Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 2015

EF0 tornado, Hayden, Missouri, July 1, 2015

This EF0 tornado ran 0.2 miles across Maries County on July 1, 2015, touching down at 10:55 PM CDT and reaching 50 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
July 1, 2015
Touchdown
10:55 PM CDT (03:55 UTC)
Lifted
10:57 PM CDT (03:57 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
0.2 miles (0.3 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Maries County
Touchdown point
38.067, -92.001
Lift-off point
38.066, -91.998
Record number
1507012155-01

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 EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 80 mph.

  • Hardwood uprooted to the NE. Several large softwood limbs down.

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 slow moving front caused multiple rounds of thunderstorms which led to severe weather and flash flooding across the Missouri Ozarks.

A brief tornado occurred along Highway E near Hayden. The tornado uprooted one tree as well as downing several large limbs as it moved across the highway.

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

The warnings

4 minutes of warning. NWS SGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 03:51 UTC, 4 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 04:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 02:06 UTC and running to 05:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
02:05 UTC03:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSGF
02:06 UTC05:00 UTCTornado WatchSGF
02:27 UTC10:00 UTCFlash Flood WarningSGF
03:02 UTC04:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSGF
03:51 UTC04:30 UTCTornado WarningSGF
03:55 UTC05:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSGF
09:52 UTC22:00 UTCFlood WarningSGF
21:50 UTC22:00 UTCFlood 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:58 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

3.9 hours before the tornado, 205 km from the path. July 2, 2015.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 2015-07-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2985 joules per kilogram, CIN -22, lifted condensation level 1028 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 2015-07-02The 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 240 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 41 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
2985 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-22 J/kg
Surface CAPE
4647 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1028 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
41 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
240 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
457 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
4.7
Supercell composite
27.9
0-3 km lapse rate
6.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Springfield, MO (KSGF), 12:00Z

8.1 hours after it, 205 km from the path. July 2, 2015.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2015-07-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 923 joules per kilogram, CIN -71, lifted condensation level 645 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 2015-07-02The 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 257 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 36 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
923 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-71 J/kg
Surface CAPE
72 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
645 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
36 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
257 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
304 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
9.8
0-3 km lapse rate
3.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Vichy/Rolla (VIH), 21 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
02:23 UTC7472140° 10 kt1009.1VCTS
02:53 UTC7572150° 6 kt1010.8TS
03:49 UTC73.471.6350° 8 kt1010.8-TSRA BR
03:53 UTC7472 3 kt1011.2-TSRA BR
04:12 UTC7372180° 6 kt1010.2TSRA BR
04:25 UTC7271320° 10 kt1010.8+TSRA BR
04:35 UTC7170280° 11 kt1010.5VCTS -RA BR
04:53 UTC70690° 0 kt1009.8-RA
05:53 UTC6968230° 6 kt1012.2

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

The radar

The St Louis radar (KLSX), 135 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:55 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
01:47 UTCTSTM WND GST 432 Ne Jefferson CityCallaway, MO
02:05 UTCTSTM WND GST 50Jefferson CityCole, MO
03:00 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 W Marys HomeMiller, MOREPORT OF FALLEN TREE ON ROAD NEAR SALINE VALLEY.
03:05 UTCTSTM WND GST 59BagnellMiller, MOTRAINED STORM CHASER MEASURED A 59 MPH AT THE BAGNELL DAM.
03:17 UTCFLASH FLOOD1 Nnw ArgyleOsage, MOWATER OF UNKNOWN DEPTH OVER HIGHWAY T.
03:25 UTCTSTM WND DMGIberiaMiller, MOREPORTS OF NUMEROUS TREES AND LARGE LIMBS BLOWN DOWN ON FAIRVIEW AND SEQUOIA ROAD IN IBERIA.
03:45 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 Ne DixonMaries, MOPATH OF TREE DAMAGE, MULTIPLE TREES STRIPPED ALONG E HIGHWAY AND COUNTY ROAD 506
03:45 UTCTSTM WND DMGDixonPulaski, MONUMEROUS TREES REPORTED BLOWN DOWN AROUND DIXON.
03:55 UTCTORNADO7 Ne DixonMaries, MOA NWS STORM SURVEY FOUND A BRIEF EF-0 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN NEAR HIGHWAY E NEAR HAYDEN. THE TORNADO UPROOTED ONE TREE AND SEVERAL LARGE TREE BRANCHES WERE BLOWN DOWN ACROSS THE HIGHWAY.
04:06 UTCFLASH FLOOD2 Nw ViennaMaries, MOWATER OVER ROAD ON HIGHWAY T
05:08 UTCFLASH FLOODBrinktownMaries, MONUMEROUS ROADS CLOSED INCLUDING HIGHWAY 133, DD, BB AND T DUE TO FLOODING

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2015 tornado in MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of July 1, 2015

5 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 14:00 PM EDTEF0Pulaski, KY0.3100
July 16:51 PM CDTEF1Jackson, MO0.9100
July 17:04 PM CDTEF0Jackson, MO0.250
July 18:01 PM CDTEF0Cass, MO1.4100
July 19:56 PM CDTEF1Benton, MO3.3600$500,000

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.