EF3 Tornado — Wayne, Missouri

2025-03-14 · near Leeper, Wayne, Missouri

Event narrative

An EF-3 tornado touched down just northeast of Eastwood in Carter County and moved quickly northeast to the Wayne County line just southwest of Leeper. The tornado destroyed 3 homes in Leeper, including completely wiping the slab clean on one. A nearby house had its roof mostly removed and another had some broken windows. Three manufactured homes and one barn were destroyed, as well. Two people died when their camper home was thrown into the Black river. The tornado did extensive tree damage with thousands either snapped or uprooted along its path. It continued northeast from Leeper until it dissipated at County Road 361 just west of Maddox Lake. The estimated peak wind was 165 mph. The total path length was around 31 miles.

Wider weather episode

A major outbreak of severe storms including tornadoes, damaging winds, and very large hail occurred across southeast Missouri in the late evening of the 14th and into the very early morning hours on the 15th. A strong negative-tilt 500mb trough moved northeast from Kansas to the Upper Midwest through the day and into the evening on the 14th. The associated 978mb surface low followed a similar track, and led to a rapid increase in low-level moisture just ahead of a trailing dry line that moved eastward across southeast Missouri in the late evening. The moisture return was sufficient for 1000-2000J/kg of CAPE to develop. Wind fields were extremely strong, with storm relative helicity in the 0-1km layer of 300m2/s2 and above, and 600m2/s2 in the 0-3km layer. The significant tornado parameter was 10 which supported strong and long-track tornadoes. In addition, steep mid-level lapse rates around 8C/km supported very large hail. Eleven tornadoes caused approximately 170 miles of destruction across southeast Missouri, which resulted in tens of milions of dollars worth of damage and immeasurable damage to the Mark Twain National Forest where thousands of trees were downed. Only Cape Girardeau and Mississippi Counties were spared from the onslaught. There were five EF-3 tornadoes, three EF-2, and three EF-1 tornadoes. Seven people died in the tornadoes, three in Gads Hill, two in Leeper, one in Poplar Bluff, and one in rural northeast Wayne County. Fremont, Gads Hill, Leeper, and Poplar Bluff sustained EF-3 damage due to homes being completely destroyed. The Poplar Bluff tornado had a prolonged path of EF-2 damage through the northwest side of the city. A church and a large mobile home park were destroyed and numerous homes, businesses and other structures sustained significant roof damage. Perryville also suffered significant damage due to an EF-2 tornado. Several homes and businesses and a school sustained major damage. An EF-2 tornado that moved northeast across southeast Ripley County and into western Butler County, had a history of producing EF-4 damage in Arkansas. The total length of that EF-4 tornado was 93.5 miles. In addition, hail up to 1.5 in diameter was reported in New Madrid and near Grassy in Bollinger County, and the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport (KCGI) measured a 77 mph gust.

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Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1241010. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.