EF2 tornado in Clay County, Missouri

On the evening of March 6, a supercell ahead of a squall line produced a strong tornado that impacted the city of Smithville near Smithville Lake. The tornado formed just west of HWY 169 and did some minor damage to a neighborhood just east of HWY 169. More significant damage was done to a neighborhood along Route W, just east of HWY 169 before the tornado crossed Smithville Lake into Clinton County. At this neighborhood near the intersection of HWY 169 and Route W several houses were completely destroyed with roofs gone, but most external and interior walls still standing. There were also a couple residences that had compete failure of the structure as wind entered through garage doors and uplifted the entire house off the foundation. EF-2 rating was obtained mainly due to lack of structural failure of a majority of the residences. The house that was lifted off the foundation appeared to be a sliding house with winds entering in through a garage door. Surrounding residences had major damage, but not complete failure of structure. Despite the widespread damage from this tornado there were no injuries reported. This tornado crossed Route W and started across Smithville Lake, where it crossed into Clinton County.

On the evening of March 6, 2017 a line of severe thunderstorms formed, then moved into eastern Kansas and western and central Missouri. Ahead of and along this line of storms supercells formed and produced large hail, damaging winds, and several tornadoes. Officially there were 11 tornadoes recorded in the EAX portion of Missouri, with a 12th tornado recorded in Leawood, Kansas, on the Kansas side of the EAX CWA. The most notable of the tornadoes were the EF-2 and EF-3 tornadoes that impacted Smithville, Missouri and Oak Grove, Missouri respectively. According to news reports there were 12 injuries associated with the Oak Grove tornado, but despite the widespread significant damage there were no fatalities. As the line of storms moved eastward several embedded supercells and mesovortices produced several more tornadoes across northern and central Missouri. By the end of the event, officially there were four EF-1 tornadoes, one EF-2 tornado (Smithville, MO), one EF-3 (Oak Grove, MO), and five EF-0 tornadoes in Missouri. The Leawood Kansas tornado was rated EF-0 as well, rounding out the 12 confirmed tornadoes in the EAX CWA from that evening.