A strong storm system tracked through the Springfield, Missouri County Warning Area during the late afternoon and evening hours of Friday, April 13, 2018, dropping hail as large as tennis balls, damaging straight-line winds, and four tornadoes along its path.
The National Weather Service Forecast Office in Springfield, Missouri reports that a few supercell thunderstorms and several line segments developed across the Missouri Ozarks as the system moved through. One supercell moved across southern Taney County dropping large hail of golf ball to tennis ball size and straight-line winds around 70 miles per hour. Line segments then developed producing four tornadoes which caused some damage but no injuries or fatalities.
The first and the largest tornado in this series, rated an EF-2, destroyed one house, damaged outbuildings, and snapped and uprooted numerous trees in Wright County, and you heard about it first on the Southwest Missouri Regional Skywarn Repeater Network. Click the play button below to listen as Skywarn Net Control operator KD0AEL, Patti, takes a damage report from Skywarn spotter Rick, KC0ROS, in Wright County:
The tornado developed near Macomb at around 7:13 p.m. and tracked northeast nine miles before lifting five miles northeast of Norwood. It had a maximum width of around 100 yards.
The second tornado also hit Wright County about 20 minutes later. It was an EF-1, and it damaged trees and outbuildings on a five-mile path from one mile west of Dawson to 3 miles east of Graff. It had peak winds of around 100 miles per hour with a maximum width of about 75 yards.
The third tornado in this series hit at about 8 p.m. It was rated at EF-1, and it damaged a roof, a carport, some outbuildings, and some trees in Texas County. It developed 5 miles southwest of Success and tracked one and a quarter miles reaching about 50 yards in width and peaking winds at around 95 miles per hour.
The final tornado in this series was an EF-1 that touched down around four miles west-northwest of Licking at around 8:20 p.m. It damaged a house and a vacant mobile home and also snapped and uprooted numerous trees. It tracked five miles along highway 32 before lifting five miles southeast of Beulah near Sherrill. It had peak winds of around 100 miles per hour and a maximum width of around 50 yards.
Most of the severe weather generally occurred east of Highway 65 and south of Interstate 44. Localized minor flooding also occurred across portions of south central Missouri where training of storms occurred.