F2 Tornado — Clay, Missouri

2003-05-04 · near Liberty, Clay, Missouri

Event narrative

Tornado reported on the ground near Missouri Route 291, south of Missouri Route 152, it produced spotty damage northeast to downtown Liberty. Substantial damage was noted near the square in Libery, and to William Jewel College. The tornado tracked east along Missouri Route H into rural portions of Clay county before dissipating. Maximum intensity damage noted in the area was F2, based on surveys and input from local emergency management.

Wider weather episode

A dry line moved into eastern Kansas on the afternoon of May 4th. Severe thunderstorms quickly erupted in the mid afternoon hours and marched east northeast into Missouri. Several of the severe thunderstorms became tornadic. A supercell thunderstorm produced 4 seperate tornadoes over the northland of Kansas City. The strongest tornadoes reached F4 in intensity and moved over southern portions of Platte and Clay counties. In Platte county 14 buildings were destroyed, 43 suffered major damage and 149 had minor damage. There were no fatalities or injuries and total damage was estimated at $33.95 million dollars.In Clay county total damages were estimated at $91 million dollars. Several hundred homes were either destroyed or had major or minor damage. No fatalities were observed but there were 19 injuries. This was the most significant tornado outbeak in the Kansas City Metropolitan area, since the Pleasant Hill Missouri outbreak in 1977.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (38.8500, -94.5333)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5358342. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.