"Moberly, Missouri Tornado"
04 July 1995

July 4, 1995 was a severe weather day for Kansas and Missouri. The weather occurred in the morning and extended into the afternoon. This included thunderstorms which produced damaging winds and a separate occurrence of thunderstorms which produced several tornadoes, including the tornado featured in this case study. On this day, unusual conditions were present as the polar jet, which is normally in the area of southern Canada and the northern United States, extended south over New Mexico and Texas. A relatively deep trough had settled down over the center of the U.S., an unusual pattern for July. In addition, due to a shortwave in the flow, upper-level dynamics would support any convection that would occur.

At the surface, an MCS from the previous night was diminishing over Iowa, but providing an outflow boundary that would interact with a cold front in the area to initiate convection. A theta-e ridge was present over Missouri, indicating sufficient moisture present. 1200Z soundings gave progged values of CAPE of near 3000 J/kg and helicity between 100-200 J/kg. By the afternoon, the CAPE actually rose above 3000 J/kg over parts of Missouri.

No serious injuries or deaths were reported possibly due to two factors: tornado watches and warnings were issued well in advance, and the low number of people in town due to the holiday.

Case Study 016