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EF2 tornado in Phelps County, Missouri

Tornado March 14, 2025 · Phelps County, Missouri

EF2
Rating
10.3 mi
Path length
500 yd
Path width
1
Injury
$2.5M
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 500 yards (0.28 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 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

An EF-2 tornado moved through Phelps County, including the city of Rolla. The tornado started in the Mark Twain National Forest approximately 7 miles southeast of Newburg, MO with damage diminishing to the north of Dillion, MO. The tornado caused an intermittent path of damaged and uprooted trees before causing damage to homes and businesses along Highway 63 south of Rolla then continued to cause damage across southeast sections of Rolla that included significant damage to some homes, roof damage to multiple schools and other businesses. One person was injured across this portion of the path. The damage became more intermittent across eastern sections of Rolla, then became even more sparse as it crossed Interstate 44 at Highway V though still strong enough to damage a barn roof, uproot additional trees, and shifted a mobile home off it's piers, and then lifted near Little Prairie Conservation Area to the north of Dillion, MO. At it's peak, the tornado reached 500 yards wide and had peak winds estimated at 110-120 mph.

The wider storm

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.

Began near Rolla Downtown Arpt (37.9020, -91.8320).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1237777. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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