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EF1 tornado in Ray County, Missouri

Tornado May 18, 2026 · Ray County, Missouri

EF1

Rating

17.0 mi

Path length

100 yd

Path width

$50K

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 100 yards (0.06 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

NWS Damage Survey team confirmed a tornado occurred Monday evening, 5/18/2026, beginning at 9:47 PM CDT in southwestern Ray County Missouri. This tornado caused primarily tree damage along its path, but did impact two properties, one north of Fishing River, shortly after the tornado developed. EF1 Damage to two power poles, one out building was noted, along with the roll over of an empty livestock trailer. The tornado resulted in widespread EF1 tree damage near Reynolds Road and W 108th Street. The tornado continued east-northeast, crossing highway 10 south of Elkhorn before causing tree damage north of Swanwick before crossing highway 13. The tornado ended near the intersection of Frazier Road and Millville Road at 10:06 PM CDT.

The wider storm

During the afternoon, evening, and late evening hours of May 18th, supercells brought severe weather to far NW Missouri. Storms eventually congealed into a large line of thunderstorms, which brought widespread damaging wind gusts to the region as well as a couple tornadoes.

Began near Orrick (39.2638, -94.2004).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1325088. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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