Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 2018
EF0 tornado, Boyer, Missouri, December 1, 2018
This EF0 tornado ran 0.3 miles across Wright County on December 1, 2018, touching down at 1:37 AM CST 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.
EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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
- December 1, 2018
- Touchdown
- 1:37 AM CST (07:37 UTC)
- Lifted
- 1:38 AM CST (07:38 UTC)
- On the ground
- 1 minutes
- Path length
- 0.3 miles (0.5 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Wright County
- Touchdown point
- 37.319, -92.568
- Lift-off point
- 37.322, -92.565
- Record number
- 1812010137-01
The damage survey
5 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS SGF, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 90 mph.
- Large branches broken off of hardwood trees.
- Roof heaviliy damaging on out building.
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
Severe thunderstorms and tornadoes developed within a Quasi-Linear Convective System that moved across the region during the late evening of November 30th and continued into the early morning of the 1st. The parent storm system intensified over the southern Plains and tracked northeast into northern Missouri. Widespread severe wind gusts between 60 and 80 mph, hail and isolated tornadoes occurred. Seven tornadoes were confirmed over southwest and south central Missouri. The tornadoes were rated EF-0 to EF-1 based on NWS Storm Surveys. Unfortunately, there was one fatality that occurred in Aurora, Missouri when a tornado struck a local motel.
A brief EF-0 tornado tracked for approximately one quarter of a mile and broke several large tree branches.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
7 minutes of warning. NWS SGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 07:30 UTC, 7 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 08:00 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 03:52 UTC and running to 08:51 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 03:52 UTC | 08:51 UTC | Tornado Watch | SGF |
| 07:24 UTC | 08:04 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | SGF |
| 07:30 UTC | 08:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | SGF |
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 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), 00:00Z
7.6 hours before the tornado, 119 km from the path. December 1, 2018.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 202 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -93 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 2 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 687 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 57 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 28 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 241 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 266 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 1.6
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.0 K/km
Springfield, MO (KSGF), 12:00Z
4.4 hours after it, 119 km from the path. December 1, 2018.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 13 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -181 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1035 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 82 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 32 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 247 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 284 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.9 K/km
The surface observations
Lebanon (LBO), 37 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 05:55 UTC | 53.6 | 53.6 | 80° 9 kt | 16 | 1000.7 | -TSRA |
| 06:15 UTC | 53.6 | 53.6 | 70° 11 kt | 999.7 | +RA | |
| 06:35 UTC | 53.6 | 53.6 | 80° 10 kt | 17 | 999.3 | +TSRA |
| 06:55 UTC | 53.6 | 53.6 | 50° 10 kt | 17 | 998 | +RA |
| 07:15 UTC | 53.6 | 53.6 | 80° 7 kt | 15 | 998.3 | +TSRA |
| 07:35 UTC | 53.6 | 53.6 | 90° 10 kt | 996.3 | TSRA | |
| 07:55 UTC | 53.6 | 53.6 | 190° 10 kt | 19 | 998.3 | RA |
| 08:15 UTC | 51.8 | 51.8 | 270° 24 kt | 42 | 1000.7 | RA |
| 08:35 UTC | 50 | 50 | 270° 14 kt | 23 | 1000.3 | RA |
| 08:55 UTC | 50 | 50 | 350° 8 kt | 18 | 995.9 | -RA |
| 09:15 UTC | 50 | 50 | 340° 4 kt | 996.3 | ||
| 09:35 UTC | 50 | 48.2 | 50° 4 kt | 995.9 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Springfield radar (KSGF), 74 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 07:36 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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 07:02 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Rome | Douglas, MO | TWO UPROOTED TREES NEAR ROME, MO. TIME BASED ON RADAR. DELAYED REPORT. |
| 07:07 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Rogersville | Webster, MO | POWER LINES DOWN. |
| 07:18 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Seymour | Webster, MO | POWER LINES DOWN. |
| 07:20 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Nnw Marshfield | Webster, MO | POWER LINES DOWN MARSHFIELD. |
| 07:21 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 Se Elkland | Webster, MO | A PORTION OF A GARAGE ROOF WAS PEELED OFF AND LANDED ON A PARKED TRUCK. SEVERAL TREES WERE REPORTED DOWN OR DAMAGED. DELAYED REPORT. |
| 07:22 UTC | TORNADO | 2 Nne Seymour | Webster, MO | AN EF-1 TORNADO FORMED 2 MILES NORTH NORTHEAST OF SEYMOUR AND TRACKED NORTHEAST AND DISSIPATED APPROXIMATELY 6 MILES NORTHEAST OF SEYMOUR. THERE WAS SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE TO BARNS ALONG WITH UPROOTED TREES. |
| 07:24 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Se Gentryville | Douglas, MO | MULTIPLE LARGE TREES DOWNED EAST OF STATE RD 95, MOSTLY ALONG COUNTY RD 347. DELAYED REPORT. TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR. |
| 07:24 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Ava | Douglas, MO | REPORTS OF TREES DOWN. DELAYED REPORT. |
| 07:24 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Elkland | Webster, MO | POWER LINES DOWN. |
| 07:34 UTC | TSTM WND GST 70 | 3 Nne Foose | Dallas, MO | TREE LIMBS DOWN. HIGHWAY 65 SOUTH OF BUFFALO. |
| 07:37 UTC | TORNADO | 5 Nw Hartville | Wright, MO | A BRIEF EF-0 TORNADO TRACKED FOR APPROXIMATELY ONE QUARTER OF A MILE AND BROKE SEVERAL LARGE TREE BRANCHES. |
| 07:38 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 Ne Odin | Wright, MO | MULTIPLE LARGE TREE LIMBS DOWNED AND TRASH DUMPSTERS DISPLACED. TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR. |
| 07:39 UTC | TSTM WND GST 70 | 5 Ene Vanzant | Douglas, MO | FIRE DEPARTMENT REPORTS ESTIMATED 70 MPH WINDS AT HIGHWAY 76 AND EE. POWER OUTAGES REPORTED. |
| 07:41 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 N Fair Grove | Greene, MO | FAIR GROVE POLICE DEPARTMENT UTILITY POLE WITH ATTACHED CITY INFRASTRUCTURE EQUIPMENT SNAPPED IN HALF AT 70 EAST WILLOW STREET, FAIR GROVE. POLE BLOWN DOWN TOWARDS THE NORTH. |
| 07:49 UTC | TSTM WND GST 60 | Norwood | Wright, MO | ESTIMATED 60 PLUS WINDS HIT NORWOOD AROUND 1:49 AM. DELAYED REPORT. |
| 07:50 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 Wnw Niangua | Webster, MO | SEMI BLOWN OFF INTERSTATE 44 AT MILE MARKER 106. |
| 07:52 UTC | TSTM WND GST 61 | 2 N Mountain Grove | Wright, MO | MISSOURI AG STATION. |
| 08:00 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Houston | Texas, MO | IN HOUSTON TREE LIMBS DOWN ON POWER LINES. TIME BASED ON RADAR. DELAYED REPORT. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2018 tornado in MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of December 1, 2018
39 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 1 | 12:15 AM CST | EF0 | Barry, MO | 0.1 | 50 | $90,000 | ||
| December 1 | 12:30 AM CST | EF1 | Lawrence, MO | 0.5 | 50 | 1 | $250,000 | |
| December 1 | 12:40 AM CST | EF0 | Christian, MO | 2.1 | 40 | $190,000 | ||
| December 1 | 12:41 AM CST | EF1 | Christian, MO | 1.2 | 75 | $150,000 | ||
| December 1 | 12:47 AM CST | EF1 | Greene, MO | 2.5 | 60 | $175,000 | ||
| December 1 | 1:22 AM CST | EF1 | Webster, MO | 4.2 | 75 | $90,000 | ||
| December 1 | 1:25 AM CST | EF1 | Hempstead, AR | 8.5 | 75 | $300,000 | ||
| December 1 | 1:47 PM CST | EF0 | Bay, FL | 2.4 | 50 | |||
| December 1 | 1:54 PM CST | EF1 | Pike, IL | 1.6 | 25 | |||
| December 1 | 2:29 PM CST | EF0 | Pike, IL | 0.1 | 25 | |||
| December 1 | 2:34 PM CST | EF0 | Perry, AL | 0.3 | 75 | |||
| December 1 | 2:40 PM CST | EF1 | Pike, IL | 0.6 | 110 | |||
| December 1 | 3:00 PM CST | EF1 | Schuyler, IL | 1.4 | 100 | $12,000 | ||
| December 1 | 3:01 PM CST | EF0 | Morgan, IL | 1.7 | 50 | |||
| December 1 | 3:09 PM CST | EF0 | Cass, IL | 0.6 | 50 | $35,000 | ||
| December 1 | 3:18 PM CST | EF0 | McDonough, IL | 0.1 | 15 | |||
| December 1 | 3:25 PM CST | EF1 | Cass, IL | 4.2 | 200 | $200,000 | ||
| December 1 | 3:41 PM CST | EF0 | McDonough, IL | 0.1 | 15 | |||
| December 1 | 3:44 PM CST | EF0 | Mason, IL | 1.7 | 25 | |||
| December 1 | 3:49 PM CST | EF0 | Autauga, AL | 0.3 | 100 | |||
| December 1 | 3:51 PM CST | EF1 | Schuyler, IL | 15.6 | 450 | $610,000 | ||
| December 1 | 3:59 PM CST | EF1 | Macoupin, IL | 1.4 | 50 | |||
| December 1 | 4:09 PM CST | EF1 | Montgomery, IL | 8.0 | 75 | |||
| December 1 | 4:16 PM CST | EF2 | Montgomery, IL | 6.8 | 100 | |||
| December 1 | 4:32 PM CST | EF1 | Montgomery, IL | 2.0 | 50 | |||
| December 1 | 4:45 PM CST | EF0 | Fulton, IL | 5.5 | 25 | $20,000 | ||
| December 1 | 4:47 PM CST | EF0 | Montgomery, IL | 3.1 | 200 | $140,000 | ||
| December 1 | 4:53 PM CST | EF1 | Mason, IL | 11.7 | 250 | $65,000 | ||
| December 1 | 5:01 PM CST | EF3 | Christian, IL | 12.5 | 900 | 22 | $119 million | |
| December 1 | 5:34 PM CST | EF0 | Tazewell, IL | 0.1 | 50 | $80,000 | ||
| December 1 | 5:34 PM CST | EF2 | Christian, IL | 8.4 | 400 | $3.3 million | ||
| December 1 | 5:53 PM CST | EF1 | Macon, IL | 4.3 | 250 | $325,000 | ||
| December 1 | 6:03 PM CST | EF0 | Macon, IL | 0.4 | 50 | $25,000 | ||
| December 1 | 6:16 PM CST | EF1 | Sangamon, IL | 4.6 | 100 | $225,000 | ||
| December 1 | 6:31 PM CST | EF1 | Macon, IL | 1.1 | 320 | $150,000 | ||
| December 1 | 7:06 PM CST | EF1 | McLean, IL | 0.2 | 50 | $75,000 | ||
| December 1 | 7:18 PM CST | EF2 | McLean, IL | 2.4 | 100 | $75,000 | ||
| December 1 | 7:21 PM CST | EF0 | McLean, IL | 0.1 | 25 | $30,000 | ||
| December 1 | 7:42 PM CST | EF1 | McLean, IL | 0.5 | 75 | $110,000 |
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.