EF2 Tornado — Phelps, Missouri

2025-03-14 · near Rolla Downtown Arpt, Phelps, Missouri

Event narrative

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.

Wider weather episode

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.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.9020, -91.8320)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1237777. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.