Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 2018

EF1 tornado, Pleasant Hope, Missouri, May 19, 2018

This EF1 tornado ran 2.0 miles across Polk County on May 19, 2018, touching down at 6:28 PM CDT and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $20,000 of property damage.

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 mph

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

    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
EF1
Date
May 19, 2018
Touchdown
6:28 PM CDT (23:28 UTC)
Lifted
6:29 PM CDT (23:29 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
2.0 miles (3.2 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$20,000
County
Polk County
Touchdown point
37.502, -93.280
Lift-off point
37.502, -93.246
Record number
1805191728-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Isolated severe weather impacted the Ozarks Region.

Numerous trees uprooted and large branches broken. One house with roof damage and several outbuildings damaged.

Two barns destroyed. One barn with roof damage. Numerous trees uprooted.

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.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 23:00 UTC and running to 00:58 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
12:26 UTC13:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSGF
12:46 UTC13:17 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSGF
16:50 UTC17:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSGF
23:00 UTC00:58 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchSGF
23:23 UTC23:53 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 Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:57 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

11.5 hours before the tornado, 82 km from the path. May 19, 2018.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2018-05-19Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1840 joules per kilogram, CIN -44, lifted condensation level 1017 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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 2018-05-19The 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 78 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 29 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
1840 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-44 J/kg
Surface CAPE
300 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1017 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
78 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
80 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.9
0-3 km lapse rate
4.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Springfield, MO (KSGF), 00:00Z

0.5 hours after it, 82 km from the path. May 20, 2018.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 2018-05-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1239 joules per kilogram, CIN -21, lifted condensation level 1638 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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 00:00Z on 2018-05-20The 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 149 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 40 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
1239 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-21 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3034 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1638 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
40 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
149 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
147 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.4
Supercell composite
10.1
0-3 km lapse rate
7.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Springfield radar (KSGF), 32 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:30 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
22:55 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Nne StocktonCedar, MO3 MILES NORTH OF STOCKTON J HWY 9 TO 14 TREE DOWN WITH SEVERAL SMALL TREES DOWN.
23:14 UTCHAIL 0.882 Ne GreenfieldDade, MO
23:25 UTCHAIL 15 Nne MorrisvillePolk, MO
23:25 UTCTORNADO2 Nw Pleasant HopePolk, MOOUTBUILDINGS DAMAGED AND TREES UPROOTED. PATH WIDTH 100 YARDS. PATH LENGTH 2.3 MILES. DAMAGE TRACK ENDED 2 MILES NNE OF PLEASANT HOPE. THIS IS ONE OF TWO BRIEF TORNADOES TO STRIKE THE PLEASANT HOPE AREA.
23:25 UTCTORNADO2 Nw Pleasant HopePolk, MOOUTBUILDINGS DAMAGED AND TREES UPROOTED. PATH WIDTH 100 YARDS. PATH LENGTH 2.3 MILES. DAMAGE TRACK ENDED 2 MILES NNE OF PLEASANT HOPE. THIS IS ONE OF TWO BRIEF TORNADOES TO STRIKE THE PLEASANT HOPE AREA. THE DURATION OF
23:30 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Nne Pleasant HopePolk, MOTREES DOWN.
23:32 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Ne Pleasant HopePolk, MOEXTENSIVE TREE DAMAGE.
23:38 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 N Half WayPolk, MOLARGE TREE BLOWN DOWN. ALSO HAD NICKEL SIZE HAIL.

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 May 19, 2018

5 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 192:59 PM CDTEF0Osage, OK1.9100$2,000
May 193:04 PM CDTEF0Osage, OK0.9100$5,000
May 196:25 PM CDTEF1Polk, MO2.3100$20,000
May 199:36 PM EDTEF1Bedford, VA1.0100$25,000
May 1912:17 AM CDTEF0McClain, OK7.050$10,000

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.