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EF2 tornado in Reynolds County, Missouri

Tornado December 10, 2021 · Reynolds County, Missouri

EF2

Rating

6.9 mi

Path length

300 yd

Path width

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 300 yards (0.17 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 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 tornado touched down around 10:05 PM CST to the northeast of Ellington, southwest of County Road 440, snapping numerous trees rated EF1 damage. The tornado proceeded east- northeast across Sinking Creek and damaged a house and single-wide trailer along County Road 428, as well as continuing to snap numerous trees. As the tornado continued east-northeast and crossed County Road 447, it intensified to an EF2 and completely tore off the roofs of two homes off of County Road 442 and County Road 442B. The home off of County Road 442B was where the most significant damage was observed, as it also lost an exterior wall. Two outbuildings were also destroyed by the tornado, and significant tree damage was observed. The tornado crossed the Black River and weakened, though it still caused EF1 damage to trees and power lines on County Road 456, where it lifted around 10:11 PM CST. Overall, the tornado was rated EF2 with a path length of 6.86 miles and max path width of 300 yards. No deaths or injuries were reported.

The wider storm

Numerous severe thunderstorms formed ahead of an approaching cold front during the late afternoon and evening of Friday December 10th, 2021. Large hail, damaging winds and five tornadoes occurred across central and eastern Missouri as well as south central Illinois. Unfortunately two of the tornadoes were very strong (rated EF-3 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale) and responsible for 7 fatalities (one near Defiance, Missouri and six at an Amazon Facility near Edwardsville, Illinois). The Defiance, MO tornado tracked within one mile of the NWS St. Louis office in the Missouri Research Park near Weldon Spring, MO leading to the staff sheltering while NWS Kansas City provided service backup. This is only the third time in the office's existence that the staff had to shelter. The damage from the Defiance, MO EF3 tornado was estimated at $684,186 and is unknown for the remaining tracks at this time but early estimates are well into the millions due to the damage sustained at the Amazon facility near Edwardsville, IL.

Began near Redford (37.2720, -90.8870).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF3 St. Charles County 1 dead EF0 Montgomery County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 996683. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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