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EF2 tornado in Iron County, Missouri

Tornado May 16, 2025 · Iron County, Missouri

EF2

Rating

3.3 mi

Path length

150 yd

Path width

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 150 yards (0.09 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 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

An EF-2 tornado touched down in Des ARc and tracked for 3.26 miles. Some buildings damaged by a tornado on March 14th were damaged again by this tornado.

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 Des Arc (37.2750, -90.6608).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF2 St. Louis (c) County 4 dead

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1262219. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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