EF2 tornado, Dexter to Dexter Jct, Missouri, July 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 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

July 10, 2021

Touchdown

8:18 PM CDT (01:18 UTC)

Lifted

8:29 PM CDT (01:29 UTC)

On the ground

11 minutes

Path length

5.8 miles (9.3 km)

Path width

175 yards (160 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$2.0 million

County

Stoddard County

Touchdown point

36.810, -89.999

Lift-off point

36.799, -89.895

Record number

2107101918-01

24 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS PAH, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 120 mph.

• Several metal beams lofted 30 to 60 feet. Windows and doors blown in.
• Windows blown out and partial roof loss. Shifted off foundation.
• Windows blown in and several trees snapped. Path width approximately 175 yards with damage at hospital.
• Numerous trees snapped or uprooted.

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

Clusters of thunderstorms developed during the late afternoon hours. Some of the largest clusters were associated with sporadic gusty winds in the 40 to 60 mph range. By early evening, a few tornadic circulations were observed as storms intensified. A significant tornado occurred in southeast Missouri. In fact, this was the strongest tornado in the month of July since 1971 in southeast Missouri. The storms occurred ahead of a mid-level shortwave trough moving southeast into the Missouri Valley, with an associated cold front extending from southwest Kansas into northern and central Missouri. During the late afternoon and evening, steep mid-level lapse rates and ample westerly wind shear resulted in organized severe thunderstorms with damaging winds and an isolated tornado.

The tornado first touched down along Highway AD, just north of the interchange with U.S. Highway 60. The tornado then tracked east-southeast across Highways 60 and 25 through the city of Dexter. At least 150 homes were damaged. At least one home sustained major loss of roof decking, and a half dozen or less homes had major damage mainly due to fallen trees. Most damage was loss of shingles and siding and facia. Several mobile homes were heavily damaged or destroyed. One mobile home was flipped on its roof. Several garages were blown from their foundations. A few large buildings sustained major damage, including major loss of roof structures. A hospital sustained major damage with several windows blown in, ceiling panels blown down, and one attached structure blown away from the hospital. Several vehicles at the hospital had their windows blown out or were otherwise damaged from flying debris. Hundreds of trees were uprooted or snapped. Peak winds were estimated near 120 mph.

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

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.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 19:03 UTC and running to 03:00 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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:30 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 Paducah radar (KPAH), 108 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:19 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

7 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.