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EF3 tornado in Howell County, Missouri

Tornado March 14, 2025 · Howell County, Missouri

EF3

Rating

30.7 mi

Whole path

1,200 yd

Path width

Deaths

Injuries

$7.0M

Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 1,200 yards (0.68 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

This is a continuation of the EF-3 tornado from Ozark County. This tornado traveled into southwest Howell County and continued to the northeast and passed just south of South Fork before causing damage along the portion of Highway 63 that turns southeast as it exits West Plains. The tornado finally lifted along Highway 160 seven miles east of West Plains. In Howell County, the tornado damaged numerous homes and uprooted numerous trees.

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 Leota (36.5270, -92.1200).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF3 Oregon County EF3 Oregon County EF2 Phelps County EF1 Webster County EF1 Laclede County EF1 Phelps County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1237782. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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