Shelby County

Shelby County, MO

Data available through 1/1/2013

Date

Time (CST)

F/EF-Scale

Length (Miles)

Maximum Width (Yards)

Killed

Injured

Property Damage 

Source*

12/9/1879

3:30 PM

F3

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

G

A tornado touched down 9 miles S of Shelbina in Monroe County.  Five farm homes and at least that many barns were destroyed.  Some homes were almost leveled to the ground.  There were a total of 5 injuries.

3/30/1938

1:15 PM

F2

22

n/a

0

6

n/a

G

Formed 8 miles S of Shelbyville and followed an intermittent path to the NE in Shelby County.  Homes and barns were torn apart or completely destroyed on 4 farms.

6/15/1950

1:00 AM

F1

0.2

100

0

0

n/a

NCDC

4/30/1954

3:15 PM

F2

90

100

0

0

n/a

NCDC

6/15/1957

6:00 PM

F1

0.2

20

0

0

n/a

NCDC

6/3/1962

3:30 PM

F1

0.2

17

0

0

>$5,000

NCDC

Tornado observed near Clarence moving NW.

3/4/1963

8:30 AM

F1

0.25

30

0

0

>$5,000

NCDC

Cattle self feeder and a 1,000 lb steer were picked up and thrown 100 ft away.  Twenty foot portable building was moved 300 feet.  Other small buildings were destroyed.

4/17/1963

5:45 PM

F0

0.2

10

0

0

n/a

NCDC

Tornado followed an irregular path from western Shelby County to the Mississippi River.

6/12/1970

4:00 PM

F2

7

50

0

0

>$5,000

NCDC

A storm which may have been associated with a tornado in Macon produced another tornado that caused substantial damage to outbuildings on two farms in extreme NW Shelby County.  The path began 2.5 miles N and 1 mile W of Leonard and extended to a point 3 miles N and 0.75 mile E of Leonard.  On these farms three 3300 bushel capacity, empty metal grain bins became airborne with 2 of them traveling move than 0.25 mile.

4/13/1974

5:15 PM

F3

n/a

50

0

0

>$5,000

NCDC

The tornado first hit a farm SW of Cherry Box causing destruction of farm buildings, grain bins, and machine sheds.  Fourteen head of varied livestock plus chickens were killed.  A church was hit next plus chickens were killed.  A church was hit next causing extensive damage.  The storm then hit a farm NE of Cherry Box.

4/23/1975

4:40 PM

F4

28

1000

n/a

n/a

n/a

G, NCDC

Tornado developed over Macon County and dissipated over western Shelby County.  Tornado was at it's maximum intensity near Macon.  This tornado killed 1 and injured 4.

8/5/1986

5:45 PM

F1

13

100

0

0

n/a

NCDC

Tornado developed over eastern Macon County and dissipated near Clarence.  The tornado caused scattered light tree damage along it's intermittent path.

7/4/1995

6:12 PM

F1

26

23

0

0

$4,500

NCDC

This a continuation of the tornado that produced F3 damage in Moberly.  It continued its NE movement and entered western Monroe County SW of Duncans Bridge.  Several farm buildings were damaged in this area, including a barn, grain bin, machine shed, and power lines.  The tornado crossed into southern Shelby County about 8 miles south of Clarence and crossed Highway 36 around 627 pm CST.  Along County Road K west Shelbyville, several trees and power lines were knocked over or snapped off.  The tornado lifted over open ground to the W of Shelbyville around 642 pm.  It continued to produce funnel clouds into neighboring counties and debris was carried some 100 to 150 miles NE.  There were no known injuries.

5/10/2003

4:28 PM

F0

3.5

50

0

0

$0

NCDC

A small tornado crossed rural farmland to the northwest and north of Clarence. Damage was limited to some trees. 

5/10/2003

4:50 PM

F0

5

50

0

0

n/a

NCDC

A small tornado crossed farmland in north Shelby County, north and northeast of Bethel. A piece of farm equipment was damaged and some trees were downed. 

3/1/2007

1:47 AM

EF0

2

50

0

0

n/a

NCDC

As the tornado moved into Shelby County from Monroe County, it destroyed a pole barn on U.S. Highway 36 about 2 miles west northwest of Lakenan. The debris field stretched 150 yards to the northeast. The tornado then lifted and dissipated.A warm front extended from a strong surface low west of Columbia, Missouri to just south of St. Louis and across Southern Illinois. Unseasonably warm, moist, and unstable air was moving north towards central Missouri while cooler moist air was present north of the warm front. This helped to trigger severe thunderstorms along and north of the warm front, including a severe bow echo system. The storms began to develop during the evening hours of February 28th and persisted into the late morning hours of March 1st.

2/27/2011

6:45 PM

EF1

1

30

0

0

n/a

NCDC

The tornado initially touched down 1.5 miles south of Shelbina just west of Highway 15, damaging a small storage building and scattering debris across Highway 15. The tornado then continued to the east-northeast, severely damaging a large metal farm building. The debris from this building was blown downwind over half a mile. The maximum damage was rated EF1, with a maximum wind speed around 90 mph. Total length of this tornado was around a mile, with a maximum width of 20 to 30 yards.

2/27/2011

6:49 PM

EF0

1

20

0

0

n/a

NCDC

As the tornado crossed from far north central Monroe County into southern Shelby County it struck a farmstead just north of County Line Road. At this location two small grain bins were destroyed, one of which was wrapped around a power pole a quarter of a mile to the east. A larger grain bin was partially shifted off its foundation, and suffered a partial collapse on its west side. A nearby windmill was also destroyed. The damage was rated EF0, with a maximum wind speed around 80 mph and a width of 20 yards. The total overall length of the tornado for both Monroe and Shelby counties was 2 miles.

2/27/2011

11:45 PM

EF1

1

70

0

0

n/a

NCDC

The first tornado formed near Elm Street and Douglas Avenue, north of U.S. Highway 36 at approximately 1245 a.m. CDT. The roof and walls of a corrugated steel building buckled on the west and south sides, along with a portion of the roof. The tornado moved across U.S. Highway 36 and destroyed three unoccupied house trailers. Debris was tossed about 100 yards from the trailers. The tornado continued to move east-southeast and caused roof damage to the town power and water plants on Chestnut Street west of Shelby Street. A portion of the gables holding the roof of the power plant was uplifted and tossed approximately 50 yards to the east. Much of the water plant's roof was removed and tossed 40 to 50 yard to the east. The tornado then caused minor roof damage on homes and snapped numerous large trees about 10 to 20 feet from the base. Some of the large branches fell on top of vehicles. The tornado then caused extensive damage to the roof of the two story town museum on Center Street (Highway 15). Several bricks fell to the ground from the top of the museum roof. Additional tree damage was found east and southeast of the town museum building. The path length was 1.15 miles with width varying between 50 and 70 yards. The tornado was rated an EF1.

2/27/2011

11:47 PM

EF1

1

70

0

0

n/a

NCDC

The second tornadic damage track was just to the south of the first tornado. It began west of South Center Street, where significant tree damage occurred. Some of the trees fell on top of homes. The tornado traveled east-southeast and hit an assisted living home on Shelbina Avenue. Roof damage was found at this location. Other large trees were damaged in the vicinity of the assisted living home. The tornado continued to the east-southeast and destroyed a large machine shed built in 2008. The east, south and west sides and the roof of the machine shed were tossed into several corn fields. The tornado then crossed County Road 441, where it hit a tree line with several trees snapped 15 to 20 feet from the base and tree trunk diameters ranging from 1 to 2.5 feet. The width of the damage in this area was 50 yards. The path length was 1.22 miles with a max width of 70 yards. The tornado was rated an EF1. EPISODE NARRATIVE: A powerful complex of thunderstorms, known as a bow echo, moved across Missouri and Illinois during the late evening hours of June 26th and early morning hours of June 27th. The line, which raced east at 60 to 70 mph, produced widespread winds of 40 to 60 mph along and north of Interstate 70. Storm assessment teams from the National Weather Service in St. Louis evaluated the most intense damage which occurred over northeast Missouri and west central Illinois. From the extreme damage that occurred in localized areas, it appears that wind speeds reached 70 to 100 mph. The extensive nature of the damage caused power outages to at least 55,000 customers. Some did not have power return until Tuesday night. Also, there were several reports of flash flooding, especially over northeastern Missouri due to the already saturated soils from previous rains over the past week.

*Sources

G - Grazulis, T. P., 1993: Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991.  A Chronology and Analysis of Events. Environmental Films, Tornado Project, St. Johnsbury, VT.

NCDC - National Climatic Data Center U.S. Local Storms Events Data (www.ncdc.noaa.gov)