Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 2019

EF0 tornado, Mound City, Missouri, June 15, 2019

This EF0 tornado ran 0.7 miles across Holt County on June 15, 2019, touching down at 4:22 PM CDT and reaching 15 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
June 15, 2019
Touchdown
4:22 PM CDT (21:22 UTC)
Lifted
4:23 PM CDT (21:23 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.7 miles (1.1 km)
Path width
15 yards (14 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Holt County
Touchdown point
40.142, -95.240
Lift-off point
40.136, -95.228
Record number
1906151522-01

The damage survey

2 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS EAX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 70 mph.

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

On the evening of June 15 scattered severe thunderstorms formed in northwest Missouri, and brought strong winds and large hail These storms also produced a weak and brief tornado near Mound City, Missouri. Little to no damage occurred from this tornado aside from some trees and light objects in the Mound City area.

After a report of a tornado was received by the office investigation using online news and inquiries to local business helped identify the path of this brief and weak tornado through portions of Mound City. Little to no damage occurred outside of several tree limbs and light objects.

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.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
21:10 UTC21:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningEAX

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 Marginal Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 20:00 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.

Topeka, KS (KTOP), 12:00Z

9.4 hours before the tornado, 131 km from the path. June 15, 2019.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Topeka, KS at 12:00Z on 2019-06-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 3 joules per kilogram, CIN -320, lifted condensation level 1849 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 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, Topeka, KS at 12:00Z on 2019-06-15The 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 67 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 2 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
3 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-320 J/kg
Surface CAPE
506 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1849 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
2 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
19 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
67 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
87 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Topeka, KS (KTOP), 00:00Z

2.6 hours after it, 131 km from the path. June 16, 2019.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Topeka, KS at 00:00Z on 2019-06-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2187 joules per kilogram, CIN -10, lifted condensation level 1565 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, Topeka, KS at 00:00Z on 2019-06-16The 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 22 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 35 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
2187 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-10 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3555 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1565 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
8 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
22 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
79 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
1.8
0-3 km lapse rate
7.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Topeka radar (KTWX), 153 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:20 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
21:22 UTCTORNADOMound CityHolt, MOVIDEO OF BRIEF TORNADO IN MOUND CITY. POWER LINES AND TREES DOWN INSIDE THE TOWN.
21:25 UTCTSTM WND DMGMound CityHolt, MOTREE LIMBS AND POWER LINES KNOCKED DOWN.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2019 tornado in MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 15, 2019

28 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 152:21 PM CDTEF0Hardin, IA0.220$1,000
June 152:43 PM CDTEF0Macoupin, IL1.830
June 152:53 PM CDTEF0Stutsman, ND0.430
June 154:29 PM CDTEF0Wells, ND0.530
June 155:20 PM CDTUnratedCastro, TX0.010
June 156:29 PM EDTEF1Owen, IN8.1200$100,000
June 156:48 PM EDTEF2Monroe, IN3.7400$110,000
June 156:56 PM EDTEF2Greene, IN3.5400$250,000
June 156:05 PM CDTEF0Deuel, SD0.110
June 157:26 PM EDTEF1Marion, IN1.9200$1.1 million
June 157:37 PM EDTEF0Marion, IN0.9100$30,000
June 157:46 PM EDTEF0Brown, IN0.650$1,000
June 158:48 PM EDTEF2Rush, IN14.5200$275,000
June 157:54 PM CDTUnratedDes Moines, IA0.840
June 159:02 PM EDTEF0Fayette, IN0.120$50,000
June 158:20 PM CDTEF2Des Moines, IA1.8260
June 158:24 PM CDTEF2Des Moines, IA1.3300
June 158:38 PM CDTEF1Mercer, IL0.740
June 158:40 PM CDTEF1Dewey, OK3.1100$4,000
June 159:42 PM EDTEF1Union, IN2.135$35,000
June 159:51 PM EDTEF0Wayne, IN1.61002$225,000
June 159:56 PM EDTEF0Preble, OH1.735$40,000
June 159:06 PM CDTEF2Custer, OK6.3500$80,000
June 159:16 PM CDTEF0Custer, OK1.3300$2,000
June 159:42 PM CDTEF1Custer, OK1.5400$50,000
June 1510:19 PM CDTEF1Tazewell, IL2.4200$60,000
June 1511:36 PM CDTEF1McLean, IL1.950$40,000
June 1511:51 PM CDTEF1Lincoln, OK5.250$60,000

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.