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.

  1. EF065 to 85 mph

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

    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
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)ExpiredProductOffice
15:00 UTC06:00 UTCWind AdvisoryMEG
20:25 UTC23:46 UTCTornado WatchMEG
21:57 UTC22:45 UTCTornado WarningMEG
22:31 UTC23:15 UTCTornado WarningMEG
23:01 UTC23:19 UTCTornado WarningMEG

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.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Little Rock, AR at 12:00Z on 2014-02-20Temperature 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 -24, lifted condensation level 632 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, Little Rock, AR at 12:00Z on 2014-02-20The 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 366 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 51 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
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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

1.3 hours after it, 151 km from the path. February 21, 2014.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Little Rock, AR at 00:00Z on 2014-02-21Temperature 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 -85853, lifted condensation level 2016 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Little Rock, AR at 00:00Z on 2014-02-21The 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 -197 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 79 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 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
-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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Eaker Afb (BYH), 26 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
21:50 UTC6862.6200° 21 kt291001.7TS
22:50 UTC66.262.6210° 27 kt431002.7-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)ReportWhereCountyRemark
22:18 UTCHAIL 1.75HornersvilleDunklin, MOGOLFBALL SIZE HAIL AND SOME TREE DAMAGE IN HORNERSVILLE AREA.
22:30 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD10 Ne HornersvilleDunklin, MOFUNNEL CLOUD ABOUT 10 MILES NORTHEAST OF HORNERSVILLE. PUBLIC REPORTED WITH A PICTURE BETWEEN HORNERSVILLE AND STEELE MISSOURI.
22:36 UTCTSTM WND DMGDeeringPemiscot, MO*** 3 INJ *** MOBILE HOME OVERTURNED LANDING ON A VEHICLE. MOBILE HOME WAS DESTOYED. 3 MINOR INJURIES REPORTED.
22:39 UTCTORNADO 1DeeringPemiscot, 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 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD8 N SteelePemiscot, MOREPORT OF FUNNEL CLOUD...POSSIBLE TORNADO...FROM PICTURES NORTH OF STEELE.
22:41 UTCTORNADO 13 W HaytiPemiscot, MOA 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.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
February 202:25 PM CSTEF2Pike, IL12.1801
February 202:48 PM CSTEF0Morgan, IL0.325
February 202:52 PM CSTEF0Morgan, IL8.250
February 203:43 PM CSTEF0Sangamon, IL0.275$30,000
February 203:57 PM CSTEF1Bond, IL12.350
February 203:57 PM CSTEF1Sangamon, IL8.3300$990,000
February 204:09 PM CSTEF2Montgomery, IL22.42001$600,000
February 204:36 PM CSTEF1Fayette, IL4.850
February 204:40 PM CSTEF1Jackson, IL0.450$10,000
February 204:40 PM CSTEF0Shelby, IL0.350
February 204:41 PM CSTEF1Pemiscot, MO0.025$10,000
February 204:54 PM CSTEF1Effingham, IL1.5100$80,000
February 205:43 PM CSTEF0Edgar, IL3.075
February 207:40 PM ESTEF0Montgomery, IN7.540$75,000
February 206:42 PM CSTEF0Webster, KY6.2125$30,000
February 207:11 PM CSTEF0Walthall, MS0.540$5,000
February 207:12 PM CSTEF0Caldwell, KY1.6125$8,000
February 207:48 PM CSTEF0Marion, MS0.550$15,000
February 209:32 PM ESTEF0Rush, IN0.025$12,000
February 208:33 PM CSTEF1Evangeline Parish, LA2.675$50,000
February 208:45 PM CSTEF1Lawrence, AL10.7450
February 208:51 PM CSTEF1Lauderdale, AL1.8400
February 208:55 PM CSTEF1Lauderdale, AL2.75001
February 209:05 PM CSTEF1Limestone, AL2.7500
February 2010:14 PM ESTEF1Ripley, IN0.850$100,000
February 209:28 PM CSTEF1Jones, MS4.6100$400,000
February 209:50 PM CSTEF0Jones, MS0.650$10,000
February 209:53 PM CSTEF1Moore, TN1.6400
February 2010:53 PM ESTEF0Montgomery, OH2.080$150,000
February 2010:08 PM CSTEF1Franklin, TN1.1100
February 2010:23 PM CSTEF1Franklin, TN2.0400
February 2010:29 PM CSTEF1Coffee, TN1.2250$200,000
February 2012:54 AM ESTEF0Delaware, OH0.180$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.