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EF1 tornado in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri

Tornado May 20, 2025 · Cape Girardeau County, Missouri

EF1
Rating
1.7 mi
Path length
150 yd
Path width
$200K
Damage as recorded
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 EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 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 EF1 tornado touched down initially at the Cape Splash Aquatic Center, where it did some damage to overhead umbrella structures and a few trees. It continued east across Kingshighway St and into neighborhoods of northern Cape Girardeau. Numerous trees were damaged including some that were snapped or uprooted. Several homes experienced minor roof or siding damage. The tornado appeared to lift along or just east of Oak Hill Street. Peak winds were 95 mph and max width was 150 yards.

The wider storm

A squall line pushed eastward overnight across the warm sector of a low pressure system in Iowa. A surging portion of the line produced wind damage in Cape Girardeau County, including the formation of a brief tornado in northern portions of the city of Cape Girardeau. MLCAPE was around 1000-1500J/kg, effective bulk shear was 40-50kts, and 0-3km SRH was 200-300m2/s2, with dewpoints in the mid to upper 60s.

Began near Cape Girardeau (37.3278, -89.5685).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1272661. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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