EF2 tornado in Lawrence County, Missouri

This is the continuation of the National Weather Service storm survey of the EF-2 tornado touched down five miles east northeast of Diamond, Missouri. After the tornado crossed into Lawrence County it remained on the ground for approximately seven miles of its 17 mile long track and lifted approximately three miles north of Monett. The maximum wind speeds were estimated at 120 miles per hour. The tornado damage path had a maximum width of one half mile. There were numerous trees uprooted, one mobile home was destroyed, half of a machine shop building was destroyed several outbuildings were destroyed and several homes had significant roof damage. One home had a garage door collapse along with siding damage and a separate garage had collapsed walls.

A strong upper level trough across the central plains region and a strong upper level disturbance along with a frontal boundary in the area produced numerous severe storms with a few supercells across southeast Kansas. One cyclic supercell associated with the system produced a very large and deadly EF-5 tornado that hit the city of Joplin and then spawned two separate tornadoes that moved across southwestern Missouri. A separate tornadic supercell produced an EF-3 tornado that moved into McDonald County from Northeastern Oklahoma.

Continuing thunderstorms lasted into May 23 as another line of thunderstorms moved across the region. This line of storms produced reports of large hail, damaging winds and a weak EF-0 tornado in south central Missouri. As the storms moved over the Joplin area, two police officers were struck by lightning while aiding in the post tornado efforts. One of the two officers later died of injuries from the lightning strike.