EF2 tornado, Kewanee to State Line, Missouri, March 9, 2017

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 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

March 9, 2017

Touchdown

8:26 PM CST (02:26 UTC)

Lifted

8:38 PM CST (02:38 UTC)

On the ground

12 minutes

Path length

9.7 miles (15.5 km)

Path width

250 yards (229 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$270,000

Counties

Fulton and New Madrid counties

Touchdown point

36.617, -89.392

Lift-off point

36.547, -89.242

Record number

1703092026-01

64 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS PAH, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 125 mph.

• irrigation system blown SE
• irrigation system overturned
• . tree appears to have been struck by lightning - is burnt on the bottom 10 + feet.
• at least dozens of trees down uprooted or snapped. Numerous - convergent - direcitons of damage.

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

A cluster of severe thunderstorms over south central Missouri organized into a bowing line of storms as it tracked eastward during the evening. An embedded supercell within the line spawned several tornadoes along an east-west corridor from Ripley County eastward to New Madrid County. A couple of significant tornadoes and damaging wind events accompanied this line, along with large hail. The storms developed along and just ahead of a cold front as it pressed southward into the Lower Ohio Valley and extreme southeast Missouri.

An outbreak of severe thunderstorms occurred over the Tennessee border counties. Thunderstorms rapidly developed across western Kentucky ahead of a line of thunderstorms over the Missouri Bootheel region. These initial storms formed along a southwesterly low-level jet and its associated moisture plume. Large hail was the primary severe weather hazard in this leading activity, which was elevated above the surface. Later in the evening, a surface-based bowing line of thunderstorms exited southeast Missouri and then crossed southwest Kentucky. This bowing line was associated with an embedded supercell that spawned a few tornadoes. The storms developed along and just ahead of a cold front as it pressed southward into the Lower Ohio Valley and extreme southeast Missouri.

This tornado moved east along Highway W, causing significant damage to a couple of houses. Portions of the roof, including roof decking, were removed from a couple of houses. A small section of fencing was blown over. Several trees were uprooted. Peak winds were estimated near 95 mph. This tornado was one of several that were spawned from the same eastward-moving supercell.

This EF-2 tornado first touched down near the Mississippi River levee on Highway WW, where nearly total tree devastation occurred in a 200-yard wide swath. The highly convergent tree damage consisted of hundreds of snapped and uprooted trees in the wooded river bottomlands. Peak winds were estimated near 120 mph. The tornado crossed the river into Fulton County, Kentucky shortly after forming.

This tornado began in New Madrid County, Missouri, where it briefly attained EF-2 strength. The tornado crossed the Mississippi River at EF-1 intensity into agricultural flatlands of western Fulton County. A swath of highly convergent tree damage occurred in some wooded bottomlands along the Mississippi River levee in Fulton County. As it crossed open farmland, a few farm sheds were destroyed. Power poles and power lines were blown across roads. Swaths of tree damage occurred along tree lines between farm fields. Irrigation pivots were blown over. Several grain bins were destroyed, including a grain bin that was blown over or through a row of trees and across Highway 94. Peak winds were estimated near 110 mph on the Kentucky side of the track. The tornado ended shortly after crossing Kentucky Highway 94 about 2.5 miles west of Hickman. There was scattered tree damage associated with straight-line winds south of the tornado track, likely associated with the rear-flank downdraft. A trained spotter measured a wind gust to 85 mph 5 to 10 miles west of Hickman.

A tornado quickly developed over the city of Hickman and moved southeast across Fulton County. This was the second of two tornadoes in Fulton County. In the center of Hickman, the tornado caused significant damage to the county's jail and 911 communications center, which lost parts of the roof and a section of a wall. About 100 inmates were moved to other facilities. Other damage in Hickman included a heavily damaged gas station, numerous downed signs and power poles, and considerable roof damage to a few homes. The tornado damaged or destroyed more than 45 homes and other buildings in the county, as well as several machine sheds, barns, grain bins, and irrigation systems. At least 20 power poles were broken, and numerous trees were uprooted and snapped. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Fulton County Highway Maintenance Facility was hit by the tornado. The salt dome, a tractor shed, and several tractors housed in the shed were damaged. The tornado reached its peak intensity just southeast of Hickman along Highway 125, where a frame house had its entire roof structure blown off. The tornado followed Highway 125 from the center of Hickman to the junction of Highway 166, about 4.5 miles southeast of Hickman. Most state highways were closed in and near Hickman, and the Red Cross opened a shelter. Peak winds were estimated near 125 mph. Straight-line winds up to 80 mph occurred mainly southwest of the tornado path. The tornado crossed into Tennessee along State Route 116.

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

32 minutes of warning. NWS PAH issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:54 UTC, 32 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:29 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 23:02 UTC and running to 02:58 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 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 00:51 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 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 Paducah radar (KPAH), 73 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:27 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

16 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.