EF2 tornado in Stone County, Missouri

Tornado damage was first indicated on Cave Springs Road where trees were snapped and twisted. EF-0 damage was indicated at this point. The tornado then traveled east, partially damaging a mobile home and destroying another mobile home on Highway AA, near the intersection with Camp Clark Hill Road. Damage at this location was rated EF-1. Several turkey barns were then damaged along Horse Creek Road with EF-2 damaged noted. EF-0 damage to trees and a roof were noted along Johnson Rowe Road. EF-1 damage occurred along Bass Hollow Road where damage to a house and outbuildings occurred. This tornado continued into Taney County with maximum wind speeds estimated up to 120 mph at its peak and a maximum path width of 200 yards.

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.