Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 2013

EF0 tornado, Lockwood, Missouri, May 19, 2013

This EF0 tornado ran 0.7 miles across Dade County on May 19, 2013, touching down at 12:23 AM CDT and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $250,000 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
May 19, 2013
Touchdown
12:23 AM CDT (05:23 UTC)
Lifted
12:24 AM CDT (05:24 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.7 miles (1.0 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$250,000
County
Dade County
Touchdown point
37.388, -93.967
Lift-off point
37.392, -93.956
Record number
1305192323-01

The damage survey

1 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS SGF, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 98 mph.

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

What the Weather Service recorded

A strong negatively titled upper level trough developed over the central portions of the country. A slow moving cold front moved into the Missouri Ozarks. This setup caused for several rounds of severe and slow moving thunderstorms which lead to widespread wind damage, large hail, and several low end tornadoes along with isolated flooding due to heavy rainfall.

An EF-0 tornado touched down on the west side of Lockwood at the golf course and city pool area. The tornado tracked east-northeast to the north end of Sycamore St. A grocery store sustained roof damage. Several trees were uprooted and a carport was thrown. Wind speeds were estimated between 70 to 80 mph.

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

The warnings

10 minutes of warning. NWS SGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 05:13 UTC, 10 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 06:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 23:26 UTC and running to 07:04 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
23:26 UTC07:04 UTCTornado WatchSGF
02:41 UTC15:00 UTCFlash Flood WatchSGF
05:08 UTC05:58 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSGF
05:13 UTC06:00 UTCTornado WarningSGF
09:46 UTC16:00 UTCFlood AdvisorySGF
17:49 UTC00:56 UTCTornado WatchSGF
23:14 UTC00:00 UTCTornado WarningSGF

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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 01:01 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.

Springfield, MO (KSGF), 00:00Z

5.4 hours before the tornado, 56 km from the path. May 20, 2013.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 2013-05-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 970 joules per kilogram, CIN -187, lifted condensation level 1767 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 2013-05-20The 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 137 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 37 knots.193958Sfc1 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
970 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-187 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1452 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1767 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
37 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
137 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
248 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.3
0-3 km lapse rate
6.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Springfield, MO (KSGF), 12:00Z

6.6 hours after it, 56 km from the path. May 20, 2013.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2013-05-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 4 joules per kilogram, CIN -445, lifted condensation level 1092 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2013-05-20The 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 81 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 69 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
4 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-445 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1092 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
69 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
17 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
81 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
208 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
4.4
0-3 km lapse rate
3.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Springfield radar (KSGF), 53 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 05:25 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
04:50 UTCTSTM WND GST 55Carl JunctionJasper, MO
04:57 UTCTSTM WND DMGOronogoJasper, MOTREE DOWN ACROSS ROADWAY
04:57 UTCTSTM WND GST 55OronogoJasper, MO
05:02 UTCTSTM WND DMGCarthageJasper, MOROAD SIGN DOWN AT I-49 AND FIR ROAD
05:06 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 E CarthageJasper, MOTREE REPORTED DOWN ON HOUSE AT INTERSECTION OF CHESTNUT AND 118.
05:06 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 E CarthageJasper, MONUMEROUS TREES DOWN...POWERLINES DOWN...OUTBUILDINGS DESTROYED...AND SHINGLE DAMAGE TO HOMES. TIME OF EVENT ESTIMATED.
05:06 UTCTSTM WND DMGS CarthageJasper, MOTREE REPORTED DOWN ON HOUSE.
05:06 UTCTORNADO 12 E CarthageJasper, MONWS STORM SURVEY CONFIRMED A TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN BRIEFLY NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF PALIMINO AND 13TH STREET APPROXIMATELY 2 MILES EAST OF CARTHAGE. NUMEROUS TREES WERE UPROOTED...ALONG WITH POWERLINES BLOWN DOWN AND OUTB
05:06 UTCTORNADO 12 E CarthageJasper, MONWS STORM SURVEY CONFIRMED A TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN BRIEFLY NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF PALIMINO AND 13TH STREET APPROXIMATELY 2 MILES EAST OF CARTHAGE. NUMEROUS TREES WERE UPROOTED...ALONG WITH POWERLINES BLOWN DOWN AND OUTB
05:12 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD3 Sw Golden CityBarton, MOFUNNEL CLOUD REPORTED.
05:23 UTCTORNADO 01 Wnw LockwoodDade, MOAN EF-0 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN ON THE WEST SIDE OF LOCKWOOD AT THE GOLF COURSE AND CITY POOL AREA. THIS TORNADO TRACKED EAST-NORTHEAST TO THE NORTH END OF SYCAMORE ST. A GROCERY STORE SUBSTAINED ROOF DAMAGE. SEVERAL TREES
05:23 UTCTORNADO1 Wnw LockwoodDade, MOAN EF-0 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN ON THE WEST SIDE OF LOCKWOOD AT THE GOLF COURSE AND CITY POOL AREA. THIS TORNADO TRACKED EAST-NORTHEAST TO THE NORTH END OF SYCAMORE ST. A GROCERY STORE SUBSTAINED ROOF DAMAGE. SEVERAL TREES
05:25 UTCTSTM WND DMGLockwoodDade, MOSEVERAL OUTBUILDINGS DAMAGED. GROCERY STORE ROOF DAMAGED. CARPORT DAMAGED IN TOWN WITH SEVERAL TREES DOWN. TIME OF EVENT ESTIMATED.
05:25 UTCTORNADO2 E Golden CityDade, MOEMERGENCY MANAGER FROM BARTON COUNTY REPORTED A CONE TORNADO 1 MILE SOUTH OF HIGHWAY 126 APPROXIMATELY 2 MILES EAST OF GOLDEN CITY...MOVING EAST.
05:37 UTCTSTM WND GST 60GreenfieldDade, MO60 MPH WINDS ESTIMATED ALONG WITH DIME SIZED HAIL.
05:39 UTCTSTM WND DMGGreenfieldDade, MOTREE REPORTED FALLEN ON CAR.
05:48 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 W AldrichPolk, MOBARN COMPLETELY DESTROYED
06:02 UTCTORNADO1 Nnw BolivarPolk, MOTHIS IS A DELAYED REPORT. NWS AND POLK COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT HAVE DETERMINED THAT AN EF-0 TORNADO OCCURRED DURING THE OVERNIGHT HOURS OF 5/20/13. TORNADO STARTED 1NNW BOLIVAR AROUND 102AM TRAVELED APPROXIMATELY 2 M
06:05 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Nnw BolivarPolk, MOTWO POWER LINES SNAPPED OFF AND OVER THE ROAD AT HIGHWAY 83 AND 425TH ROAD.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2013 tornado in MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 19, 2013

26 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 193:10 PM CDTEF0Sumner, KS0.650
May 193:19 PM CDTEF0Sedgwick, KS0.850
May 193:37 PM CDTEF2Sedgwick, KS4.6300
May 194:12 PM CDTEF0Sumner, KS0.450
May 194:22 PM CDTEF1Oklahoma, OK4.5900
May 194:33 PM CDTEF1Oklahoma, OK0.5200
May 194:39 PM CDTEF0Sumner, KS0.550
May 194:40 PM CDTEF0Sumner, KS0.450
May 194:41 PM CDTEF3Oklahoma, OK20.81,2004
May 194:46 PM CDTEF0Cowley, KS0.750
May 194:51 PM CDTEF1Greeley, NE0.225$40,000
May 194:55 PM CDTEF1Cowley, KS1.860
May 195:05 PM CDTEF0Marion, KS0.550
May 195:17 PM CDTEF0Dickinson, KS0.125
May 195:27 PM CDTEF1Lyon, KS9.075
May 195:59 PM CDTEF0Cowley, KS0.250
May 196:00 PM CDTEF4Shawnee tornado, OK23.01,500210
May 196:32 PM CDTEF0Dallas, IA2.1100$4,000
May 196:40 PM CDTEF0Pottawatomie, OK2.030
May 196:45 PM CDTEF1Dallas, IA1.4100$50,000
May 196:47 PM CDTEF0Creek, OK0.250
May 196:59 PM CDTEF2Lincoln, OK7.3450
May 197:07 PM CDTEF1Polk, IA4.7150$90,000
May 197:17 PM CDTEF1Lincoln, OK14.4700$50,000
May 198:02 PM CDTEF0Carroll, IL0.150
May 1912:06 AM CDTEF1Jasper, MO0.5100$200,000

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.