Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 2021

EF0 tornado, Pattonsburg, Missouri, October 24, 2021

This EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Daviess County on October 24, 2021, touching down at 3:36 PM CDT and reaching 20 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $20,000 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 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
October 24, 2021
Touchdown
3:36 PM CDT (20:36 UTC)
Lifted
3:37 PM CDT (20:37 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
20 yards (18 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$20,000
County
Daviess County
Touchdown point
40.022, -94.175
Lift-off point
40.023, -94.173
Record number
2110241436-01

The damage survey

1 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 85 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 afternoon of October 24, 2021, several tornadoes formed across northern Missouri. These tornadoes produced some isolated damage, but mostly remained over open territory. The most impactful tornado formed near Chillicothe, and went on to produce EF-2 damage in Purdin, Missouri. There were no reported injuries from these tornadoes despite the visible heavy damage in certain locations.

A weak and brief tornado formed in Daviess County that destroyed an outbuilding at a residential farm in a rural area. NWS survey also indicated a grain bin caved in at the property.

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

The warnings

13 minutes of warning. NWS EAX issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:23 UTC, 13 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:09 UTC and running to 21:48 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
02:54 UTC10:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchEAX
19:09 UTC21:48 UTCTornado WatchEAX
20:23 UTC21:00 UTCTornado WarningEAX
20:50 UTC21:15 UTCTornado 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:50 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

8.6 hours before the tornado, 170 km from the path. October 24, 2021.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Topeka, KS at 12:00Z on 2021-10-24Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1036 joules per kilogram, CIN -73, lifted condensation level 1015 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 12:00Z on 2021-10-24The 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 368 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 42 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
1036 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-73 J/kg
Surface CAPE
107 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1015 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
42 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
41 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
368 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
374 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
7.7
0-3 km lapse rate
4.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Topeka, KS (KTOP), 00:00Z

3.4 hours after it, 170 km from the path. October 25, 2021.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Topeka, KS at 00:00Z on 2021-10-25Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -93816, lifted condensation level 985 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 2021-10-25The 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 62 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 45 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-93816 J/kg
Surface CAPE
551 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
985 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
45 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
62 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
113 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.1
0-3 km lapse rate
8.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Pleasant Hill radar (KEAX), 135 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:36 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.

What was reported nearby

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

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
20:30 UTCTORNADO6 Wsw KingstonCaldwell, MOROOF DAMAGED WNW OF MIRABLE.
20:36 UTCTORNADO3 Sw PattonsburgDaviess, MONWS STORM SURVEY FOUND EVIDENCE OF A SHORT LIVED EF-0 TORNADO JUST SOUTHWEST OF OLD PATTONSBURG.
20:50 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Ssw CoffeyDaviess, MOPOSSIBLE TORNADO...REPORTS OF TREES UPROOTED.
21:02 UTCHAIL 1.5BreckenridgeCaldwell, MO
21:15 UTCTORNADO6 Nw ChillicotheLivingston, MONWS STORM SURVEY FOUND EVIDENCE OF A BRIEF EF-0 TORNADO ABOUT 6 MILES NW OF CHILLICOTHE.

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

This ground now

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

The other tornadoes of October 24, 2021

16 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
October 242:03 PM CDTEF0Doniphan, KS4.325
October 243:27 PM CDTEF1Clinton, MO4.640$10,000
October 244:16 PM CDTEF0Livingston, MO0.150$5,000
October 244:31 PM CDTEF2Livingston, MO31.4150$250,000
October 244:54 PM CDTEF0Pettis, MO0.510
October 244:59 PM CDTEF0Pettis, MO1.210
October 246:34 PM CDTEF1Dent, MO8.2400$225,000
October 246:53 PM CDTEF1Camden, MO2.2100$80,000
October 247:43 PM CDTEF1Reynolds, MO1.2100
October 248:23 PM CDTEF3Fredericktown tornado, MO16.74501
October 248:29 PM CDTEF1Iron, MO10.2250
October 248:47 PM CDTEF3Coffman tornado, MO18.88801$200,000
October 249:02 PM CDTEF2Sainte Genevieve, MO to IL16.5400$3.0 million
October 249:42 PM CDTEF1Perry, MO2.325$10,000
October 249:54 PM CDTEF0Washington, IL2.0180
October 2411:04 PM CDTEF1Wayne, MO24.5400$420,000

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.