Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 2018
EF1 tornado, Squires, Missouri, May 3, 2018
This EF1 tornado ran 0.8 miles across Douglas County on May 3, 2018, touching down at 2:45 AM CDT and reaching 75 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $10,000 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.
EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado
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
- EF1
- Date
- May 3, 2018
- Touchdown
- 2:45 AM CDT (07:45 UTC)
- Lifted
- 2:47 AM CDT (07:47 UTC)
- On the ground
- 2 minutes
- Path length
- 0.8 miles (1.3 km)
- Path width
- 75 yards (69 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $10,000
- County
- Douglas County
- Touchdown point
- 36.843, -92.603
- Lift-off point
- 36.847, -92.590
- Record number
- 1805030145-01
What the Weather Service recorded
Severe thunderstorms caused damaging wind and large hail.
An EF-1 tornado briefly touched down with maximum wind speeds up to 90 mph and a path width of 75 yards. A roof was blown off a new cattle feeder, lots of limbs down, trees uprooted and snapped. One outbuilding destroyed.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
4 minutes of warning. NWS SGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 07:41 UTC, 4 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 08:00 UTC.
The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 04:16 UTC and running to 09:43 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 04:16 UTC | 09:43 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SGF |
| 07:06 UTC | 08:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | SGF |
| 07:27 UTC | 08:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | SGF |
| 07:39 UTC | 08:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | SGF |
| 07:41 UTC | 08:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | SGF |
| 08:00 UTC | 08:45 UTC | Tornado Warning | SGF |
| 08:12 UTC | 08:49 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | SGF |
| 08:31 UTC | 10:14 UTC | High Wind Warning | SGF |
| 18:41 UTC | 02:45 UTC | Flood Warning | SGF |
| 21:06 UTC | 02:00 UTC | Flood 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 forecast that day
The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 05:45 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), 00:00Z
7.8 hours before the tornado, 107 km from the path. May 3, 2018.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1170 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -40 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 1723 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1041 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 44 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 17 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 113 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 164 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.0
- Supercell composite
- 5.6
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.9 K/km
Springfield, MO (KSGF), 12:00Z
4.2 hours after it, 107 km from the path. May 3, 2018.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 363 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -131 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 16 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 962 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 51 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 45 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 394 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 310 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 3.3
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.4 K/km
The radar
The Springfield radar (KSGF), 84 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 07:48 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 07:10 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 E Fremont Hills | Christian, MO | TWO MILES EAST OF LAMBERTS IN OZARK. MANY TREES UPROOTED; ONE NEIGHBORS POOL AND CABANA AND POOL HOUSE DESTROYED; ANOTHER NEIGHBOR BROKEN WINDOW, FENCE AND SHINGLES OFF ROOF. TIME ESTIMATED BASED ON RADAR. PICTURES SENT |
| 07:10 UTC | TORNADO | 2.5 North of Ozark | Christian, MO | CORRECTS PREVIOUS TORNADO REPORT FROM 2.5 NORTH OF OZARK. THE DAMAGE PATH BEGAN NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF NORTH 3RD STREET AND SUNSET ROAD, WHERE MINOR ROOF DAMAGE OCCURRED. THE STORM THEN MOVED NORTHEAST AND CAUSED ADDIT |
| 07:10 UTC | TORNADO | 2.5 North of Ozark | Christian, MO | UPGRADES PREVIOUS TSTM WND DMG REPORT FROM 3 E FREMONT HILLS. SURVEY_SUMMARY: THE DAMAGE PATH BEGAN NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF NORTH 3RD STREET AND SUNSET ROAD, WHERE MINOR ROOF DAMAGE OCCURRED. THE STORM THEN MOVED NORTHE |
| 07:17 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 Wsw Rogersville | Greene, MO | BUILDING DAMAGED BY WINDS FROM THUNDERSTORM. PICTURE SENT VIA MEDIA FROM PUBLIC. |
| 07:17 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 Wsw Rogersville | Greene, MO | CORRECTS PREVIOUS TSTM WND DMG REPORT FROM 3 WSW ROGERSVILLE. BUILDING DAMAGED BY WINDS FROM THUNDERSTORM. PICTURE SENT VIA MEDIA FROM PUBLIC. TIME BASED ON RADAR ESTIMATE. |
| 07:17 UTC | TORNADO | 3 Wsw Rogersville | Greene, MO | CORRECTS PREVIOUS TSTM WND DMG REPORT FROM 3 WSW ROGERSVILLE. A BARN WAS DESTROYED AND TREES WERE UPROOTED NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF E. FARM ROAD 186 AND FARM ROAD 241. TIMING OF THE EVENT WAS ESTIMATED USING STORM REPORT |
| 07:45 UTC | TORNADO | 1.5 Ne Squires | Douglas, MO | CORRECTS PREVIOUS TORNADO REPORT FROM 1 SE SQUIRES. EF1 TORNADO AFTER STORM SURVEY. CORRECTS PREVIOUS TSTM WND DMG REPORT FROM 1 SE SQUIRES. ROOF OFF A NEW CATTLE FEEDER, LOTS OF LIMBS DOWN, TREES UPROOTED AND SNAPPED. O |
| 07:46 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Se Squires | Douglas, MO | REPORTED AT COUNTY ROAD 307 AND HWY 5, SQUIRES, MO. ROOF OFF A NEW CATTLE FEEDER, LOT OF LIMBS DOWN ONE IS 2-3 IN DIAMETER & 10 FT LONG. TIME BASED ON RADAR ESTIMATE. |
| 07:46 UTC | TORNADO | 1 Se Squires | Douglas, MO | EF1 TORNADO AFTER STORM SURVEY. CORRECTS PREVIOUS TSTM WND DMG REPORT FROM 1 SE SQUIRES. REPORTED AT COUNTY ROAD 307 AND HWY 5, SQUIRES, MO. ROOF OFF A NEW CATTLE FEEDER, LOT OF LIMBS DOWN ONE IS 2-3 IN DIAMETER & 10 FT |
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 3, 2018
9 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 3 | 2:10 AM CDT | EF1 | Christian, MO | 1.5 | 100 | $100,000 | ||
| May 3 | 2:17 AM CDT | EF0 | Greene, MO | 0.3 | 50 | $30,000 | ||
| May 3 | 8:22 AM CDT | EF1 | Pontotoc, OK | 0.3 | 25 | $10,000 | ||
| May 3 | 1:09 PM CDT | EF1 | Franklin, AR | 9.5 | 550 | $50,000 | ||
| May 3 | 8:19 PM EDT | EF1 | Yates, NY | 1.1 | 100 | $20,000 | ||
| May 3 | 7:46 PM CDT | EF0 | Jasper, IA | 0.4 | 25 | |||
| May 3 | 7:48 PM CDT | EF0 | Marion, IA | 1.1 | 25 | |||
| May 3 | 7:56 PM CDT | EF0 | Jasper, IA | 0.4 | 25 | |||
| May 3 | 11:15 PM CDT | EF0 | Jones, IA | 0.0 | 10 |
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.