EF3 tornado, Rover to Clearwater Lake, Missouri, March 14, 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 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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF3

Date

March 14, 2025

Touchdown

9:11 PM CDT (02:11 UTC)

Lifted

10:29 PM CDT (03:29 UTC)

On the ground

78 minutes

Path length

57.2 miles (92.1 km)

Path width

800 yards (732 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$2.5 million

Counties

Oregon, Sharp, Shannon, Izard, Randolph, Carter, Ripley, Reynolds, Stone and Butler counties

Touchdown point

36.670, -91.674

Lift-off point

37.181, -90.869

Record number

2503142011-04

190 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LSX and NWS PAH and NWS SGF, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF3. The highest wind the damage implies is 165 mph.

• 2 fatalities out in the open camping spot in a camper which was thrown into the river.
• Uprooted trees depicted by satellite.
• Uprooted trees detected by satellite.
• Good convergent signature with these upper trees

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

Severe thunderstorms occurred during the late afternoon and evening hours of March 14th. Seven tornadoes occurred east of Springfield including an EF-3 tornado in Bakersfield, Missouri. Large hail to the golfballs and damaging winds also occurred with these storms.

A major outbreak of severe storms including tornadoes, damaging winds, and very large hail occurred across southeast Missouri in the late evening of the 14th and into the very early morning hours on the 15th. A strong negative-tilt 500mb trough moved northeast from Kansas to the Upper Midwest through the day and into the evening on the 14th. The associated 978mb surface low followed a similar track, and led to a rapid increase in low-level moisture just ahead of a trailing dry line that moved eastward across southeast Missouri in the late evening. The moisture return was sufficient for 1000-2000J/kg of CAPE to develop. Wind fields were extremely strong, with storm relative helicity in the 0-1km layer of 300m2/s2 and above, and 600m2/s2 in the 0-3km layer. The significant tornado parameter was 10 which supported strong and long-track tornadoes. In addition, steep mid-level lapse rates around 8C/km supported very large hail. Eleven tornadoes caused approximately 170 miles of destruction across southeast Missouri, which resulted in tens of milions of dollars worth of damage and immeasurable damage to the Mark Twain National Forest where thousands of trees were downed. Only Cape Girardeau and Mississippi Counties were spared from the onslaught. There were five EF-3 tornadoes, three EF-2, and three EF-1 tornadoes. Seven people died in the tornadoes, three in Gads Hill, two in Leeper, one in Poplar Bluff, and one in rural northeast Wayne County. Fremont, Gads Hill, Leeper, and Poplar Bluff sustained EF-3 damage due to homes being completely destroyed. The Poplar Bluff tornado had a prolonged path of EF-2 damage through the northwest side of the city. A church and a large mobile home park were destroyed and numerous homes, businesses and other structures sustained significant roof damage. Perryville also suffered significant damage due to an EF-2 tornado. Several homes and businesses and a school sustained major damage. An EF-2 tornado that moved northeast across southeast Ripley County and into western Butler County, had a history of producing EF-4 damage in Arkansas. The total length of that EF-4 tornado was 93.5 miles. In addition, hail up to 1.5 in diameter was reported in New Madrid and near Grassy in Bollinger County, and the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport (KCGI) measured a 77 mph gust.

During the late afternoon of March 14, 2025, numerous severe thunderstorms developed across central Missouri and tracked east. After sunset, these thunderstorms began producing tornadoes, some strong, causing several injuries in the St. Louis county warning area (CWA). In total, 13 tornadoes touched down in the CWA, making it one of the most active outbreaks on record for the St. Louis CWA. Seven of these tornadoes occurred at least partially in St. Louis's Missouri counties.

This is the beginning of a long-track EF-3 tornado that began south of Rover, MO and tracked northeast before lifting in southern Reynolds County. The peak wind speed was 165 mph with a maximum width of 800 yards. The tornado initially touched down around 2 miles northeast of Brandsville, then moved south of Rover where it pushed two homes off their foundation before continuing northeast through wooded areas. The tornado then took the roof off another home but left internal walls intact along Highway DD and again at the north end of County Road 331. It was also at this point that it caused the collapse of a pair of new high voltage transmission line metal support polls rated to withstand 90 mph winds before going back into wooded areas where satellite imagery depicted periodic uprooted trees into the Mark Twain National Forest. Thousands of trees were uprooted along its path. The tornado then traveled northeast into Shannon and eventually Carter Counties.

A 24 mile long tornado path was determined by a combination of NWS survey, storm reports, and satellite damage to have moved from just north of Koshkonong to 2 miles north of Alton before lifting 8 miles northeast of Alton. Maximum width was approximately a half mile wide though it was likely considerably narrower in places. While much of the path was to trees along with several outbuildings, the tornado damaged a few homes including a south facing ground level home off County Road 402 where it caused EF3 damage. The track continued northeast of Alton into the Mark Twain National Forest with satellite detecting an intermittent path of uprooted trees to near the Eleven Point River at Turners Mill.

This is the continuation of the tornado out of Oregon County that moved into far southeastern Shannon County. This tornado uprooted hundreds of trees before moving northeast into Carter County and intensifying.

An EF-3 tornado tore a path of destruction across western and northern parts of Carter County. This tornado started just northeast of Brandsville in Oregon County, then moved northeast clipping the southeast corner of Shannon County and then into Carter County southwest of Fremont. Significant tree damage occurred along Green Mountain Road with hundreds of trees uprooted or snapped, along with at least a couple trees that were debarked. A steel trailer was picked up and lofted several hundred yards. Several homes were completely destroyed along the path from Green Mountain Road and northeast towards the town of Fremont and further north along County Highway Y. The tornado continued northeast and produced additional tree damage along Highway M and Highway D as it moved into far northern Carter County. It then crossed into Reynolds County to the southwest of Grady. The estimated peak wind was 165 mph. The total path length of the tornado was just over 58 miles.

At approximately 10:20 PM a tornado began near Missouri Highway HH in the Clearwater Conservation Area to the northeast of Garwood, MO in Reynolds County where it caused tree damage and collapsed the roof of a shed. From there the tornado continued northeast and passed over Clearwater Lake where it destroyed multiple outbuildings on and near the water. Further northeast on County Road 468, the tornado damaged more trees before exiting into Wayne County. In Reynolds County the tornado was rated EF-2 with a path length of 9.99 miles and a maximum path width of 1525 yards.

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

27 minutes of warning. NWS SGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:44 UTC, 27 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 21:03 UTC and running to 04:00 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 01:01 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.

West Plains (UNO), 56 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Springfield radar (KSGF), 192 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:13 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

53 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.