Thunderstorm Wind — Greene, Missouri

2009-05-08 · near Plano, Greene, Missouri

Event narrative

Sixty to 90 mph winds caused widespread tree, power pole, and structural damage across much of Greene County. Major roof damage to schools included Willard North Elementary, Fair Grove High School, Ash Grove High School, Bois D' Arc Elementary, and Glendale High School. Four students were injured at Fair Grove High School as debris fell into the school while the roof was peeling off. Portions of the elementary and middle school were completely destroyed, along with some light poles on the baseball field. The Ebenezer fire station and fire trucks sustained major damage. Several billboards west of Springfield along Interstate 44 were destroyed. The Sam's Club on Highway 65 and Sunshine had a temporary wall that was peeled off of the building. The Willard High School baseball field had major damage to the press box and dugouts. At Fellows Lake, the marina was broken into three pieces, and jammed the boat docks up onto the boat ramp. Thousands of residences across Greene County lost power up to three days.

Wider weather episode

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.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.1933, -93.5881)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 174702. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.