EF2 Tornado — Christian, Missouri

2019-04-30 · near Ozark Airpark Arpt, Christian, Missouri

Event narrative

A National Weather Service Storm survey confirmed an EF-2 tornado, produced by a slow moving supercell, tracked from two miles north of Ozark, Missouri to five miles northwest of Rogersville, Missouri. The tornado was on the ground for approximately 20 minutes along its 10.3 mile total track with maximum wind speeds estimated at 134 mph. Along the tornadoes track, which started in Christian County and continued into Greene County, 235 homes and multiple out buildings were damaged. Twelve homes were reported as total losses. As many as 45 vehicles were damaged and three horses were killed when a barn was hit. Hundreds of trees were snapped or uprooted and multiple power poles and lines were downed. Three injuries were reported with two people transported to a local hospital. The tornado touched down just south of North 9th Avenue and East State Highway NN in Christian County. As the tornado proceeded to the northeast it impacted 145 homes in Christian County before moving into Greene County. Of those homes, nine were reported as total losses. Two injuries occurred in one home as the tornado traveled through a subdivision. Many vehicles were damaged along with multiple outbuildings before the tornado passed into Greene County along East County Line Road just west of South Farm Road 203. The tornado track continued into Greene County where additional EF-2 damage occurred along the remaining eight miles it remained on the ground.

Wider weather episode

Very moist and unstable conditions developed over the Missouri Ozarks ahead of an intense low pressure system over the southern Plains. Widespread severe storms developed over Oklahoma and eastern Kansas during the early morning hours and tracked eastward into the Springfield county warning area during the afternoon and evening. Very heavy rainfall, hail to tennis ball size, damaging winds in excess of 70 mph and 27 tornadoes occurred with this system as storms tracked repeatedly over the region. Four injuries were reported as a result of severe storms. One injury was near Mountain Grove and three were in southeastern Greene County were an EF-2 Tornado tracked. The resulting rainfall led to widespread flash flooding, which continued into the morning of May 1st, on head water streams and low water crossings. One live was lost when a camper along Hunter Creek in Douglas County drowned as the campground flooded.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.0688, -93.1978)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 817415. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.