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Picher Tornado (2008)

Tornado May 10, 2008 · Newton County, Missouri

EF4
Rating
75.5 mi
Whole path
1,760 yd
Path width
21
Deaths
350
Injuries
$60.6M
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Craig County, Oklahoma → Ottawa County, Oklahoma → Newton County → Barry County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 1,760 yards (1.00 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF4 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF4 is devastating damage: well-built houses levelled, consistent with estimated gusts of 166–200 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

This tornado is an extension of the Ottawa County, Oklahoma tornado. A National Weather Service storm survey revealed that an EF-4 tornado crossed into Missouri just north of Iris Road, and tracked east southeast all the way across Newton County to just north of Fairview. Several people were killed in automobiles, including a firefighter who was storm spotting, as the tornado briefly reached EF4 intensity near the intersection of Highway 43 and Iris Road. One vehicle at this location was thrown 5/8s of a mile. The tornado then extended to a mile wide and EF3 intensity as it tracked across the intersection of Highway 86 and BB. Many of the 14 fatalities and 200 injuries occurred from just west of Highway 43 to Highway 86. The communities of Granby and Newtonia were also directly impacted from this tornado.

The wider storm

Three tornadoes were spawned from supercell thunderstorms that developed over southeast Kansas. These storms quickly moved into southwest Missouri causing devestating damage to homes, businesses, and trees in Newton, Barry, and Jasper counties. One tornado, with an intensity that ranged from EF-4 to EF-1, killed 15 people as it tracked through Newton and Barry counties, while another tornado killed one person in Jasper County.

Began near Hornet (36.9278, -94.6186).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 99241. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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