EF0 tornado in St. Louis (c) County, Missouri

Tornado May 16, 2025 · St. Louis (c) County, Missouri

EF0

Rating

23.2 mi

Whole path

1,750 yd

Path width

Deaths

Injuries

$1.6B

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through St. Louis County → St. Louis (c) County → Madison County, Illinois; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 1,750 yards (0.99 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF0 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF0 is light damage: shingles and siding peeled, gutters torn, branches broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 65–85 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 was its widest and strongest in St. Louis City. After it crossed into the City, the tornado caused major tree and structural damage in and around Forest Park and its northern neighborhoods. The then EF-3 tornado continued northeast into North St. Louis City where 4 individuals lost their lives. Continuing northeast still, the tornado began to weaken. Overall, thousands of buildings were damaged in St. Louis City costing an estimated $1.6 billion in damages.

The wider storm

During the afternoon of May 16th, numerous supercells developed ahead of a cold front and within a favorable environment for high-end severe weather. These produced widespread severe weather including 2 to 2.5 inch hail, wind damage, and two tornadoes. One of these tornadoes ripped through St. Louis County and City, resulting in over $1 billion in damages and taking the lives of 4 individuals. Another lost his life to strong winds outside of the same tornadic supercell.

Began near Tower Grove (38.6446, -90.3039).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

1 more tornado the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF2 Iron County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1262207. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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