Warning weak tornadoes; a closer look at the nature of Monday’s EF-0 in Buchanan County
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) --The first half of May offered a lull in spring storms across Northwest Missouri and Northeast Kansas, with a solid 14 days of dry quiet weather across the region.
Earlier during the week of May 19, 2025, the local break from severe weather came to an abrupt end when strong storms dropped several inches of rain and even spawned a brief tornado just south of St. Joseph Monday evening, May 19, 2025.
The National Weather Service in Kansas City confirmed an EF-0 tornado touched down at Highway 371 near Kyle Rd at 8:31 p.m. Monday evening, before tracking east across Interstate 29 and dissipating near SE State Highway FF about seven minutes later.
The preliminary survey outlined sporadic tree and roof damage in the area, tracking a total of 4.3 miles, with a width of about 20 yards, and maximum wind speeds of 85 mph. No injuries were reported, but a scattering of broken trees and other debris was left to clean up by those impacted.
In many ways, Monday’s low-end tornado was similar to the last one to strike Buchanan county in March of 2022, an EF - 1 with winds of 90 mph that tracked across the northeast side of St. Joseph.
Both tornadoes spun up along a line of thunderstorms known as a QLCS or quasi-linear convective system, and both were warned by the National Weather Service shortly before touching down.
Jonathan Kurtz, a Warning Coordination Meteorologist at NWS KC/Pleasant Hill explains the difficulty of warning small tornadoes that form within QLCS type storms, versus the classic “super cell” type strom.
“One of the biggest challenges we have as meteorologists are those quick spin up tornadoes on the front of a line of thunderstorms moving in," said Kurtz. "We get these squall lines moving through the area, which are very prevalent in our neck of the woods.”
Kurtz also said the NWS has to balance between warning the public of quick spin-ups versus bad tornadoes.
“Then you have actual supercell thunderstorms, they're the larger ones that everyone is familiar with that you see on TV and movies," said Kurtz. " Those are the ones that produce the more damaging tornadoes. That's where we try to balance between over warning the public with these quick spin ups and also managing expectations when you actually have a really bad tornado moving to the region.”
While no two tornado warnings are alike, and not all lead to actual tornado touchdowns, it’s always best to heed the carefully thought out tornado warnings issued by the National Weather Service.
