EF0 tornado, Oermann to Hillsboro, Missouri, March 7, 2017

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

March 7, 2017

Touchdown

12:39 AM CST (06:39 UTC)

Lifted

12:41 AM CST (06:41 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

1.1 miles (1.8 km)

Path width

75 yards (69 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Jefferson County

Touchdown point

38.242, -90.571

Lift-off point

38.244, -90.550

Record number

1703070039-01

36 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LSX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 88 mph.

• large mats were lofted over fence and into ravine 300 ft.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

As a cold front moved across the region, a squall line developed and moved rapidly east across the forecast area. There were numerous reports of damaging winds, large hail and 8 tornadoes.

A weak tornado touched down along Valley Springs Drive south of Ridge Road causing trees to fall in a convergent pattern to the east northeast. The tornado moved northeast causing trees to be uprooted, twisted and snapped. Several homes in the track sustained minor roof and siding damage. The greatest damage was located along Ridge Road between Dittmer Ridge Road and Sylvan Place. The tornado lifted near Cedar Tree Drive with only minor tree damage noted. Overall, the tornado was rated EF0 with a path length of 2.63 miles and max path width of 80 yards.

A tornado touched down near Hillsboro High School where some trees were topped. It moved across the football field where bleachers, hurdles and other school equipment were destroyed and blown up to 300 yards down the track of the tornado. Tree damage continued from the back side of the Hillsboro High School toward the Jefferson County Fairgrounds. Several buildings, including barns and small outbuildings suffered major roof failures and numerous trees were uprooted across the fairgrounds with debris tossed up to 200 yards to the east northeast. The tornado continued east damaging the roof of a social services building and tossing insulation in the trees. It crossed Business Highway 21 topping more trees and causing minor roof damage to a number of homes on Micah Lane. The tornado dissipated near Lake Wauwanoka Road with only a few limbs broken off. Overall, the tornado was rated EF0 with a path length of 1.14 miles and a max path width of 75 yards.

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

5 minutes of warning. NWS LSX issued a tornado warning for this county at 06:34 UTC, 5 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 07:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 02:54 UTC and running to 08:41 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 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.

The St Louis radar (KLSX), 52 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 06:39 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 2017 tornado in MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are

7 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.