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.

  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
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)ExpiredProductOffice
01:43 UTC18:00 UTCFlood WatchLSX
03:38 UTC04:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLSX
03:44 UTC03:52 UTCTornado WarningLSX
04:03 UTC04:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLSX
06:13 UTC09:15 UTCFlood AdvisoryLSX
06:55 UTC10:00 UTCFlood AdvisoryLSX
09:23 UTC13:33 UTCFlood WarningLSX

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.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lincoln, IL at 00:00Z on 2024-11-05Temperature 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 -44000, lifted condensation level 612 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, Lincoln, IL at 00:00Z on 2024-11-05The 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 249 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 40 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
-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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Lincoln, IL (KILX), 12:00Z

8.3 hours after it, 244 km from the path. November 5, 2024.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lincoln, IL at 12:00Z on 2024-11-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2 joules per kilogram, CIN -40, lifted condensation level 759 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, Lincoln, IL at 12:00Z on 2024-11-05The 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 26 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 58 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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)ReportWhereCountyRemark
01:01 UTCRAIN 4.18FergusonSt. Louis, MOStorm total so far.
03:28 UTCTORNADO3 Ese BellflowerMontgomery, MODamage 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 UTCTORNADO1 Nne ForistellSt. Charles, MOUpdates 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 UTCTORNADO1 Nne ForistellSt. Charles, MOOne 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 UTCRAIN 1.521 W Black JackSt. Louis, MORainfall since 1030am today.
05:04 UTCFLOOD1 N Webster GrovesSt. Louis, MOReport from mPING: River/Creek overflowing; Cropland/Yard/Basement Flooding.
05:04 UTCRAIN 3.891 Sw FentonSt. Louis, MORainfall so far, still raining.
05:06 UTCFLASH FLOODCrestwoodSt. Louis, MOReport from mPING: Street/road flooding; Street/road closed; Vehicles stranded.
05:25 UTCFLOOD2 W ChesterfieldSt. Louis, MOAt 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 UTCFLOOD3 E ChesterfieldSt. Louis, MOAt 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.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
November 410:26 AM CSTEF0Cleveland, OK1.330$2,000
November 411:49 AM CSTEF0Murray, OK0.210
November 412:20 PM CSTEF1Osage, OK2.2100$40,000
November 412:47 PM CSTEF1Washington, OK0.6150$20,000
November 412:49 PM CSTEF1Rogers, OK9.6400
November 42:33 PM CSTUnratedYell, AR2.4190
November 42:34 PM CSTUnratedMuskogee, OK0.275
November 42:42 PM CSTUnratedMuskogee, OK0.175
November 42:57 PM CSTUnratedSequoyah, OK0.2100
November 43:21 PM CSTEF2Cherokee, OK to AR32.91,200$280,000
November 44:09 PM CSTUnratedJohnson, AR0.930
November 44:11 PM CSTEF1Benton, AR4.6550$40,000
November 44:53 PM CSTEF2Benton, AR3.8375$900,000
November 45:01 PM CSTEF1McCurtain, OK3.1150
November 45:40 PM CSTEF1Red River, TX7.5275
November 46:15 PM CSTEF0Stone, MO1.450$35,000
November 46:26 PM CSTEF0Douglas, MO0.050
November 46:47 PM CSTEF0Douglas, MO0.050
November 46:55 PM CSTEF0Douglas, MO0.050
November 49:28 PM CSTEF0Montgomery, MO1.925

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.