Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 2017

EF0 tornado, Lake Spg, Missouri, May 27, 2017

This EF0 tornado ran 0.0 miles across Dent County on May 27, 2017, touching down at 4:00 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 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
May 27, 2017
Touchdown
4:00 PM CDT (21:00 UTC)
Path length
0.0 miles (0.0 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Dent County
Touchdown point
37.766, -91.682
Lift-off point
37.766, -91.682
Record number
1705271500-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Multiple rounds of severe thunderstorms brought damaging straight-line winds, large hail, tornadoes, and flooding to the Missouri Ozarks from May 27th into the early morning hours of May 28th. Over 130 reports of severe weather and flooding were received from the Missouri Ozarks.

Several pictures from a storm chaser and spotter indicated a brief tornado touched down in a heavily wooded area of rural northwest Dent County. The storm chaser location of the images captured was near Highway 72 and Highway FF looking northwest. The tornado location is estimated. Estimated wind speed and path length could not be exactly determined due to lack of road access.

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

The warnings

11 minutes of warning. NWS SGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:49 UTC, 11 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:16 UTC and running to 23:26 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
17:16 UTC23:26 UTCTornado WatchSGF
17:41 UTC18:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSGF
18:00 UTC08:02 UTCFlash Flood WatchSGF
18:25 UTC19:00 UTCTornado WarningSGF
20:45 UTC21:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSGF
20:49 UTC21:30 UTCTornado WarningSGF
23:23 UTC00:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSGF
23:26 UTC02:46 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchSGF
23:31 UTC00:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSGF
23:58 UTC00:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSGF

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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 19:51 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 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.

Springfield, MO (KSGF), 12:00Z

9.0 hours before the tornado, 211 km from the path. May 27, 2017.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2017-05-27Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 3187 joules per kilogram, CIN -48, lifted condensation level 766 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, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2017-05-27The 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 127 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 36 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
3187 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-48 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1824 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
766 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
36 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
127 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
138 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.8
Supercell composite
9.6
0-3 km lapse rate
4.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The St Louis radar (KLSX), 136 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:59 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
18:18 UTCHAIL 0.52 Nw SalemDent, MO0.50 HAIL REPORT VIA COCORAHS.
18:30 UTCHAIL 1.5SalemDent, MOPING PONG HAIL IN SALEM, MO.
18:35 UTCHEAVY RAIN 12 Nw SalemDent, MO1.00 INCHES OF RAIN IN 15 MINS. VIA COCORAHS.
18:38 UTCHAIL 23 Ese SalemDent, MOPUBLIC SUBMITTED PHOTOS OF 2 INCH HAIL EAST OF SALEM VIA SOCIAL MEDIA.
19:15 UTCHAIL 29 Wnw ReynoldsReynolds, MOFACEBOOK PICTURE OF 2-INCH HAIL IN BUNKER, MO.
19:19 UTCHAIL 32 Ne BunkerReynolds, MOTIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR..
19:19 UTCHAIL 39 Nw ReynoldsReynolds, MOTIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR..
20:21 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 E SteelvilleCrawford, MOTREE DOWN ON LONG SPRING ROAD NEAR ROUTE BB.
20:21 UTCTORNADO4 Ese FalconLaclede, MONWS STORM SURVEY REVEALED AN EF-1 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN 4 MILES EAST SOUTHEAST OF FALCON IN LACLEDE COUNTY. A HOUSE SUSTAINED MAJOR DAMAGE AND NUMEROUS TREES WERE SNAPPED. THIS POINT ALSO CORRESPONDS WITH A WELL DEFINED T
20:25 UTCTORNADO7 Sw Fort Leonard WoodLaclede, MONWS STORM SURVEY TEAM CONFIRMED AN EF-1 TORNADO THAT BRIEFLY TOUCHED DOWN APPROXIMATELY 7 MILES SOUTHWEST OF FORT LEONARD WOOD IN RURAL LACLEDE COUNTY. MAXIMUM WINDS WERE ESTIMATED TO BE 90 MPH. NUMEROUS TREES WERE UPROO
20:30 UTCTSTM WND DMG4 N RobyTexas, MOREPORTED AT EVENING SHADE, MO. SEVERAL TREES UPROOTED. VIA SOCIAL MEDIA.
20:35 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 W BlandOsage, MOMULTIPLE TREES BLOCKING ROADWAYS. POWER LINES DOWN IN BELLE.
20:35 UTCTSTM WND DMGBelleMaries, MOMULTIPLE TREES BLOCKING ROADWAYS. POWER LINES DOWN IN BELLE.
20:40 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 W BlandOsage, MOTREES AND POWER LINES DOWN.
20:44 UTCTSTM WND DMGBlandGasconade, MONUMEROUS LIMBS BLOWN DOWN AS WELL AS POWER LINES AROUND TOWN.
20:45 UTCTSTM WND DMGWaynesvillePulaski, MOTREES UPROOTED AND SHINGLES OFF HOUSE...77.2 MPH MEASURED WINDS...HUNTERS POINT SUBDIVISION IN WAYNESVILLE, PULASKI COUNTY.
20:45 UTCHAIL 1.53 S Saint RobertPulaski, MOPICTURE FROM SOCIAL MEDIA OF PING PONG SIZE HAIL AT FORT LEONARD WOOD.
20:47 UTCTSTM WND DMGHoustonTexas, MONUMEROUS 3-6 LIMBS WERE BROKEN.
20:50 UTCTSTM WND DMGEdgar SpringsPhelps, MOEDGAR SPRINGS AREA PHELPS COUNTY...NUMEROUS LARGE TREES DOWN...POWER OUT ALL OVER TOWN...BUILDING DEBRIS ON THE HIGHWAY. TIME ESTIMATED BASED ON RADAR.
21:00 UTCTSTM WND DMGSalemDent, MONUMEROUS TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN ACROSS THE CITY. ALSO REPORTS OF E80 MPH WIND GUST.
21:00 UTCTSTM WND DMGSalemDent, MONUMEROUS TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN ACROSS THE CITY. ALSO REPORTS OF E80 MPH WIND GUST. NUMEROUS POWER OUTAGES.
21:10 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 N Round SpringShannon, MONATIONAL PARK SERVICE RANGERS REPORT 3 LARGE TREES ACROSS HIGHWAY 19 ABOUT 1 MILE NORTH OF ECHO BLUFF STATE PARK.
21:15 UTCTSTM WND DMGSteelvilleCrawford, MOPOWER LINES DOWN.
21:25 UTCTSTM WND DMGViburnumIron, MOTREE LIMBS DOWN.
23:01 UTCHAIL 0.75RollaPhelps, MODIME SIZE HAIL.
23:51 UTCHAIL 0.751 Se RollaPhelps, MOVIA INTERNET.

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 May 27, 2017

13 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 272:38 PM CDTEF1Morgan, MO0.1300$25,000
May 272:38 PM CDTEF1Morgan, MO0.150$50,000
May 272:50 PM CDTEF1Laclede, MO9.0100$100,000
May 273:05 PM CDTEF1Laclede, MO5.0400$100,000
May 273:09 PM CDTEF1Laclede, MO2.1100
May 273:25 PM CDTEF1Laclede, MO0.0100
May 278:18 PM CDTEF0Butler, MO1.985$40,000
May 278:20 PM CDTEF0Okfuskee, OK2.1100
May 278:55 PM CDTUnratedOkfuskee, OK0.6100
May 2710:17 PM CDTUnratedMurray, OK2.850
May 2710:39 PM CDTUnratedJohnston, OK1.550
May 2711:06 PM CDTUnratedJefferson, OK2.5100
May 2711:45 PM CDTEF1Crawford, OK to AR11.2700$30,000

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.