EF0 tornado, Mt Airy to Higbee, Missouri, May 7, 2024

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.

Rating

EF0

Date

May 7, 2024

Touchdown

1:44 AM CDT (06:44 UTC)

Lifted

1:47 AM CDT (06:47 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

2.3 miles (3.6 km)

Path width

400 yards (366 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Randolph County

Touchdown point

39.300, -92.520

Lift-off point

39.310, -92.480

Record number

2405070044-01

30 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS EAX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 90 mph.

• Several large trees downed near the railroad tracks. Some of the trees had been moved, but others were sprawled in a variety of directions.
• Multiple homes along Highway A with roof damage. Multiple pieces of loose property blown around or displaced.
• Several large limbs and small trees down in this area. Power lines knocked down (but most of the power line/pole damage was fixed by the time area was examined).
• Broken windows. Several loose items blown around.

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

In the late evening hours of May 6th and early morning hours of May 7th, several severe linear features moved through Missouri from west to east. These produced widespread 60 mph straight line wind damage with numerous embedded QLCS mesovortices and a few confirmed QLCS tornadoes.

A tornado developed west of County Road 2160 in Randolph County during the early morning on May 7. It was initially weak, damaging mainly trees along County Road 2180 before it strengthened as it approached Route D. One property featured multiple small trees uprooted in various directions as well as minor roof damage. Along Route D, much larger trees were downed or uprooted, with more roof damage to property. A water tank was destroyed, with the top blown over 100 yards to the northeast. Just east of Route D, several trees were snapped at their tops in a large grove. The tornado then shifted northeastward, damaging a barn just west of Moberly as well as several trees. The tornado then reached the west side of Moberly, producing considerable tree damage just west and northwest of downtown. Several power lines and poles were downed near the intersection of Reed Street and Emerson Street. Multiple trees were downed to the northeast, including on Bond Street and Franklin Street. Some of these trees were uprooted, falling on property and causing considerable tree and vehicle damage. Shingle damage and broken windows were also visible at several locations. The tornado lifted just southwest of the railroad tracks, with sporadic straight-line wind damage noted to the northeast on the north side of Moberly.

An EF0 tornado developed just southwest of Higbee, damaging a large section of the southern part of town. Most of the damage was to trees, with the most significant damage occurring near the railroad tracks and along Highway A to the south of the tracks. An automobile was displaced a couple feet in a parking lot, and a trailer was blown into a business property. The property also featured significant roof damage. Multiple large trees were blown down, and smaller trees were uprooted. Some of these trees fell onto property, damaging a couple of vehicles and several residences. Several large trees were downed along Monroe Street as well. As the tornado moved northeast, it weakened, damaging mainly smaller trees and limbs before lifting near County Road 2560 northeast of town.

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

30 minutes of warning. NWS EAX issued a tornado warning for this county at 06:14 UTC, 30 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 06:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 01:41 UTC and running to 07:45 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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 05:10 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.

Moberly (MBY), 19 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The Pleasant Hill radar (KEAX), 162 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 06:46 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

52 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.