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EF0 tornado in New Madrid County, Missouri

Tornado February 24, 2018 · New Madrid County, Missouri

EF0

Rating

41.9 mi

Whole path

50 yd

Path width

Death

Injuries

$2.5M

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Clay County, Arkansas → Dunklin County → New Madrid County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 50 yards (0.03 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF0 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF0 is light damage: shingles and siding peeled, gutters torn, branches broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 65–85 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 long-track tornado crossed from Dunklin County into New Madrid County near the city of Malden. The tornado, which began in northeast Arkansas, only lasted a minute or two in New Madrid County before dissipating. The tornado crossed the intersection of Highway 25 and U.S. Highway 62 just east of Malden with peak winds less than 60 mph. Minimal damage was observed in New Madrid County.

The wider storm

Localized flash flooding and a couple of tornadoes occurred across southeast Missouri. A narrow swath of torrential rainfall occurred from Cape Girardeau southwest across Poplar Bluff, where water rescues were conducted. A surface low pressure center tracked rapidly north-northeast from Arkansas to the upper Mississippi Valley, dragging a warm front north across southeast Missouri. Instability was adequate for a couple tornadoes in the presence of very strong wind shear. A very moist air mass resulted in heavy rainfall, which produced localized flash flooding due to the water-logged ground. Most rivers experienced minor flooding.

Began near Broadwater (36.5560, -89.9563).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

1 more tornado the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF2 New Madrid County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 735603. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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