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EF3 tornado in Pulaski County, Missouri

Tornado December 31, 2010 · Pulaski County, Missouri

EF3

Rating

7.5 mi

Path length

500 yd

Path width

Injuries

$90.0M

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 500 yards (0.28 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 NWS storm survey team determined that a tornado occurred over Fort Leonard Wood. Numerous homes were destroyed on the east side of the base. Several homes suffered complete wall damage. A total of 159 homes were damaged with 41 destroyed and 32 others with significant damage. Extensive to moderate damage occurred to numerous military training areas, moderate damage occurred to installation utility systems, and extensive damage occurred in one installation family housing area. The water treatment plant on the base was severely damage which completely lost its second level of the building. The tornado disrupted the base's power supply system, shut off the water system, and damaged gas lines on the base.

The wider storm

Between the evening of the 30th and the morning of the 31st, two separate lines of thunderstorms produced significant severe weather across southwest Missouri including damaging wind, large hail, and deadly tornadoes. The first round of storms lifted out of Arkansas late on the evening of the 30th and the second round moved out of western Kansas shortly before daybreak on the 31st.

Began near Bloodland (37.6857, -92.1901).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF3 Phelps County 2 dead EF1 Dent County 2 dead EF1 Stone County EF1 Christian County EF0 Stone County EF0 Stone County EF0 Carroll County EF0 Polk County EF0 Webster County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 267576. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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