 22:01 UTC | 22:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | EAX |
| 22:16 UTC | 22:45 UTC | Tornado Warning | EAX |
| 22:39 UTC | 23:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | EAX |
| 22:51 UTC | 23:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | EAX |
| 23:02 UTC | 23:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | EAX |
| 23:15 UTC | 23:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | EAX |
| 23:18 UTC | 04:30 UTC | Flash Flood Warning | EAX |
| 23:30 UTC | 00:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | EAX |
| 04:30 UTC | 15:00 UTC | Flood Warning | EAX |
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, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:03 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.
Topeka, KS (KTOP), 12:00Z
10.3 hours before the tornado, 106 km from the path. May 6, 2012.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1880 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -240 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 1123 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 732 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 22 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 30 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 286 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 218 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.2 K/km
Topeka, KS (KTOP), 00:00Z
1.7 hours after it, 106 km from the path. May 7, 2012.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 2839 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -1 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 3348 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 698 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 28 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 9 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 62 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 169 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.9
- Supercell composite
- 5.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 7.1 K/km
The surface observations
Lee s Summit (LXT), 20 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20:53 UTC | 82 | 71 | 120° 10 kt | 1010.2 | ||
| 21:45 UTC | 80.6 | 69.8 | 120° 6 kt | 1009.1 | VCTS | |
| 21:53 UTC | 81 | 70 | 110° 7 kt | 1009.8 | TS | |
| 22:17 UTC | 77 | 71.6 | 240° 6 kt | 1010.8 | +TSRA | |
| 22:53 UTC | 73 | 70 | 130° 10 kt | 16 | 1009.1 | +TSRA BR |
| 23:08 UTC | 68 | 62.6 | 180° 18 kt | 27 | 1009.8 | TSRA |
| 23:17 UTC | 64.4 | 59 | 170° 17 kt | 27 | 1009.1 | TSRA |
| 23:22 UTC | 64.4 | 57.2 | 180° 13 kt | 24 | 1009.1 | -TSRA |
| 23:53 UTC | 69 | 58 | 150° 9 kt | 22 | 1010.2 | TS |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Pleasant Hill radar (KEAX), 16 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:15 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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21:47 UTC | HAIL 0.88 | Raymore | Cass, MO | PENNY TO NICKEL SIZE HAIL FALLING IN SOUTH RAYMORE. |
| 22:03 UTC | HAIL 0.88 | 1 S Belton | Cass, MO | |
| 22:15 UTC | TORNADO | Raymore | Cass, MO | OFF DUTY METEOROLOGIST REPORTED A BRIEF TOUCHDOWN ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF RAYMORE EAST OG HIGHWAY 71. |
| 22:17 UTC | HAIL 0.88 | Peculiar | Cass, MO | |
| 22:17 UTC | TORNADO | 1 S Raymore | Cass, MO | BRIEF TORNADO TOUCHDOWN REPORTED AT 195TH AND OLD SCHOOL ROAD. |
| 22:20 UTC | HAIL 0.88 | Raytown | Jackson, MO | DIME TO NICKEL HAIL NEAR RAYTOWN. REPORT RELAYED FROM WFO DMX. |
| 22:31 UTC | HAIL 1 | Raymore | Cass, MO | QUARTER SIZE HAIL REPORTED IN DOWNTOWN RAYMORE. |
| 22:36 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | Independence | Jackson, MO | INTERSTATE 70 AND NOLAND ROAD. |
| 22:41 UTC | HAIL 1 | Raymore | Cass, MO | |
| 22:48 UTC | HAIL 1 | Greenwood | Jackson, MO | REPORTED BY RETIRED NWS EMPLOYEE. |
| 22:50 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | Lee'S Summit | Jackson, MO | REPORTED AT INTERSTATE 470 AND HIGHWAY 50. |
| 22:55 UTC | HAIL 1 | 2 Nne Archie | Cass, MO | |
| 23:15 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | Pleasant Hill | Cass, MO | ALL STREETS IMPASSABLE IN DOWNTOWN PLEASANT HILL |
| 23:16 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | Pleasant Hill | Cass, MO | |
| 23:21 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | 3 W Pleasant Hill | Cass, MO | |
| 23:45 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | 2 Nw Greenwood | Jackson, MO | 2 INCHES OF RAIN IN 45 MINUTES REPORTED BY RETIRED NWS EMPLOYEE. |
| 23:45 UTC | HAIL 1 | 2 E Harrisonville | Cass, MO | |
| 00:00 UTC | HEAVY RAIN 3.2 | Pleasant Hill | Cass, MO | THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE MEASURED 3.20 INCHES OF RAIN SINCE 7 AM CDT. |
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 May 6, 2012
5 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
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.