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EF3 tornado in Wayne County, Missouri

Tornado May 25, 2011 · Wayne County, Missouri

EF3
Rating
52.7 mi
Whole path
1,200 yd
Path width
2
Injuries
$800K
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Carter County → Wayne County → Madison County → Madison County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 1,200 yards (0.68 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF3 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF3 is severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, consistent with estimated gusts of 136–165 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

This tornado continued from Carter County into Wayne County. Three homes were destroyed. One log home in far southwestern Wayne County was levelled. Nine houses suffered major damage, and another 39 homes had minor damage. The vast majority of damage was in the Silva area. In Silva, a camper and a mobile home were destroyed. A Silva family reportedly did not make it to their tornado shelter in time. A large tree fell on one of the victims, resulting in a dislocated shoulder. Another family member received minor to moderate injuries to the hip, back, and head. Several vehicles were destroyed or damaged from flying debris and fallen trees. A couple of churches received mainly minor damage. Hundreds of acres of large trees were uprooted or snapped. A half-mile section of Highway 34 east of Silva was closed due to downed trees and power lines. Most streets in Silva were blocked by trees and limbs. Peak winds were estimated near 150 mph. The average path width was about 450 yards. The tornado continued northeast into Madison County.

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 Leeper (36.9411, -90.7165).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 307046. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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