EF0 tornado, Rockport to Tarkio, Missouri, September 9, 2014

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

September 9, 2014

Touchdown

5:50 PM CDT (22:50 UTC)

Lifted

5:57 PM CDT (22:57 UTC)

On the ground

7 minutes

Path length

4.9 miles (7.9 km)

Path width

25 yards (23 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Atchison County

Touchdown point

40.441, -95.453

Lift-off point

40.434, -95.361

Record number

1409091650-01

During the afternoon and evening of September 9, 2014 a line of thunderstorms moved though eastern Nebraska into Iowa and northern Missouri. Along the southwestern edge of the line a strong supercell formed, producing widespread wind and hail across far northwestern Missouri. This supercell went on to produce 5 brief and weak tornadoes across northwestern Missouri before finally dissipating. The main line of convection then caused wind damage across northern Missouri through the remainder of the overnight hours. Another tornado then formed early in the morning on September 10 near Kirksville, Missouri. This tornado moved into the town and caused some minor damage to trees and residences. Once the wind and tornado threat decreased widespread heavy rain, producing up to 10 inches in some areas, caused flooding and flash flooding across much of northern Missouri, including closures to several main highways. No injuries were reported as a result of the severe weather and flooding, but the far northern part of the state received much damage on account of the winds and flooding.

A supercell moved southeastward through northwest Missouri and produced a weak tornado near the city of Tarkio, Missouri. While parts of the city saw strong winds there was not much reported damage.

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

21 minutes of warning. NWS EAX issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:29 UTC, 21 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:34 UTC and running to 03:42 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:53 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 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.

Shenandoah (SDA), 35 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The Omaha radar (KOAX), 127 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:48 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 2014 tornado in MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are

6 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.