EF1 tornado, Dawson to Simmons, Missouri, May 26, 2024

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

May 26, 2024

Touchdown

5:11 PM CDT (22:11 UTC)

Lifted

5:38 PM CDT (22:38 UTC)

On the ground

27 minutes

Path length

14.2 miles (22.9 km)

Path width

400 yards (366 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$515,000

Counties

Wright and Texas counties

Touchdown point

37.272, -92.308

Lift-off point

37.251, -92.051

Record number

2405261611-01

5 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 100 mph.

• Trees laying north and south. Trees uprooted.
• Barn destroyed. Numerous trees uprooted and some snapped.
• Roof removed. At least 5 outbuildings damaged or destroyed.
• Reports received of tree debris blown to the east.

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

A second round of severe thunderstorms occurred during the afternoon and evening on May 26, 2024. Supercell thunderstorms initialized over central Missouri and spread southward as rapid destabilization occurred along and east of Highway 65. 40-55 knots of deep layer shear combined with steep mid-level lapse rates and sufficient instability primed the atmosphere to produce all modes of severe weather. This included hail up to 4 inches in diameter, which caused extensive damage to cars and roofs in Webster County, as well as damaging winds and flooding. Four tornadoes touched down, including an EF-2 tornado in Shannon County, and an EF-3 tornado in Howell and Shannon counties.

A NWS Storm Survey found that an EF-1 tornado with maximum wind speeds of 100 mph caused extensive tree damage with numerous trees uprooted or snapped in Wright County before the tornado continued into Texas County.

A NWS Storm Survey found that an EF-1 tornado with maximum wind speeds of 100 mph caused extensive tree damage with numerous trees uprooted or snapped. This tornado started north of Dawson in eastern Wright County and tracked east into Texas County where five outbuildings were heavily damaged or destroyed with two homes sustaining roof damage. The tornado lifted 7 miles southwest of Houston in Texas County.

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

5 minutes of warning. NWS SGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:06 UTC, 5 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:23 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:32 UTC and running to 01:18 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 20:20 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), 108 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:14 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 2024 tornado in MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are

69 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 70 of them

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.