EF2 Tornado — Franklin, Missouri

2025-03-14 · near Villa Ridge, Franklin, Missouri

Event narrative

A tornado developed at 8:56pm on March 14th, 2025 on the east side of Villa Ridge, between American Inn Road and Saint Marys Road north of I-44. The tornado very quickly intensified as it moved into a neighborhood near the intersection of Interstate 44 and US Highway 100. In that neighborhood, the tornado damaged numerous homes, making several of them uninhabitable. The strongest estimated wind speeds in this neighborhood were estimated at 130 mph, based on significant damage to three of these homes. The tornado continued to the northeast, damaging an industrial facility before moving into a heavily wooded area in northeastern Franklin county. Here, the tornado resulted in a narrow track of concentrated, intense tree damage. There were also a number of homes in the path that sustained damage. Before crossing into St. Louis County, the tornado hit a microwave tower, knocking the top portion of the tower to the ground. These winds were also estimated to be 130mph.

Wider weather episode

During the late afternoon of March 14, 2025, numerous severe thunderstorms developed across central Missouri and tracked east. After sunset, these thunderstorms began producing tornadoes, some strong, causing several injuries in the St. Louis county warning area (CWA). In total, 13 tornadoes touched down in the CWA, making it one of the most active outbreaks on record for the St. Louis CWA. Seven of these tornadoes occurred at least partially in St. Louis's Missouri counties.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (38.4604, -90.8680)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1240511. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.