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EF1 tornado in Lawrence County, Missouri

Tornado May 17, 2015 · Lawrence County, Missouri

EF1
Rating
4.5 mi
Path length
100 yd
Path width
$100K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 100 yards (0.06 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

A NWS storm survey found an EF-1 tornado touched down about 3 miles northeast of Monett and lifted about 3 miles east of Freistatt. This tornado had a path length of about 4 miles and a width of 100 yards. Several outbuildings were completely destroyed. and one house had minor roof and siding damage. Numerous trees were uprooted or snapped along the path. The maximum winds estimated were up to 90 mph.

The wider storm

A strong upper level system moved through the Midwest region and produced a squall line of thunderstorms across the Missouri Ozarks. This squall line of storms produced numerous reports of wind damage and a few weak tornadoes.

Began near Friestatt (36.9559, -93.8971).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF1 Newton CountyEF0 Polk CountyEF0 Polk CountyEF0 Dallas County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 566509. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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