Howell County pelted by hail in Wednesday storms, NWS reports E-F1 tornado south of WP
BY ABBY HESS,
ABBYH@WESTPLAINSDAILYQUILL.NET
A series of storms moved through southern Missouri for several hours Wednesday afternoon and prompted multiple back-to-back tornado warnings for Ozark, Howell, Oregon and Shannon counties. As of Thursday evening, only one of those reportedly produced a twister.
A National Weather Service survey team, in a preliminary report issued Thursday evening, said it found EF-1 tornado damage southwest of West Plains, in nearly the same area an EF3 tornado was found to have traveled on March 14.
The Bakersfield tornado, as it was so called because of the significant damage it caused there, traveled over 35 miles before lifting southeast of West Plains, moving along a path that skirted the southern West Plains city limits and affected homes on JJ Highway and in the area of South Highway 17.
Wednesday’s E-F1 tornado left damage observed by the storm survey team along a 1.13-mile path from JJ Highway to County Road 8800. The twister is assessed to have been 350 yards wide, with maximum winds between 95-100 mph.
Damage reported includes numerous trees uprooted and a metal roof of a small farm building was blown off.
Preliminary local storm reports submitted to the National Weather Service show that, in Howell and Douglas counties, hail was a consistent threat, while high winds caused damage in Texas and Shannon counties. Flash flooding was also reported in Howell County.
Hail of about 1 inch in diameter was reported shortly before 1:30 p.m. in Mt. Zion, and at 1:55 p.m. in Ava, both in Douglas County. Also at 1:55, nickel-sized hail was reported in Squires.
About an hour later, hail reports began coming in from Howell county: Golf ball to tennis ball sized hail, or about 2.5 inches in diameter, were reported at 2:55 p.m. in Pomona and 3:14 p.m. in South Fork. A report of 1-inch, or quarter size, hail was made at 3:01 p.m. by the Caulfield Fire Department, and at 3:25 p.m. by West Plains R-7 Schools.
Also in Howell County, Highway 142 was closed at 6:22 p.m. a mile west of Moody due to flash flooding, the Missouri Department of Transportation reported. A minute later, reports were received from MoDOT of a closure on K Highway west of Pottersville for the same reason.
As of Thursday evening, K Highway remains closed at County Road 6720, and Highway 142 remains closed from FF Highway to E Highway. EE Highway is also closed from Highway 17 to County Road 3730, due to storm debris. The only other route closure in the local area reported by MoDOT is in Shannon County, where NN Highway is impassable from H Highway to County Road 522.
Wind damage reports were made at 3:25 p.m., when trees were blown down between Eminence and D Highway near Round Spring in Shannon County, and at 2:03 p.m. when two hangar doors were damaged and large trees were downed.
NWS has extended flood watches through the evenings of Sunday or Monday for various area rivers, including the North Fork for the White River near Tecumseh, Jacks Fork near Eminence and at Alley Spring, and Current River near Powder Mill. The latter is under watch “until further notice.”
The watch, which cautions that flooding is possible in those areas, was issued as a result of record-breaking rainfall on Wednesday and the forecast of more rain to come.
West Plains received 1.49 inches of rain, breaking the previous record set in 2010 of 1.20 inches, prior to 1:21 a.m. Thursday, when the NWS issued its twice-daily climate report.
Today’s forecast calls for a 60% chance of rain during the day and 90% overnight, for a combined possible total of half an inch to an inch of rain. Friday, rain is a certainty, and expected to fall in amounts of between 1 and 2 inches, and that evening, the certainty continues with expected amounts between 3 and 4 inches. Rain will continue Saturday, with projected daytime amounts between 2 and 3 inches, and there is a 70% chance of rain overnight that night.
In all, over the next three days, NWS meteorologists are forecasting the West Plains area to receive between 5 1/2 to 10 inches of rain on top of what has already fallen.
Things will dry out Sunday through Tuesday, the forecast shows, but expect widespread frost as temperatures look to drop to right around freezing before sunrise each of those days.
Editor's note: This story was updated at 9:53 p.m. Thursday to include a preliminary National Weather Service storm survey team report of an E-F1 tornado south of West Plains.
