Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 2025

EF1 tornado, Friestatt to Logan, Missouri, April 29, 2025

From Friestatt to Logan, this EF1 tornado ran 5.2 miles across Lawrence County on April 29, 2025, touching down at 9:00 AM CDT and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $250,000 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 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.

The record

Rating
EF1
Date
April 29, 2025
Touchdown
9:00 AM CDT (14:00 UTC)
Lifted
9:08 AM CDT (14:08 UTC)
On the ground
8 minutes
Path length
5.2 miles (8.3 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$250,000
County
Lawrence County
Touchdown point
36.950, -93.760
Lift-off point
36.970, -93.670
Record number
2504290800-01

The damage survey

36 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 95 mph.

  • Trees blown north, east, southeast
  • Church roof thrown northeast
  • Trees blown northeast through south.
  • Insulation stuck on south and east side of chuch

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

A cluster of severe thunderstorms moved through southwest Missouri on the morning of April 29th, 2025. Widespread wind damage and several tornadoes occurred. Significant wind damage with over 50,000 power outages occurred in Springfield alone. Numerous trees, powerlines and structures sustained damage from this system. A 90 mph wind gust was measured at the Springfield Branson National Airport.

An NWS survey found that an EF-1 tornado began at 8:55 AM 3 miles south of Freistatt near CR 1090 and CR 2210. The tornado had a path length of 4.18 miles, a width of 100 yards, and maximum wind speeds of 90 mph. It ended at 9:00 AM around CR 1125 and CR 1131. The tornado uprooted many trees and damaged many large limbs. It also damaged the roofs of outbuildings including a turkey barn and a residence. At its peak intensity, the tornado destroyed a small outbuilding, uprooted many trees, downed powerlines, and threw tin well downwind.

An National Weather Service survey found that an EF-1 tornado began at 9:00 AM near Highway 60 between Verona and Aurora and ended in eastern Aurora just east of Highway 60. The tornado had a path length of 4.88 miles, a width of 100 yards, and maximum wind speeds of 90 mph. The tornado damaged the roof of a church, caused minor damage to several other structures, and uprooted many large trees.

A National Weather Service survey found that an EF-0 tornado began at 9:09 AM near the Lawrence County and Stone County line along CR 2210, about 2 miles west of Bradfield. The tornado had a path length of 5.17 miles, a width of 50 yards, and maximum wind speeds of 80 mph. It ended at 9:14 AM along Barke Road on the Lawrence County border side of the intersection of Stone and Christian counties. The tornado mainly uprooted many large trees in a convergent pattern, resulting in some nearby structural damage to a few outbuildings.

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

The forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 12:37 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.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Springfield, MO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Apr 29, 8:53 AM CDT, 7 minutes earlier. Its key messages:

  • Slight Risk (2 out of 5) for strong to severe thunderstorms this morning into the early afternoon. Primary hazards are damaging wind gusts and large hail, but brief tornadoes cannot be ruled out.
  • Flood Watch in effect from 7 AM Today through 7 AM Thursday with a Slight (2 of 4) to locally Moderate (3 of 4) Risk for excessive rainfall. Multiple rounds of showers and thunderstorms will result in widespread amounts of 1 to 3 inches, with localized amounts up to 4 to 6 inches.
  • Shower and thunderstorm chances continue during the day Thursday. Therefore, any lingering flood impacts may continue for areas receiving more heavy rainfall.
Area forecast discussion, Apr 29, 8:53 AM CDT, 7 minutes before
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Springfield MO
853 AM CDT Tue Apr 29 2025

.KEY MESSAGES...

- Slight Risk (2 out of 5) for strong to severe thunderstorms
  this morning into the early afternoon. Primary hazards are
  damaging wind gusts and large hail, but brief tornadoes
  cannot be ruled out.

- Flood Watch in effect from 7 AM Today through 7 AM Thursday
  with a Slight (2 of 4) to locally Moderate (3 of 4) Risk for
  excessive rainfall. Multiple rounds of showers and
  thunderstorms will result in widespread amounts of 1 to 3
  inches, with localized amounts up to 4 to 6 inches.

- Shower and thunderstorm chances continue during the day
  Thursday. Therefore, any lingering flood impacts may continue
  for areas receiving more heavy rainfall.

&&

.MESOSCALE UPDATE...
Issued at 900 AM CDT Tue Apr 29 2025

Concerning the current Severe Thunderstorm Watch, an evolving
thunderstorm complex is currently progressing east-
northeastward acorss southwest Missouri. Latest radar imagery
and ground reports have shown wind gusts up to 50 to 60 mph,
with potentially up to 70 mph. Joplin airport reported a 58 mph
wind gust, potentially higher in the one minute obs.
Additionally, radar imagery has shown a band of potentially
large hail north of Webb City and west of Carthage. 1.65 inch
hail was measured with this core. This is expected to continue
east-northeastward along and south of I-44 as the surface cold
front sits across central Missouri, allowing 1000-1500 J/kg
SB/MLCAPE ahead of the line. Lastly, some mesovortex rotation
has been noted in some surges along the line. Our current VAD
shows 15-20 kts of low-level shear oriented to the NE. However,
surface observations closer to to the line are shifting to out
of the east-southeast. This is locally modifying the environment
to create 20-30 kts of NE-oriented shear, meaning any surge of
the line to the NE could produce brief tornadoes. Severeal
tornado warnings have been issued for this, but nothing has been
reported yet. We will continue to monitor this as the line
progresses across southern Missouri. Therefore, as the line
moves through, expect the main hazards to be damaging winds up
to 60-70 mph, hail up to quarters to golf balls, and a couple
brief, weak tornadoes. The SPC MCD buts the most probable
*max* intensity of these hazards to be 1.5-2.5 inch hail, 55-70
mph wind gusts, and <95 mph tornadoes.

In terms of heavy rain, with PWATs approaching 1.5-1.6 inches,
instantaneous rates showed some locations receiving 2 inches in
30 minutes. These are very efficient rain makers as well.
Therefore, flash flooding is also possible within areas that see
the strongest part of the storm. The evolving progressive
nature of the line shold limit this threat, though we are
expecting more periods of rain through Thursday, so a Flood
Watch remains in effect.

Expectations for the rest of the Flood Watch period will be
ironed out in the subsequent forecast, however, with this
complex developing a strong cold pool behind it, expect the
stable air and cold front to locally accelerate south, which
should shift the axis of heaviest rain further south from
previous forecasts.

&&

.SHORT TERM /THROUGH WEDNESDAY/...
Issued at 238 AM CDT Tue Apr 29 2025

As a cold front to our northwest continues its trek east,
current radar imagery shows strong thunderstorms moving towards
west-central and central Missouri focused along the front.
Satellite imagery shows a low-level moisture plume riding along
the southern periphery of a low-level jet spread from southwest
Missouri all the way to Quebec, with the moisture plume feeding
directly into the convergent flow along the front.

Though our west-central and central Missouri counties will be
clipped by some strong thunderstorms associated with the
existing line near Kansas City early this morning, the highest
risk for severe thunderstorms will be further south. The
storms moving into central Missouri are quickly running out of
instability to feed off of, and though instability has also
decreased slowly through the overnight hours further south,
there is still 1500-200 J/kg of MUCAPE available for the
anticipated development in central Kansas and northeast Oklahoma
to work with.

Evolution through the day today will look like this: morning
convection in central Missouri will decrease in intensity and
coverage as it moves further east. The decaying remains of these
storms will organize with a stronger cluster of developing
storms in south-central Kansas and northeast Oklahoma early
this morning (6-9 AM). The storms in Kansas and Oklahoma will
move more due east as they develop along the still-
southeastward- progressing cold front. This segment of storms
will be where our highest severe weather threat for the day
comes from, both in space and time. The severe risk for storms
will exit our south- central Missouri counties in the early
afternoon (12-2 PM).

Hazards associated with these strong to severe storms would
include hail to the size of quarters (more likely in elevated
storms that can sustain behind the front) and damaging wind
gusts 60-70 mph associated with embedded supercell-like
structures within the line, in addition to heavy rainfall and
associated localized flash flooding (see more below).

Front-parallel winds aloft will help support the formation of a
forward-propagating MCS, which will really work over the
morning environment and propel the cold front through our area.
The midday passage of the cold front will help to contain the
buildup of instability behind the front, with 00Z HREF mean
MUCAPE this afternoon remaining largely below 1000 J/kg besides
a small corridor near the central MO/AR border. However, more
recent runs of CAMs are showing considerably less, remaining
below 500 J/kg. This will work against the formation of
potential post-frontal elevated supercells, keeping development
behind the cold front through the day more akin to trailing
stratiform rain, with potential breaks/gaps in coverage between
"rounds" of development. However, if areas of instability can
recover sufficiently behind the MCS, some stronger storms could
be possible. As the day progresses and overnight into Wednesday,
severe weather becomes less and less likely.

Flood Watch goes into effect at 7 AM this morning through 7 AM
Thursday. Aforementioned parallel winds aloft will increase
training thunderstorm potential, where rainfall rates could
reach 1-2"/hr despite a fast storm motion and relatively low
residence time of the deepest convection. 1 hour flash flood
guidance is around 2.5" along the I-49 corridor, decreasing to
1-1.5" into the higher terrain of the eastern Ozarks.

&&

.LONG TERM /WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY/...
Issued at 238 AM CDT Tue Apr 29 2025

Models continue to come closer into agreement on rainfall
totals, though location of the heaviest precipitation axis is
still not well agreed upon. Storm total rainfall amounts have
decreased slightly for Tuesday - Thursday due to the decrease in
model spread. We now anticipate widespread rainfall totals in
the 1-3" range, with localized amounts in the 4-6" range. As
mentioned above, much of the rainfall will come in short bursts,
which will increase the associated flash flooding potential,
especially in flashy basins.

Rainfall will continue through Thursday in several rounds, with
breaks in precipitation likely between some rounds. Despite some
short respites from rain, recovery time will be minimal with the
repeated development and movement of storms into the area from
our southwest on Wednesday into Thursday. With the heaviest
precip axis shifting south, confidence in widespread flash
flooding is decreasing relative to previous forecasts, but
confidence in localized areas of flash flooding and river
flooding remains high, especially in the flood-prone areas of
far southwest Missouri.

&&

.AVIATION /12Z TAFS THROUGH 12Z WEDNESDAY/...
Issued at 641 AM CDT Tue Apr 29 2025

Strong thunderstorms are congealing into a line along the
southern extent of a cold front in southeast Kansas to start
the TAF period off, which will kick off a wet period with
intermittently degraded flight conditions. Rain will continue
behind the leading edge of thunderstorms, perhaps with brief
breaks between showers but with rain generally prevailing
through the day. Winds will shift dramatically behind the front,
shifting from south-southwesterly to northerly for the
afternoon before becoming southerly again this evening.

&&

.SGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
KS...Flood Watch through Thursday morning for KSZ073-097-101.
MO...Flood Watch through Thursday morning for MOZ055>058-066>071-
     077>083-088>098-101>106.

&&

UPDATE...Price
SHORT TERM...Camden
LONG TERM...Camden
AVIATION...Camden
Hazardous weather outlook, Apr 29, 5:05 AM CDT, 3 hours 55 minutes before
Hazardous Weather Outlook
National Weather Service Springfield MO
505 AM CDT Tue Apr 29 2025

KSZ073-097-101-MOZ055>058-066>071-077>083-088>098-101>106-301015-
Bourbon-Crawford-Cherokee-Benton-Morgan-Miller-Maries-Vernon-
St. Clair-Hickory-Camden-Pulaski-Phelps-Barton-Cedar-Polk-Dallas-
Laclede-Texas-Dent-Jasper-Dade-Greene-Webster-Wright-Newton-
Lawrence-Christian-Douglas-Howell-Shannon-McDonald-Barry-Stone-
Taney-Ozark-Oregon-
505 AM CDT Tue Apr 29 2025

This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of the Missouri
Ozarks and extreme southeast Kansas.

.DAY ONE...Today and Tonight.

Weather hazards expected...

  Marginal tornado risk.
  Slight hail risk.
  Slight thunderstorm wind damage risk.
  Elevated lightning risk.
  Elevated excessive rainfall risk

DISCUSSION...

Strong to severe thunderstorms are expected to move into the area
this morning, with severe thunderstorm hazards primarily being
hail up quarters and damaging wind gusts up to 60 to 70 mph. There
is a low potential for additional thunderstorm development behind
the cold front this afternoon, and if afternoon thunderstorms are
able to form, supercells with all hazards (primarily large hail)
could be expected.

Heavy rainfall with the day's thunderstorms will elevate river
and flash flood risks in southwest Missouri.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Wednesday through Monday.

Several rounds of showers and thunderstorms will bring additional
rainfall to the region through Thursday. Breaks between rounds
will be short, which will limit recovery and sustain concerns for
river and flash flooding.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

Spotter activation may be needed this morning into this afternoon
for southwest Missouri and portions of far southeast Kansas.

&&

More detailed information can be accessed at:
http://www.weather.gov/sgf/dsspacket

This product in graphical format...along with other weather...
hydrological and climate information...at
http://www.weather.gov/sgf

Camden

In the hours before

Local storm report, Apr 29, 8:38 AM CDT, 22 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
Local storm report, Apr 29, 8:42 AM CDT, 18 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
Local storm report, Apr 29, 8:47 AM CDT, 13 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
Local storm report, Apr 29, 8:55 AM CDT, 5 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
Local storm report, Apr 29, 8:58 AM CDT, 2 minutes before
Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Springfield MO
858 AM CDT Tue Apr 29 2025

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0836 AM     Hail             1 NW Carterville        37.17N 94.46W
04/29/2025  M1.75 Inch       Jasper             MO   Public

            Report from mPING Golf Ball 1.75 in.

&&

TEO
Local storm report, Apr 29, 8:59 AM CDT, 1 minute before
Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Springfield MO
859 AM CDT Tue Apr 29 2025

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0837 AM     Hail             2 E Oronogo             37.19N 94.44W
04/29/2025  E1.00 Inch       Jasper             MO   Public

            Report from mPING Quarter 1.00 in.

&&

TEO

The surface observations

Monett (HFJ), 27 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
00:00 UTC

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

The radar

The Springfield radar (KSGF), 41 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 13:58 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.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2025 tornado in MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 29, 2025

15 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 297:05 AM CDTEF1Tulsa, OK2.4300$80,000
April 297:55 AM CDTEF1Delaware, OK8.71,000$150,000
April 298:02 AM CDTEF1Delaware, OK7.9950$100,000
April 298:07 AM CDTEF1Delaware, OK2.3450
April 298:20 AM CDTEF1Benton, AR11.01,000$200,000
April 298:55 AM CDTEF1Lawrence, MO4.4100$200,000
April 299:09 AM CDTEF0Lawrence, MO5.350$100,000
April 299:24 AM CDTEF1Greene, MO1.650$120,000
April 299:30 AM CDTEF0Christian, MO4.925$250,000
April 299:35 AM CDTEF0Newton, MO2.150$80,000
April 299:40 AM CDTEF0Greene, MO8.4100$100,000
April 2912:24 PM CDTEF1Washington, MO4.2150$50,000
April 293:42 PM CDTUnratedPecos, TX1.050
April 296:22 PM CDTEF2Knox, TX11.81,000$700,000
April 296:58 PM CDTEF3Baylor, TX3.7650$400,000

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.