Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 2014

EF0 tornado, Saint Charles County, Missouri, June 7, 2014

This EF0 tornado ran 2.7 miles across Saint Charles County on June 7, 2014, touching down at 3:56 PM CDT and reaching 20 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.

  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
June 7, 2014
Touchdown
3:56 PM CDT (20:56 UTC)
Lifted
4:04 PM CDT (21:04 UTC)
On the ground
8 minutes
Path length
2.7 miles (4.3 km)
Path width
20 yards (18 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Saint Charles County
Touchdown point
38.744, -90.601
Lift-off point
38.760, -90.556
Record number
1406071456-01

The damage survey

18 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LSX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 80 mph.

  • This home was built in the 1960s. Brick home. There were three large pieces of plywood panels from the roof that was removed. About 40 percent of the roof had some degree of damage. One large pine tree (8 inches in diameter was snapped half way up.
  • Facile damage on the south side of two homes. Minor.
  • A few small trees were down on the corner of McClay Village Court and McClay Village Drive.
  • Less tahn 20 percent shingles were removed from this home. Wooden fence on the south and southwest sides of the yard were blown towards the northeast. Tree limbs of 3 to 5 inches in diameter were snapped at the base Small trees laid to the northeast.

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

The warnings

14 minutes of warning. NWS LSX issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:42 UTC, 14 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:15 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
20:42 UTC21:15 UTCTornado WarningLSX
21:17 UTC21:45 UTCTornado WarningLSX

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 20:04 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.

Lincoln, IL (KILX), 12:00Z

8.9 hours before the tornado, 230 km from the path. June 7, 2014.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lincoln, IL at 12:00Z on 2014-06-07Temperature 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 -78134, lifted condensation level 1583 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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, Lincoln, IL at 12:00Z on 2014-06-07The 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 -11 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 10 knots.1939Sfc1 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
-78134 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1583 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
10 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-11 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
15 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Lincoln, IL (KILX), 00:00Z

3.1 hours after it, 230 km from the path. June 8, 2014.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lincoln, IL at 00:00Z on 2014-06-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 80 joules per kilogram, CIN -37, lifted condensation level 771 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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, Lincoln, IL at 00:00Z on 2014-06-08The 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 289 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 50 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
80 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-37 J/kg
Surface CAPE
213 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
771 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
50 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
289 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
432 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.2
0-3 km lapse rate
5.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The St Louis radar (KLSX), 11 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:58 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
20:55 UTCTORNADOSt. PetersSt. Charles, MOPRELIMINARY EF-0 ESTIMATED WIND SPEED 75 TO 80 MPH AT JUNGERMAN AND HWY 94 IN ST PETERS. TREE DAMAGE. ROOF DAMAGE TO ARBYS...CLUB FITNESS...AND AN APARTMENT COMPLEX.
20:58 UTCTORNADOHarvesterSt. Charles, MODAMAGE TO STRUCTURES NEAR HWY 94 AND JUNGERMANN...INCLUDING DAMAGE TO A CLUB FITNESS...AS WELL AS 8 TO 9 HOMES IN THE SUBDIVISION BEHIND THE CLUB FITNESS. ADDITIONAL TREE DAMAGE OBSERVED AT HWY 94 AND PRALLE...AS WELL AS
20:58 UTCTORNADOSt. PetersSt. Charles, MO2 HOMES ON AUTUMN VIEW CT HAVE ROOF DAMAGE...ONE WITH A HOLE IN THE ROOF. ANOTHER HOME ON ASHFORD DRIVE HAS A CORNER OF ROOF BLOWN OFF.
20:58 UTCTORNADOSt. PetersSt. Charles, MOROOF DAMAGE TO HOME AT 2979 MCCLAY ROAD...10FT X 6FT SECTION OF ROOF BLOWN OFF. 50 TO 60FT TALL PINE TREE SNAPPED HALFWAY UP.
20:58 UTCTORNADOSt. PetersSt. Charles, MORELATIVE OF NWS CHICAGO EMPLOYEE REPORTED A TORNADO WITH DEBRIS MOVED THROUGH PART OF ST. PETERS NEAR HARVESTER AND MCCLAY ROAD. TIME APPROXIMATED FROM RADAR.
21:00 UTCTSTM WND DMGSt. CharlesSt. Charles, MO10 TO 15 TREES 3 TO 6 INCHES IN DIAMETER BLOWN DOWN AS WELL AS 1 ROOF DAMAGED NEAR WOODBRIAR LN AND SHIREWOOD DR
21:00 UTCTSTM WND DMGSt. CharlesSt. Charles, MOSHINGLES BLOWN OFF OF ROOFTOPS OFF TWO HOUSES IN THE 2400 BLOCK OF SPRING MILL ESTATE DRIVE
21:14 UTCWALL CLOUDHazelwoodSt. Louis, MOSTORM CHASER OBSERVED RAPIDLY ROTATING WALL CLOUD CROSSING OVER HWY 370 AT EARTH CITY
21:16 UTCTORNADO2 Wnw BridgetonSt. Louis, MONEAR EARTH CITY EXPRESSWAY AND HWY 370. DEBRIS IN THE AIR FROM INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS. TIME ESTIMATED.
21:19 UTCTORNADOHazelwoodSt. Louis, MOTORNADO NEAR THE MILLS OUTLET MALL. RECORDED ON VIDEO.

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 June 7, 2014

10 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 78:33 AM MDTEF0Union, NM0.120
June 72:35 PM CDTEF0Gasconade, MO0.120
June 72:48 PM CDTEF1New Madrid, KY to MO, TN18.2200$270,000
June 74:14 PM CDTEF0Saint Louis, MO4.240
June 75:19 PM CDTEF0Monroe, IL0.340
June 75:43 PM CDTEF0Monroe, IL0.330
June 74:58 PM MDTEF0Lincoln, NM0.350
June 75:14 PM MDTEF0Lincoln, NM0.150
June 77:25 PM MDTEF0Chaves, NM3.750
June 71:59 AM EDTEF0Troup, GA1.8280$150,000

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.