Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 2026
EF1 tornado, Mt Zion, Missouri, June 26, 2026
This EF1 tornado ran 0.5 miles across Douglas County on June 26, 2026, touching down at 6:03 PM CDT and reaching 75 yards wide. It killed nobody.
Preliminary. This is NWS SGF's damage survey, filed in the Damage Assessment Toolkit as Mount Zion. The rating, the path and the casualties are the survey's and can change while it is revised. The Storm Prediction Center compiles the official record of 2026 from these surveys and publishes it in the spring of 2027; this page moves to that tornado's permanent address when it does.
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 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado
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 survey
- Rating, as surveyed
- EF1, preliminary
- Date
- June 26, 2026
- Touchdown
- 6:03 PM CDT (23:03 UTC)
- Lifted
- 6:05 PM CDT (23:05 UTC)
- On the ground
- 2 minutes
- Path length
- 0.5 miles (0.7 km)
- Path width
- 75 yards (69 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Douglas County
- Touchdown point
- 37.002, -92.675
- Lift-off point
- 37.008, -92.671
- Highest wind the damage implies
- 95 mph
- Surveyed by
- NWS SGF
- The office's name for it
- Mount Zion
- Survey last edited
- June 28, 2026
- Record number
- None yet. SPC numbers 2026 in the spring of 2027.
What the survey found
A National Weather Service ground survey determined that an EF-1 tornado with estimated peak winds of 95 mph occurred a mile southwest of Mount Zion in Douglas County, lasting approximately 2 minutes and traveling a half mile. The tornado produced a 75 yard wide path of tree damage consisting of snapped trunks, uprooted trees, and large branches thrown around. Track extensions are still possible with additional satellite data analysis.
Written by NWS SGF in the NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit. A survey is revised as better evidence arrives.
The damage survey
6 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 93 mph.
- Very narrow path of shredded trees. Trunks snapped about a third of the way up.
- 50 to 75 yard wide path of tree branches thrown around
- Visible extent of narrow tree damage path.
- Visible extent of narrow tree damage path. End point.
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
Several rounds of thunderstorms occurred during the period of June 25th and June 27th as a frontal boundary remained near the area. Some areas received 3-6 inches of rainfall over a short period of time. Thunderstorms produced a few tornadoes on the evening of June 26th.
A National Weather Service ground survey determined that an EF-1 tornado with estimated peak winds of 95 mph occurred a mile southwest of Mount Zion in Douglas County, lasting approximately 2 minutes and traveling a half mile. The tornado produced a 75 yard wide path of tree damage consisting of snapped trunks, uprooted trees, and large branches thrown around.
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.
The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 22:58 UTC and running to 02:51 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12:31 UTC | 16:30 UTC | Flood Advisory | SGF |
| 22:58 UTC | 02:51 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SGF |
| 23:07 UTC | 00:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | SGF |
| 23:25 UTC | 00:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | SGF |
| 00:09 UTC | 00:40 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | SGF |
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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:00 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.
Springfield, MO (KSGF), 12:00Z
11.1 hours before the tornado, 101 km from the path. June 26, 2026.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 504 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -67 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 63 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 682 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 18 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 31 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 253 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 254 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 2.2
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.3 K/km
Springfield, MO (KSGF), 00:00Z
0.9 hours after it, 101 km from the path. June 27, 2026.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 2005 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -5 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 3260 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 852 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 20 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 14 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 86 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 147 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.0 K/km
The radar
The Springfield radar (KSGF), 69 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:04 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.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23:03 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 N Ava | Douglas, MO | Report of trees down on County Road 507. This was possibly due to a tornado. Report relayed via social media. |
| 23:03 UTC | TORNADO | 4 Nnw Ava | Douglas, MO | A National Weather Service ground survey determined that an EF-1 tornado with estimated peak winds of 95 mph occurred a mile southwest of Mount Zion in Douglas County, lasting approximately 2 minutes and traveling a half |
| 23:07 UTC | TORNADO | 5 N Ava | Douglas, MO | Reports of tree damage received near Mt Zion Church. This was within an area where a video from the public showed a funnel cloud near the ground and radar depicted likely debris in the air. |
| 23:52 UTC | TORNADO | 4 N Seymour | Webster, MO | A National Weather Service ground survey determined that an EF-0 tornado with estimated peak winds of 80 mph occurred 2 miles north of Mountain Dale, or 4 miles north of Seymour. Both video of the tornado and the ground |
| 23:57 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 5 Sw Duncan | Webster, MO | Barn heavily damaged along with trees uprooted. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2026 tornado in MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of June 26, 2026
4 more have been surveyed in the United States that day, so far.
What this means
Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. A survey can be revised, so the rating, the path and the casualties can all still change.
Sources
NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit, the record the survey teams file from the damage, and NOAA Storm Prediction Center storm reports. Neither is the official database for 2026, which SPC publishes in the spring of 2027.