EF1 tornado, Mansfield to Rayborn, Missouri, April 20, 2025

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

April 20, 2025

Touchdown

5:08 PM CDT (22:08 UTC)

Lifted

5:13 PM CDT (22:13 UTC)

On the ground

5 minutes

Path length

2.1 miles (3.3 km)

Path width

400 yards (366 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Wright County

Touchdown point

37.270, -92.380

Lift-off point

37.300, -92.380

Record number

2504201608-01

12 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 90 mph.

• Trees blown down to north northwest
• A few uprooted trees with primarily several broken branches.
• Several trees damaged, some uprooted laying northward.
• Drone footage detected several trees uprooted.

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

A strong storm system moved through the area on Sunday April 20th, 2025. This system brought tornadoes, damaging wind, large hail and heavy rain. The heavy rainfall led to flooding as the area had already received heavy rainfall from storms earlier in the week. Multiple area rivers reached minor to moderate flood stage due to heavy runoff.

A National Weather Service survey indicated that at 4:59 PM on April 20, 2025, an EF-0 tornado touched down just west of Highway 5 in Wright County, about 5 miles south of Hartville. The tornado traveled northeast and crossed the highway before lifting at Wolf Creek at 5:01 PM. This tornado damaged numerous trees and uprooted a few others. One of the tree limbs fell on a house, which caused significant roof damage.

An NWS storm survey and public drone video determined an EF-1 with 80-90 mph winds uprooted numerous trees starting near the intersection of Highway 38 and Highway E to the east of Hartville...then intermittently across fields south of Highway 38 and before crossing the Highway to the north of Latham Mill and then into the Dove Creek basin. It is unknown whether the path continued further into a wooded area west of Rayborn. Trees showed a convergent fall pattern as the tornado crossed the highway and through creek. Maximum winds were 90 mph and the width was 400 yards with 80-90 mph winds uprooted numerous trees starting near the intersection of Highway 38 and Highway E to the east of Hartville...then intermittently across fields south of Highway 38 and before crossing the Highway to the north of Latham Mill and then|into the Dove Creek basin. It is unknown whether the path continued further into a wooded area west of Rayborn. Trees showed a convergent fall pattern as the tornado crossed the highway and through the creek basin. Maximum winds were 90 mph and the width was 400 yards.

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

24 minutes of warning. NWS SGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:44 UTC, 24 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:03 UTC and running to 22:58 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 19:53 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.

Lebanon (LBO), 47 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Springfield radar (KSGF), 90 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:04 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 2025 tornado in MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are

39 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.