Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 2015

EF0 tornado, Glenaire to Liberty, Missouri, July 6, 2015

From Glenaire to Liberty, this EF0 tornado ran 1.2 miles across Clay County on July 6, 2015, touching down at 5:04 PM CDT and reaching 40 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 6, 2015
Touchdown
5:04 PM CDT (22:04 UTC)
Lifted
5:07 PM CDT (22:07 UTC)
On the ground
3 minutes
Path length
1.2 miles (2.0 km)
Path width
40 yards (37 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Clay County
Touchdown point
39.236, -94.436
Lift-off point
39.234, -94.413
Record number
1507061604-01

The damage survey

2 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS EAX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 74 mph.

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 cold front advanced into an extremely unstable air mass over eastern Kansas and northwestern and west central Missouri. Thunderstorms developed along the front producing extremely heavy rain, with some areas seeing up to 6, flash flooding, damaging winds and a few tornadoes.

The tornado caused damage to numerous trees along its path.

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

The warnings

9 minutes of warning. NWS EAX issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:55 UTC, 9 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:15 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 20:28 UTC and running to 23:50 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
20:28 UTC23:50 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchEAX
21:18 UTC22:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningEAX
21:29 UTC01:30 UTCFlash Flood WarningEAX
21:51 UTC22:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningEAX
21:55 UTC22:15 UTCTornado WarningEAX
21:58 UTC02:00 UTCFlash Flood WarningEAX
22:09 UTC22:30 UTCTornado WarningEAX
22:27 UTC22:45 UTCTornado WarningEAX
00:00 UTC08:50 UTCFlash Flood WatchEAX
00:17 UTC04:45 UTCFlood WarningEAX
01:17 UTC07:15 UTCFlood WarningEAX
02:00 UTC00:07 UTCFlood WarningEAX

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. The outlook in force was issued at 19:48 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.

Topeka, KS (KFOE), 12:00Z

10.1 hours before the tornado, 108 km from the path. July 6, 2015.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Topeka, KS at 12:00Z on 2015-07-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 625 joules per kilogram, CIN -194, lifted condensation level 1151 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, Topeka, KS at 12:00Z on 2015-07-06The 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 94 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 6 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
625 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-194 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1465 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1151 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
6 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
94 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
131 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Pleasant Hill radar (KEAX), 49 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:04 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
22:00 UTCTSTM WND DMGOaksClay, MOPHOTOS OF TREE DAMAGE AT NORTH OAK TRFWY AND ENGLEWOOD RD.
22:04 UTCTORNADO2 N GlenaireClay, MODEBRIS REPORTED WITH THE STORM.
22:06 UTCTSTM WND GST 603 Nne OakviewClay, MO3 MILES NORTH OF GLADSTONE
22:09 UTCTORNADO1 Sw LibertyClay, MO
22:10 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Nnw GlenaireClay, MODEBRIS REPORTED AT INTERSECTION
22:16 UTCTORNADO3 N CourtneyClay, MO
22:26 UTCTSTM WND DMG4 N OakviewClay, MOTREE DAMAGE REPORTED AT 94TH AND OAK.
22:32 UTCFLASH FLOOD1 E PlattsburgClinton, MOAMATEUR RADIO OPERATOR REPORTS HWY 116 IS CLOSED BY FIRE DEPT. APPROXIMATELY 1/8 MILE WEST OF ROUTE Y WITH 6 TO 8 INCHES OF WATER FLOWING OVER ROAD.
22:37 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Nnw GlenaireClay, MOREPORTS OF DAMAGE AND WINDOWS BLOWN OUT AT WAL-MART AND ADJACENT GAS STATION.
22:39 UTCFLASH FLOOD2 Nw SmithvillePlatte, MO2990 KK HIGHWAY AND 2285 KK HIGHWAY IMPASSABLE.
22:54 UTCHEAVY RAIN 6TracyPlatte, MO
23:49 UTCTSTM WND DMGIatanPlatte, MOTREES DOWN ON HWY 45 NEAR IATAN.
23:49 UTCFLASH FLOOD6 Nw Platte CityPlatte, MOMAJOR FLOODING THROUGHOUT NORTHERN PLATTE COUNTY. REPORTED WASHOUT ON V HWY JUST NORTH OF V/P/H HWY INTERSECTION.
23:49 UTCFLASH FLOODWestonPlatte, MOBRIDGE OUT AT HUMES RD. AND GOODLET CIRCLE.
00:00 UTCFLASH FLOODSe EdgertonPlatte, MOPHOTO OBTAINED VIA SOCIAL MEDIA SHOWED GROVE CREEK FLOWING OVER CLARK AVENUE IN EDGERTON. DELAYED REPORT. WATER HAS SINCE SUBSIDED AS OF 9 PM.
00:14 UTCFLASH FLOODKansas CityJackson, MOSOUTHBOUND I-435 SHUTDOWN AT 23RD STREET DUE TO FLASH FLOODING. CARS STALLED IN FLOOD WATERS.
00:58 UTCFLASH FLOODPlatte CityPlatte, MONUMEROUS ROADS CLOSED THROUGHOUT PLATTE COUNTY.

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 6, 2015

5 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 64:38 PM CDTEF1Waupaca, WI0.875$100,000
July 65:03 PM CDTEF0Shawano, WI0.125$10,000
July 65:12 PM CDTEF1Douglas, KS8.3250
July 65:30 PM CDTEF0Johnson, KS0.230
July 65:56 PM CDTEF1Oconto, WI2.350$5,000

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.