Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 2015

EF1 tornado, Edgewood to Eolia, Missouri, June 28, 2015

From Edgewood to Eolia, this EF1 tornado ran 2.5 miles across Pike County on June 28, 2015, touching down at 6:23 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 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
June 28, 2015
Touchdown
6:23 PM CDT (23:23 UTC)
Lifted
6:29 PM CDT (23:29 UTC)
On the ground
6 minutes
Path length
2.5 miles (4.0 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Pike County
Touchdown point
39.254, -91.086
Lift-off point
39.255, -91.040
Record number
1506281723-01

The damage survey

6 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LSX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 95 mph.

  • several trees on both sides of Highway 61 snapped or unrooted
  • large cluster of trees snapped and uprooted
  • estimated end point based on video and pattern in vegetation

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 strong cold front moved through the region triggering showers and thunderstorms. Some of the storms produced tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds.

A tornado touched down just west of County Road 301 just south of intersection with County Road 304. As it traveled to the east, it snapped off numerous trees and tree limbs. The tornado crossed U.S. Highway 61 just north of Highway OO, knocking over several more trees before lifting and dissipating. No structural damage occurred with this tornado. Overall, it was rated EF1 with a path length of 2.48 miles and a max path width of 50 yards.

A tornado touched down about a mile and a quarter west of Eolia and traveled to the east, lifting and dissipating half a mile west of Eolia. The only damage found along the path was broken tree branches and some patterns in the vegetation. The damage was rated EF0 with a path length of 0.65 miles and a max path width of 40 yards.

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

The warnings

9 minutes of warning. NWS LSX issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:14 UTC, 9 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:05 UTC and running to 02:40 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
20:05 UTC02:40 UTCTornado WatchLSX
21:37 UTC22:00 UTCTornado WarningLSX
21:43 UTC22:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLSX
21:51 UTC22:15 UTCTornado WarningLSX
22:05 UTC22:34 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLSX
23:06 UTC23:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLSX
23:14 UTC23:45 UTCTornado WarningLSX
23:29 UTC23:47 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:42 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

11.4 hours before the tornado, 233 km from the path. June 28, 2015.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lincoln, IL at 12:00Z on 2015-06-28Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 31 joules per kilogram, CIN -34, lifted condensation level 1185 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, Lincoln, IL at 12:00Z on 2015-06-28The 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 75 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 30 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
31 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-34 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1185 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
75 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
79 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Lincoln, IL (KILX), 00:00Z

0.6 hours after it, 233 km from the path. June 29, 2015.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lincoln, IL at 00:00Z on 2015-06-29Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 281 joules per kilogram, CIN -53, lifted condensation level 900 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, Lincoln, IL at 00:00Z on 2015-06-29The 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 34 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 36 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
281 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-53 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1540 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
900 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
36 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
5 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
34 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
331 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.1
0-3 km lapse rate
5.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The St Louis radar (KLSX), 70 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:22 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
21:18 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD4 W HannibalMarion, MOSAW ROPE FUNNEL THAT LASTED ABOUT A MINUTE APPROXIMATELY 2 MILES NORTH OF THIS LOCATION.
21:18 UTCWALL CLOUDHannibalMarion, MOROTATING WALL CLOUD NEAR SHIN LANE AND MM BY HOSPITAL.
21:20 UTCWALL CLOUDN FrankfordPike, MOSPOTTER DRIVING NORTH ON US HWY 61 NEAR RALLS MARION COUNTY LINE SEES A ROTATING WALL CLOUD TO THE NORTH
21:37 UTCWALL CLOUDHannibalMarion, MOSPOTTER AT HANNIBAL HOSPITAL SEEING ROTATION.
21:41 UTCWALL CLOUDHannibalMarion, MOJUST EAST OF HANNIBAL HOSPITAL
21:53 UTCHAIL 0.25The LandingRalls, MO
22:48 UTCHAIL 0.881 E DanvilleMontgomery, MO
23:00 UTCHAIL 0.5Bowling GreenPike, MO
23:03 UTCWALL CLOUD6 E CurryvillePike, MOSLIGHT ROTATION
23:13 UTCWALL CLOUD2 W CyrenePike, MOSOME ROTATION WITH STORM. GUSTY SUB SEVERE WINDS...SMALL LIMBS BLOWN DOWN.
23:26 UTCTORNADO1 S EdgewoodPike, MOTORNADO ON THE GROUND...BUT HAS BECOME RAIN WRAPPED. SPOTTER WAS NEAR INTERSECTION OF HIGHWAYS HH AND Z IN NORTHERN LINCOLN COUNTY LOOKING TO THE NORTH.
23:30 UTCHAIL 1.753 Nw EoliaPike, MO
23:30 UTCTORNADO3 Nw EoliaPike, MOON US HWY 61 SOUTH OF HWY WW...RAIN WRAPPED TORNADO...TRACTOR TRAILERS BLOWN OFF THE ROAD
23:30 UTCTORNADOEoliaPike, MO3 TOUCHDOWNS...TREE DAMAGE...NO OTHER INFORMATION AT THIS TIME.
00:30 UTCWALL CLOUDTroyLincoln, MOSEEING ROTATION JUST SOUTH OF TROY.
00:42 UTCTSTM WND GST 50Old MonroeLincoln, MOHEAVY RAIN AS WELL.

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 June 28, 2015

4 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 284:49 PM CDTEF0Van Buren, IA0.125
June 285:46 PM CDTEF0Callaway, MO0.110
June 286:34 PM CDTEF0Pike, MO0.740
June 288:04 PM CDTEF2Saint Charles, MO2.3400

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.