EF1 tornado, Reeds Spg, Missouri, December 10, 2021

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.

Rating

EF1

Date

December 10, 2021

Touchdown

7:37 PM CST (01:37 UTC)

Lifted

7:40 PM CST (01:40 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

0.6 miles (1.0 km)

Path width

75 yards (69 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$500,000

County

Stone County

Touchdown point

36.708, -93.387

Lift-off point

36.712, -93.377

Record number

2112101937-01

6 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 92 mph.

• Report of numerous trees damaged at Little Hero's Park
• Trees damaged, some uprooted. Shed also reported as being damaged.
• Report of numerous trees uprooted and lying in different directions.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

The Ozarks were on the western edge of a severe thunderstorm and tornado outbreak that occurred from the evening of the 10th to the early morning of the 11th. A very unstable and highly sheared airmass interacted with a strong cold front and upper level disturbance to spark the widespread storm activity. According to the NWS Storm Prediction Center, 121 tornadoes occurred from southwest Missouri eastward into northeast Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Illinois. Three tornadoes, each rated EF-1, occurred near West Branson, Walnut Shade and Niangua. In addition, there were over 30 reports of damaging wind gusts over 60 mph, and several reports with hail up to golf ball size. Due to the fast movement of the storms, rainfall accumulations were generally one half inch or less.

A National Weather Service storm survey determined that a short lived EF-1 tornado impacted areas near Branson West. The EF-1 tornado had estimated maximum winds of 90 mph along it nearly three quarters of a mile path with a maximum damage path width of 75 yards. Along the tornadoes path damage occurred to roofs and siding of 20 homes. Additionally, multiple trees and power lines were downed.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

11 minutes of warning. NWS SGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:26 UTC, 11 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 23:20 UTC and running to 02:57 UTC.

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 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 00:47 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 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.

The Springfield radar (KSGF), 58 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:36 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.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

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

The live radar over the trackEvery 2021 tornado in MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are

32 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.