EF1 tornado in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri

Tornado May 25, 2011 · Cape Girardeau County, Missouri

EF1

Rating

2.1 mi

Path length

250 yd

Path width

$20K

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 250 yards (0.14 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 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

The tornado produced mainly tree damage, with some snapped and uprooted. Some roofing damage occurred to a house. Tin was rolled back on a small barn. Peak winds were estimated near 95 mph. The average path width was 200 yards.

The wider storm

Numerous strong to severe thunderstorms occurred in the warm sector of a low pressure system over central Missouri. The air mass in the warm sector was very unstable, with afternoon mixed-layer cape values in the 2500 to 4000 j/kg range. A 65 to 75 knot mid level jet was located across Arkansas, with the nose of the jet moving into western Kentucky. This feature enhanced the lift and strong deep-layer shear already in place, creating an environment very favorable for supercells and tornadoes. A 40 to 55 knot low level jet across eastern Arkansas moved into western Kentucky during the evening, resulting in a long-track strong tornado.

Began near Neelys Lndg (37.5328, -89.5413).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF3 Carter County EF1 Bollinger County EF1 Wayne County EF0 Perry County EF0 Ripley County EF0 Scott County EF0 Butler County EF0 Carter County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 302353. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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