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EF3 tornado in Howell County, Missouri

Tornado May 26, 2024 · Howell County, Missouri

EF3
Rating
12.4 mi
Whole path
750 yd
Path width
5
Injuries
$1.6M
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Howell County → Shannon County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 750 yards (0.43 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF3 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF3 is severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, consistent with estimated gusts of 136–165 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

NWS Storm Survey concluded that a low end EF-3 tornado with peak wind speeds near 140 mph started 7 miles west northwest of Mountain View in Howell County and travelled east for almost 13 miles before lifting north of Montier in Shannon County. This storm in Howell County severely damaged three homes and completely destroyed a manufactured home, damaged several businesses, and multiple outbuildings were also heavily damaged or destroyed before moving into Shannon County.

The wider storm

A second round of severe thunderstorms occurred during the afternoon and evening on May 26, 2024. Supercell thunderstorms initialized over central Missouri and spread southward as rapid destabilization occurred along and east of Highway 65. 40-55 knots of deep layer shear combined with steep mid-level lapse rates and sufficient instability primed the atmosphere to produce all modes of severe weather. This included hail up to 4 inches in diameter, which caused extensive damage to cars and roofs in Webster County, as well as damaging winds and flooding. Four tornadoes touched down, including an EF-2 tornado in Shannon County, and an EF-3 tornado in Howell and Shannon counties.

Began near Trask (37.0177, -91.7876).

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 1175169. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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