Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 2024
EF0 tornado, Ethlyn, Missouri, November 4, 2024
This EF0 tornado ran 6.1 miles across Lincoln and Saint Charles counties on November 4, 2024, touching down at 9:39 PM CST and reaching 75 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $5,000 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.
EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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
- November 4, 2024
- Touchdown
- 9:39 PM CST (03:39 UTC)
- Lifted
- 9:49 PM CST (03:49 UTC)
- On the ground
- 10 minutes
- Path length
- 6.1 miles (9.8 km)
- Path width
- 75 yards (69 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $5,000
- Counties
- Lincoln and Saint Charles counties
- Touchdown point
- 38.836, -90.952
- Lift-off point
- 38.898, -90.873
- Record number
- 2411042139-01
The damage survey
11 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LSX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 75 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
Overnight on Sunday, November 3rd, a shield of rain and thunderstorms moved into the bi-state area. By Monday morning, persistent rainfall resulted in fatal flash flooding in southeast Missouri, with one fatality occurring in Iron County. Later on Monday evening, a QLCS produced two EF-0 tornadoes in east-central Missouri and shifted the axis of heaviest rain to the north. Due to the shift northward, record rainfall amounts caused deadly flash flooding in the St. Louis metropolitan area on Tuesday morning with two fatalities caused by rising waters.
The tornado then crossed Highway 61 from St. Charles County into far southern Lincoln County doing minor and isolated tree damage before lifting. The tornado had a path length of 1.14 miles and a max path width of 25 yards in Lincoln County. No deaths or injuries were reported.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
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.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01:43 UTC | 18:00 UTC | Flood Watch | LSX |
| 03:38 UTC | 04:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LSX |
| 03:44 UTC | 03:52 UTC | Tornado Warning | LSX |
| 04:03 UTC | 04:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LSX |
| 06:13 UTC | 09:15 UTC | Flood Advisory | LSX |
| 06:55 UTC | 10:00 UTC | Flood Advisory | LSX |
| 09:23 UTC | 13:33 UTC | Flood Warning | LSX |
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 00:36 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.
Lincoln, IL (KILX), 00:00Z
3.7 hours before the tornado, 244 km from the path. November 5, 2024.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -44000 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 6 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 612 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 40 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 29 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 249 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 172 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.0 K/km
Lincoln, IL (KILX), 12:00Z
8.3 hours after it, 244 km from the path. November 5, 2024.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 2 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -40 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 91 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 759 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 58 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 14 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 26 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- -96 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.2 K/km
The radar
The St Louis radar (KLSX), 27 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:37 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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01:01 UTC | RAIN 4.18 | Ferguson | St. Louis, MO | Storm total so far. |
| 03:28 UTC | TORNADO | 3 Ese Bellflower | Montgomery, MO | Damage surveys confirmed that a brief EF0 tornado formed along Baptist Rd in Montgomery County, tracking east-northeastward. The tornado did not impact any structures, but produced sporadic tree damage and lofted crop de |
| 03:39 UTC | TORNADO | 1 Nne Foristell | St. Charles, MO | Updates previous tornado report from 1 NNE Foristell. Damage survey confirmed an EF0 tornado. The tornado developed north of Foristell and tracked northeast just over 6 miles. Multiple trees were damaged, a pole barn was |
| 03:40 UTC | TORNADO | 1 Nne Foristell | St. Charles, MO | One machine shed destroyed along Hwy W near Foristell along with telephone poles knocked down and lots of trees down. Likely a tornado but storm survey will confirm. |
| 04:12 UTC | RAIN 1.52 | 1 W Black Jack | St. Louis, MO | Rainfall since 1030am today. |
| 05:04 UTC | FLOOD | 1 N Webster Groves | St. Louis, MO | Report from mPING: River/Creek overflowing; Cropland/Yard/Basement Flooding. |
| 05:04 UTC | RAIN 3.89 | 1 Sw Fenton | St. Louis, MO | Rainfall so far, still raining. |
| 05:06 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | Crestwood | St. Louis, MO | Report from mPING: Street/road flooding; Street/road closed; Vehicles stranded. |
| 05:25 UTC | FLOOD | 2 W Chesterfield | St. Louis, MO | At BNMM7: Bonhomme Creek at Chesterfield exceeded flood stage of 13 feet at 1125 pm and crested at 19.24 feet at 555 am. |
| 06:15 UTC | FLOOD | 3 E Chesterfield | St. Louis, MO | At CSTM7: Creve Coeur Creek at Chesterfield exceeded flood stage of 13 feet at 1215 am and crested at 15.45 feet at 450 am. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2024 tornado in MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of November 4, 2024
20 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 4 | 10:26 AM CST | EF0 | Cleveland, OK | 1.3 | 30 | $2,000 | ||
| November 4 | 11:49 AM CST | EF0 | Murray, OK | 0.2 | 10 | |||
| November 4 | 12:20 PM CST | EF1 | Osage, OK | 2.2 | 100 | $40,000 | ||
| November 4 | 12:47 PM CST | EF1 | Washington, OK | 0.6 | 150 | $20,000 | ||
| November 4 | 12:49 PM CST | EF1 | Rogers, OK | 9.6 | 400 | |||
| November 4 | 2:33 PM CST | Unrated | Yell, AR | 2.4 | 190 | |||
| November 4 | 2:34 PM CST | Unrated | Muskogee, OK | 0.2 | 75 | |||
| November 4 | 2:42 PM CST | Unrated | Muskogee, OK | 0.1 | 75 | |||
| November 4 | 2:57 PM CST | Unrated | Sequoyah, OK | 0.2 | 100 | |||
| November 4 | 3:21 PM CST | EF2 | Cherokee, OK to AR | 32.9 | 1,200 | $280,000 | ||
| November 4 | 4:09 PM CST | Unrated | Johnson, AR | 0.9 | 30 | |||
| November 4 | 4:11 PM CST | EF1 | Benton, AR | 4.6 | 550 | $40,000 | ||
| November 4 | 4:53 PM CST | EF2 | Benton, AR | 3.8 | 375 | $900,000 | ||
| November 4 | 5:01 PM CST | EF1 | McCurtain, OK | 3.1 | 150 | |||
| November 4 | 5:40 PM CST | EF1 | Red River, TX | 7.5 | 275 | |||
| November 4 | 6:15 PM CST | EF0 | Stone, MO | 1.4 | 50 | $35,000 | ||
| November 4 | 6:26 PM CST | EF0 | Douglas, MO | 0.0 | 50 | |||
| November 4 | 6:47 PM CST | EF0 | Douglas, MO | 0.0 | 50 | |||
| November 4 | 6:55 PM CST | EF0 | Douglas, MO | 0.0 | 50 | |||
| November 4 | 9:28 PM CST | EF0 | Montgomery, MO | 1.9 | 25 |
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.