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EF1 tornado in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri

Tornado October 31, 2013 · Cape Girardeau County, Missouri

EF1
Rating
3.9 mi
Path length
150 yd
Path width
$130K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 150 yards (0.09 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

Numerous trees were uprooted or snapped. A house was shifted slightly off its foundation, and the roof was lifted and shifted slightly. At least two other houses received roof damage from fallen trees and power lines. A barn was levelled, and several others sustained roof damage. Peak winds were estimated near 105 mph.

The wider storm

An outbreak of severe thunderstorms and isolated tornadoes occurred ahead of a cold front. Thunderstorms increased in coverage over southeast Missouri and then spread east-northeast into southern Illinois and western Kentucky during the late afternoon and evening. A surface low pressure wave over the Ozark Mountain region accelerated eastward in advance of a compact upper-level shortwave over the southern Plains. A mid-level dry slot overspread the surface warm sector, where dew points were in the low to mid 60's. Extremely strong wind shear compensated for weak instability. Strong forcing along the front and a moist low level air mass contributed to a forced line of storms, including some without lightning.

Began near Dutchtown (37.2807, -89.7086).

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 477098. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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