Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 2017

EF0 tornado, Arkoe, Missouri, June 28, 2017

This EF0 tornado ran 1.3 miles across Nodaway County on June 28, 2017, touching down at 8:31 PM CDT and reaching 25 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 28, 2017
Touchdown
8:31 PM CDT (01:31 UTC)
Lifted
8:33 PM CDT (01:33 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
1.3 miles (2.1 km)
Path width
25 yards (23 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Nodaway County
Touchdown point
40.283, -94.889
Lift-off point
40.281, -94.864
Record number
1706281931-01

The damage survey

3 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 65 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

On the evening of June 28 a complex of supercell thunderstorms moved into northern Missouri, producing widespread large hail and damaging winds, mainly north of Interstate 70. These storms also produced at least 3 tornadoes, all north of Highway 36. The strongest damage was located in Harrison County where some low-end EF-1 damage to a residence occurred. Otherwise, the damage was confined to tree damage to rural parts of Harrison, Gentry, and Nodaway Counties. Heavy rain and slow movement of the complex contributed to some flash flooding across northern Missouri. There were no known injuries with this evening's event.

A weak tornado formed near Maryville, but caused little to no damage outside of some tree damage in rural Nodaway County.

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

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:55 UTC and running to 05:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
19:55 UTC05:00 UTCTornado WatchEAX
22:00 UTC22:30 UTCTornado WarningEAX
22:25 UTC23:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningEAX
22:49 UTC23:15 UTCTornado WarningEAX
23:12 UTC00:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningEAX
23:17 UTC02:15 UTCFlood AdvisoryEAX
23:36 UTC09:00 UTCFlash Flood WarningEAX
00:10 UTC01:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningEAX
01:15 UTC02:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningEAX
01:48 UTC02:03 UTCTornado WarningEAX
02:17 UTC02:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningEAX
02:38 UTC08:45 UTCFlash Flood WarningEAX
03:21 UTC04:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningEAX
04:38 UTC05:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningEAX
05:04 UTC02:18 UTCFlood WarningEAX
06:26 UTC09:00 UTCFlash Flood WarningEAX
08:25 UTC11:57 UTCFlash Flood WatchEAX
08:37 UTC08:30 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 01:01 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), 00:00Z

1.5 hours before the tornado, 157 km from the path. June 29, 2017.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Topeka, KS at 00:00Z on 2017-06-29Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2166 joules per kilogram, CIN -26, lifted condensation level 1454 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 00:00Z on 2017-06-29The 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 167 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
2166 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-26 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3264 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1454 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
36 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
167 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
377 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.8
Supercell composite
22.7
0-3 km lapse rate
7.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Omaha radar (KOAX), 170 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:32 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
22:45 UTCHAIL 1.752 Se PickeringNodaway, MO
23:32 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Ene WorthWorth, MOPOWER POLES SNAPPED. POSSIBLE TORNADO.
23:35 UTCHAIL 13 Nw WorthWorth, MOALSO 40-50 MPH WIND.
23:45 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 N AlbanyGentry, MOHEAVY DAMAGE TO OUTBUILDINGS.
23:45 UTCHAIL 1.752 Nnw DenverWorth, MO
23:52 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD3 S DenverGentry, MOFUNNEL CLOUD NORTH OF DARLINGTON AND HWY 136 WAS SPOTTED LOWERING AND THEN RISING BACK UP.
00:05 UTCHAIL 1TarkioAtchison, MO
00:12 UTCHAIL 1.75TarkioAtchison, MO
01:38 UTCTORNADO2 Wnw Conception JunctiNodaway, MOCONFIRMED TORNADO VIA PHOTO ON SOCIAL MEDIA.
01:53 UTCTORNADO2 W StanberryGentry, MOTORNADO ON THE GROUND FOR A COUPLE MINUTES NEAR HWY 136 NEAR THE NODAWAY AND GENTRY COUNTY LINE.
03:28 UTCHAIL 0.75ParnellNodaway, MO
04:07 UTCFLASH FLOODMaryvilleNodaway, MONUMEROUS REPORTS OF WATER OVER ROADS ACROSS MUCH OF NODAWAY COUNTY.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2017 tornado in MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 28, 2017

25 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 283:46 PM CDTEF2Fremont, IA3.7135
June 283:57 PM CDTEF0Adair, IA14.9100$5,000
June 284:21 PM CDTEF1Page, IA2.175
June 284:21 PM CDTEF1Adams, IA3.8100$10,000
June 284:25 PM CDTEF1Pierce, WI11.3700
June 284:43 PM CDTEF0Adams, IA1.930$1,000
June 284:45 PM CDTEF1Adair, IA7.6100$20,000
June 284:49 PM CDTEF1Burnett, WI2.2180
June 285:05 PM CDTEF2Taylor, IA7.01,000$75,000
June 285:54 PM CDTEF1Warren, IA17.8500$85,000
June 286:18 PM CDTEF0Warren, IA0.525
June 286:22 PM CDTEF0Olmsted, MN0.025
June 286:38 PM CDTEF2Linn, IA11.72001
June 286:42 PM CDTEF0Olmsted, MN0.425$5,000
June 286:48 PM CDTEF1Gentry, MO16.475
June 286:55 PM CDTEF1Green, WI2.2300$325,000
June 286:55 PM CDTEF1Green, WI0.6150$145,000
June 287:07 PM CDTEF0Olmsted, MN0.525$3,000
June 287:14 PM CDTEF2Jones, IA2.530
June 287:26 PM CDTEF0Benton, IA0.010
June 287:38 PM CDTEF0Rock, WI0.8100$60,000
June 287:56 PM CDTEF1Jones, IA2.015
June 288:14 PM CDTEF1Boone, IL5.9200
June 288:23 PM CDTEF1Winnebago, IL1.6100
June 288:50 PM CDTEF0Gentry, MO1.425

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.