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EF3 tornado in Howell County, Missouri

Tornado May 8, 2009 · Howell County, Missouri

EF3
Rating
2.2 mi
Path length
800 yd
Path width
$500K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 800 yards (0.45 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

A National Weather Service storm survey revealed that an EF-3 tornado impacted a rural area just north of Pomona. The tornado destroyed a frame home. Several cars were thrown 50 yards while two school buses were knocked over. One mobile home and one travel trailer were destroyed, and two outbuildings along with an auto shop were destroyed.

The wider storm

An intense squall line impacted extreme southeast Kansas and the Missouri Ozarks with mainly damaging winds. However, 19 tornadoes along with large hail was also observed. Due to the straight line nature of the winds, damage was widespread and intense.

Began near Olden (36.8821, -91.9291).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

16 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 170842. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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