EF3 Tornado — Phelps, Missouri

2010-12-31 · near Rolla Downtown Arpt, Phelps, Missouri

Event narrative

A NWS survey team determined that an EF-3 tornado occurred north of Rolla. The heaviest damage occurred between state Highway E and County Road 8040. Two single wide mobile homes were completely destroyed with debris thrown upstream while the frames were detached. Two fatalities occurred in one of these homes. A two story home had all but its interior walls destroyed. Several cars were thrown with one vehicle thrown over the destroyed home. Minor to moderate roof and tree damage occurred at various locations near the starting point to Highway 63 north of Rolla. There was primarily tree damage between Highway 63 and Highway 68.

Wider weather episode

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.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.9394, -91.8018)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 267577. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.