EF3 tornado in Carter County, Missouri

The tornado reached its peak intensity about a mile east of Ellsinore, where an unanchored modular home with a conventionally-built addition was almost entirely blown away and carried an unknown distance. Several large oak trees were nubbed out. Several homes east of Ellsinore received moderate to major damage. The wall of one house was blown off, along with the back of the roof. Hundreds of trees were blown down. In the Grandin area, two mobile homes were destroyed, and a school suffered major damage, including the loss of an entire roof system. Hundreds of acres of large trees were uprooted or snapped. Between Grandin and Ellsinore, telephone poles were snapped and several cows were killed. A National Weather Service damage survey team found the presence of suction vortices east of Ellsinore. The suction vortices were reported by at least one trained spotter during the tornado. A national television crew aired video of the tornado in progress near Ellsinore. Peak winds were estimated near 150 mph. The average path width was 200 yards. The tornado path continued into Wayne County.

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.