Thunderstorm Wind — Bates, Missouri

2020-05-04 · near Lacyville, Bates, Missouri

Event narrative

A gradually decaying supercell produced a significant downburst as it crossed into western Missouri. The worst of the damage occurred in the Amsterdam and Passaic area, where a single fatality occurred due to a large tree falling into a home.

Wider weather episode

The morning of May 3, 2020 brought a marginally severe storm into portions of east central Kansas and west central Missouri. This storm was somewhat isolated in the damage it caused, but the worsts of this two day event occurred the next day. The morning of May 4 started out incredibly active across eastern Kansas and western Missouri. In eastern Kansas several supercells formed and moved eastward into western Missouri. The initial round of supercells were generally decaying as they progressed eastward, but one particular supercell formed an enhanced downburst in western Bates County and produced between 70 and 90 mph winds. Upstream of this supercell in eastern Kansas 15-20 power poles were snapped near the intersection known as Jingo, KS. This storm then went on to produce heavy damage to trees and structures between Amsterdam and Butler. It was in this area just west of Passaic that a single fatality occurred when a tree fell into a house. After this storm moved out of the area a follow-up bow pushed through the same area producing pockets of strong winds that were recorded up to nearly 80 mph at more than one ASOS.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (38.3200, -94.4500)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 880478. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.