Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 2019

EF1 tornado, Miner, Missouri, May 29, 2019

This EF1 tornado ran 1.0 miles across Scott County on May 29, 2019, touching down at 8:44 AM CDT and reaching 75 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $50,000 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 29, 2019
Touchdown
8:44 AM CDT (13:44 UTC)
Lifted
8:46 AM CDT (13:46 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
1.0 miles (1.6 km)
Path width
75 yards (69 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$50,000
County
Scott County
Touchdown point
36.917, -89.521
Lift-off point
36.920, -89.504
Record number
1905290744-01

The damage survey

12 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS PAH, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 95 mph.

  • Above ground swimming pool and swing set blown down and around
  • 20 foot section of wooden fencing blown 50 feet
  • Insulation from house blown Westward

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

A large thunderstorm complex tracked east-northeast across southeast Missouri during the morning. These storms produced an isolated tornado in addition to gusty winds and heavy rainfall. A deep southwest wind flow through the depth of the atmosphere brought abundant moisture for storms. Precipitable water values were over 1.5 inches. Moderately strong 850 mb winds around 30 knots provided enough low level wind shear for an isolated tornado, despite weak instability early in the morning.

An EF-1 tornado resulted in a house losing a portion of its roof, including the roof decking. Several small outbuildings or porches lost part of their roofs or walls. Limbs were broken off a couple dozen trees, and a few smaller trees were uprooted or broken. Wooden fencing and swing sets were blown over. Peak winds were estimated near 95 mph.

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. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
13:50 UTC14:08 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningPAH
00:08 UTC00:56 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningPAH
00:15 UTC00:33 UTCTornado WarningPAH
00:36 UTC00:57 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningPAH

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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 12:48 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.

Little Rock, AR (KBYH), 12:00Z

1.7 hours before the tornado, 236 km from the path. May 29, 2019.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Little Rock, AR at 12:00Z on 2019-05-29Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1181 joules per kilogram, CIN -50, lifted condensation level 845 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, Little Rock, AR at 12:00Z on 2019-05-29The 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 144 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 36 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
1181 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-50 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1960 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
845 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
36 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
144 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
143 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.7
Supercell composite
5.3
0-3 km lapse rate
5.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Paducah radar (KPAH), 68 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 13:42 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
12:53 UTCTSTM WND DMGCape GirardeauCape Girardeau, MODELAYED REPORT. TREES REPORTED DOWN AROUND CAPE GIRARDEAU, INCLUDING A TREE THAT FELL ONTO A HOUSE. TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR.
13:10 UTCTSTM WND DMGMaldenDunklin, MOONE TREE DOWN IN TOWN. WINDS MEASURED OFF HOME WEATHER STATION AT 60MPH.
13:44 UTCTORNADO1 Nne MinerScott, MOAN EF1 TORNADO RESULTED IN A HOUSE LOOSING A PORTION OF ITS ROOF INCLUDING THE ROOF DECKING. SEVERAL SMALL OUTBUILDINGS OR PORCHES LOST PART OF THEIR ROOFS OR WALLS. AT LEAST A COUPLE DOZEN TREES HAD BROKEN TREE LIMBS AN
13:55 UTCNON-TSTM WND GST 392 Nw AnnistonMississippi, MOMESONET STATION MOA27 MISSISSIPPI CNTY, S OF CHARLESTON.
14:15 UTCNON-TSTM WND GST 426 S Wolf IslandMississippi, MOMESONET STATION EW4994 DORENA.

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 May 29, 2019

40 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 292:07 PM EDTEF0Tioga, PA1.150$25,000
May 291:19 PM CDTEF0Tarrant, TX3.9200$5,000
May 291:22 PM CDTEF0Denton, TX3.7250$1,000
May 291:31 PM CDTEF1Tarrant, TX0.5300$100,000
May 293:14 PM EDTEF0Lehigh, PA2.350
May 293:20 PM EDTEF0Sullivan, PA0.450
May 292:58 PM CDTEF0Rockwall, TX3.125$1,000
May 293:07 PM CDTEF0Van Zandt, TX3.0100$5,000
May 294:14 PM EDTEF1Perry, PA4.9300$40,000
May 293:17 PM CDTUnratedVan Zandt, TX0.250
May 294:24 PM EDTEF1Dauphin, PA2.5350$20,000
May 294:24 PM EDTEF1Fulton, PA0.750$35,000
May 293:36 PM CDTEF0Wood, TX3.4100$1,000
May 294:00 PM CDTUnratedSac, IA1.230
May 294:11 PM CDTUnratedSac, IA0.720
May 294:21 PM CDTEF0McCurtain, OK1.175
May 294:24 PM CDTEF2Kaufman, TX4.02151$1.0 million
May 294:28 PM CDTEF0Christian, IL0.220
May 294:30 PM CDTEF0Christian, IL0.220
May 294:35 PM CDTEF0Christian, IL0.320
May 294:49 PM CDTUnratedPocahontas, IA0.240
May 294:50 PM CDTEF0Macon, IL0.520
May 294:50 PM CDTEF2Wood, TX9.1850$300,000
May 294:51 PM CDTEF2Van Zandt, TX7.2700$500,000
May 295:08 PM CDTEF1Van Zandt, TX2.3140$250,000
May 295:16 PM CDTEF0Randolph, AR0.675$40,000
May 295:18 PM CDTEF1Van Zandt, TX3.8250$1,000
May 295:31 PM CDTEF0Fannin, TX10.8300$25,000
May 296:21 PM CDTUnratedHumboldt, IA0.530
May 296:23 PM CDTEF0Iowa, IA0.120
May 297:01 PM CDTEF1Poweshiek, IA3.5501$10,000
May 297:28 PM CDTUnratedPoweshiek, IA0.930
May 297:37 PM CDTEF0Hardin, IA1.130
May 297:39 PM CDTUnratedPoweshiek, IA0.930
May 297:46 PM CDTEF0Iowa, IA3.320
May 298:13 PM CDTEF0Johnson, IA0.320
May 298:15 PM CDTEF0Hardin, IA1.230
May 298:29 PM CDTEF0Hardin, IA0.640$30,000
May 298:31 PM CDTEF0Hardin, IA1.350$10,000
May 298:54 PM CDTUnratedHardin, IA0.720

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.