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EF3 tornado in Washington County, Missouri

Tornado April 2, 2025 · Washington County, Missouri

EF3

Rating

21.9 mi

Whole path

200 yd

Path width

$685K

Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 200 yards (0.11 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

The tornado then entered Washington County and crossed West State Highway 8 east of Berryman. The tornado continued northeast, damaging mobile homes and snapping trees around Cape Lakewood before approaching State Highway 185 and the town of Latty. Once there, the tornado strengthened and caused significant damage to homes in the northwest part of town. This damage was the worst observed, with winds estimated as strong as 165 mph. The tornado continued northeast into rural areas northwest of Old Mines before lifting at 3:39 PM. In Washington County the tornado had a path length of 19.63 miles with a maximum path width of 200 yards. It was rated an EF3.

The wider storm

During the afternoon and early evening of April 2, 2025, numerous strong to severe thunderstorms impacted southeast and east-central Missouri as well as south-central Illinois. Large hail, damaging wind, and a few tornadoes were observed. This activity occurred on the northwest extent of a significant tornado outbreak later that evening across the Ohio River Valley.

Began near Brazil (37.8895, -91.0961).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1241786. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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