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EF1 tornado in Linn County, Missouri

Tornado May 6, 2023 · Linn County, Missouri

EF1
Rating
8.5 mi
Path length
100 yd
Path width
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 100 yards (0.06 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

After the large tornado across central Linn County there was a brief interruption in the damage path. The next tornado formed a few miles southeast of where the larger tornado circulation became discontinuous. This tornado did some minor damage to residences and outbuildings between Linneus and Bucklin. Some of the more extensive damage occurred from rear-flank downdraft winds 1-2 miles south of the main tornado circulation.

The wider storm

On the afternoon of May 6 strong thunderstorms formed in far northwest Missouri. Through the afternoon these storms strengthened as they moved east across northern Missouri, ultimately turning into robust supercells that started diving southeast toward Highway 36. Along the way they produced giant hail reaching, and perhaps exceeding 4 inches at times. As the main storm pushed southeast toward Linneus, Missouri it produced a tornado that at times was several hundred yards wide. This tornado produced EF-2 damage just north of Linneus. Perhaps as noteworthy, if not more so, was the extremely strong and wide rear flank downdraft that produced some intense damage well south of the main tornado track. This RFD destroyed numerous homes along the way and produced extreme tree damage to the city of Linneus, which was largely spared a direct hit from the actual tornado. Overall the storm produced three separate tornadoes, the most noteworthy of which was the EF-2 just north of Linneus, Missouri.

Began near St Catharine (39.8500, -93.0400).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

2 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1104356. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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