Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 2014
EF1 tornado, Deering to Hayti Hgts, Missouri, February 20, 2014
From Deering to Hayti Hgts, this EF1 tornado ran 0.2 miles across Pemiscot County on February 20, 2014, touching down at 4:39 PM CST and reaching 70 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 5, and did $75,000 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.
EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado
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
- EF1
- Date
- February 20, 2014
- Touchdown
- 4:39 PM CST (22:39 UTC)
- Lifted
- 4:40 PM CST (22:40 UTC)
- On the ground
- 1 minutes
- Path length
- 0.2 miles (0.4 km)
- Path width
- 70 yards (64 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 5
- Property damage
- $75,000
- County
- Pemiscot County
- Touchdown point
- 36.190, -89.881
- Lift-off point
- 36.191, -89.877
- Record number
- 1402201639-01
What the Weather Service recorded
A strong cold front pushed through the Mid-South during the afternoon and evening hours of February 20th, 2014. A couple of supercell thunderstorms developed in advance of the front over the Missouri Bootheel spawning a couple of EF-1 tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds.
A tornado touched down near Deering and overturned a single wide trailer on to a truck and tree. There was damage to several homes including tree and roof damage. A carport and shed were also damaged. Maximum winds were estimated at 90 mph.
A tornado briefly touched down near Hayti and damaged a roof to a building. Maximum winds were estimated at 90 mph.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
42 minutes of warning. NWS MEG issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:57 UTC, 42 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:45 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:25 UTC and running to 23:46 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15:00 UTC | 06:00 UTC | Wind Advisory | MEG |
| 20:25 UTC | 23:46 UTC | Tornado Watch | MEG |
| 21:57 UTC | 22:45 UTC | Tornado Warning | MEG |
| 22:31 UTC | 23:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | MEG |
| 23:01 UTC | 23:19 UTC | Tornado Warning | MEG |
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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:37 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 (KBYH), 12:00Z
10.7 hours before the tornado, 151 km from the path. February 20, 2014.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 4 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -24 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 7 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 632 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 51 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 50 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 366 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 420 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 3.7 K/km
Little Rock, AR (KBYH), 00:00Z
1.3 hours after it, 151 km from the path. February 21, 2014.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -85853 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 2016 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 79 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 32 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -197 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 97 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.9 K/km
The surface observations
Eaker Afb (BYH), 26 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21:50 UTC | 68 | 62.6 | 200° 21 kt | 29 | 1001.7 | TS |
| 22:50 UTC | 66.2 | 62.6 | 210° 27 kt | 43 | 1002.7 | -TSRA |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Memphis radar (KNQA), 94 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:39 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22:18 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | Hornersville | Dunklin, MO | GOLFBALL SIZE HAIL AND SOME TREE DAMAGE IN HORNERSVILLE AREA. |
| 22:30 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | 10 Ne Hornersville | Dunklin, MO | FUNNEL CLOUD ABOUT 10 MILES NORTHEAST OF HORNERSVILLE. PUBLIC REPORTED WITH A PICTURE BETWEEN HORNERSVILLE AND STEELE MISSOURI. |
| 22:36 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Deering | Pemiscot, MO | *** 3 INJ *** MOBILE HOME OVERTURNED LANDING ON A VEHICLE. MOBILE HOME WAS DESTOYED. 3 MINOR INJURIES REPORTED. |
| 22:39 UTC | TORNADO 1 | Deering | Pemiscot, MO | *** 5 INJ *** MOBILE HOME OVERTURNED LANDING ON A VEHICLE. MOBILE HOME WAS DESTOYED. 5 MINOR INJURIES REPORTED. SEVERAL OTHER HOMES SUSTAINED DAMAGE. THE TORNADO PATH LENGTH WAS A QUARTER MILE LONG. |
| 22:40 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | 8 N Steele | Pemiscot, MO | REPORT OF FUNNEL CLOUD...POSSIBLE TORNADO...FROM PICTURES NORTH OF STEELE. |
| 22:41 UTC | TORNADO 1 | 3 W Hayti | Pemiscot, MO | A TORNADO BRIEFLY TOUCHED DOWN WEST OF HAYTI. DAMAGE TO A ROOF OF A BUILDING OCCURRED. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2014 tornado in MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of February 20, 2014
33 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 20 | 2:25 PM CST | EF2 | Pike, IL | 12.1 | 80 | 1 | ||
| February 20 | 2:48 PM CST | EF0 | Morgan, IL | 0.3 | 25 | |||
| February 20 | 2:52 PM CST | EF0 | Morgan, IL | 8.2 | 50 | |||
| February 20 | 3:43 PM CST | EF0 | Sangamon, IL | 0.2 | 75 | $30,000 | ||
| February 20 | 3:57 PM CST | EF1 | Bond, IL | 12.3 | 50 | |||
| February 20 | 3:57 PM CST | EF1 | Sangamon, IL | 8.3 | 300 | $990,000 | ||
| February 20 | 4:09 PM CST | EF2 | Montgomery, IL | 22.4 | 200 | 1 | $600,000 | |
| February 20 | 4:36 PM CST | EF1 | Fayette, IL | 4.8 | 50 | |||
| February 20 | 4:40 PM CST | EF1 | Jackson, IL | 0.4 | 50 | $10,000 | ||
| February 20 | 4:40 PM CST | EF0 | Shelby, IL | 0.3 | 50 | |||
| February 20 | 4:41 PM CST | EF1 | Pemiscot, MO | 0.0 | 25 | $10,000 | ||
| February 20 | 4:54 PM CST | EF1 | Effingham, IL | 1.5 | 100 | $80,000 | ||
| February 20 | 5:43 PM CST | EF0 | Edgar, IL | 3.0 | 75 | |||
| February 20 | 7:40 PM EST | EF0 | Montgomery, IN | 7.5 | 40 | $75,000 | ||
| February 20 | 6:42 PM CST | EF0 | Webster, KY | 6.2 | 125 | $30,000 | ||
| February 20 | 7:11 PM CST | EF0 | Walthall, MS | 0.5 | 40 | $5,000 | ||
| February 20 | 7:12 PM CST | EF0 | Caldwell, KY | 1.6 | 125 | $8,000 | ||
| February 20 | 7:48 PM CST | EF0 | Marion, MS | 0.5 | 50 | $15,000 | ||
| February 20 | 9:32 PM EST | EF0 | Rush, IN | 0.0 | 25 | $12,000 | ||
| February 20 | 8:33 PM CST | EF1 | Evangeline Parish, LA | 2.6 | 75 | $50,000 | ||
| February 20 | 8:45 PM CST | EF1 | Lawrence, AL | 10.7 | 450 | |||
| February 20 | 8:51 PM CST | EF1 | Lauderdale, AL | 1.8 | 400 | |||
| February 20 | 8:55 PM CST | EF1 | Lauderdale, AL | 2.7 | 500 | 1 | ||
| February 20 | 9:05 PM CST | EF1 | Limestone, AL | 2.7 | 500 | |||
| February 20 | 10:14 PM EST | EF1 | Ripley, IN | 0.8 | 50 | $100,000 | ||
| February 20 | 9:28 PM CST | EF1 | Jones, MS | 4.6 | 100 | $400,000 | ||
| February 20 | 9:50 PM CST | EF0 | Jones, MS | 0.6 | 50 | $10,000 | ||
| February 20 | 9:53 PM CST | EF1 | Moore, TN | 1.6 | 400 | |||
| February 20 | 10:53 PM EST | EF0 | Montgomery, OH | 2.0 | 80 | $150,000 | ||
| February 20 | 10:08 PM CST | EF1 | Franklin, TN | 1.1 | 100 | |||
| February 20 | 10:23 PM CST | EF1 | Franklin, TN | 2.0 | 400 | |||
| February 20 | 10:29 PM CST | EF1 | Coffee, TN | 1.2 | 250 | $200,000 | ||
| February 20 | 12:54 AM EST | EF0 | Delaware, OH | 0.1 | 80 | $100,000 |
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.