EF0 tornado, Tulip to Paris, Missouri, April 17, 2013

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.

Rating

EF0

Date

April 17, 2013

Touchdown

5:35 PM CDT (22:35 UTC)

Lifted

5:36 PM CDT (22:36 UTC)

On the ground

1 minutes

Path length

0.1 miles (0.1 km)

Path width

40 yards (37 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Monroe County

Touchdown point

39.402, -92.059

Lift-off point

39.402, -92.058

Record number

1304171635-01

8 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LSX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 95 mph.

• Two metal outbuildings were severely damaged. Metal panels were tossed over 100 yards and greater to the northwest. Picture 14.
• Large tree tops were snapped half way up and lying in chaotic directions.
• South side of the barn was removed - the strructure is old. Roofing removed. Picture 11.A seocnd larger barn - the south side of the roof was removed. - the south side wall was also removed. Bradford pear tree pointed to the north-northwest
• 2 x 4 driven into the south side of the roof of an outbuilding. Another smaller wood spear driven into the ground southwest of outbuilding. Shingles removed from roof.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

Widespread showers and thunderstorms developed ahead of a weather system. Significant rainfall, as well as tornadoes, damaging winds and large hail occurred with the stronger storms.

A tornado briefly touchdown in southwest Monroe County a mile north of the intersection of Highways M and C on Highway C. Six power poles were snapped at the base of the pole. Width of the damage in this location was 100 yards and damage was rated EF1. Further northeast...the tornado briefly touched down on County Road 840 just east of intersection with County Road 819. A barn was severely damaged. Debris from the barn was tossed to the east about 100 yards. The tornado continued to travel to the northeast...where it briefly touched down again...just south of Highway AA...just west of intersection with County Road 835. Two machine sheds in this location sustained minor to moderate damage. Also...a large barn sustained significant damage where the south part of the barn was removed. Damage width in this area was 70 yards wide. Damage was rated low end EF1. Further to the east...on Highway AA...just west of intersection with County Road 857...numerous large trees were snapped at the base and showed a convergent damage pattern. Width of damage in this area was over 60 yards wide and the damage was only on the north side of Highway AA. Damage in this location was rated low end EF1. The tornado continued to travel to the northeast and briefly touched down one last time just west of Highway 15...two miles south of Paris, Missouri. Three machine sheds sustained significant damage with debris being thrown 300 to 400 yards to the north northwest. Damage was rated EF1 in this location. Overall the path length was 7.45 miles...with a max damage width of 70 yards. The tornado was rated EF1.

Another tornado, about half a mile south of the first tornado, briefly touched down on County Road 835, half a mile north of the intersection with County Road 840. A barn sustained minor to moderate damage, where 2x4 missiles were driven into the roof of the barn. Width of damage was 30 to 40 yards wide with a path length of less than a tenth of a mile. The tornado was rated EF0.

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

11 minutes of warning. NWS LSX issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:24 UTC, 11 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 16:11 UTC and running to 02:59 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:59 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 St Louis radar (KLSX), 142 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:35 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 2013 tornado in MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are

13 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.