The Joplin tornado was an extremely devastating EF5 tornado that struck the city of Joplin, Missouri during the early evening hours of May 22, 2011, causing catastrophic damage to Joplin and surrounding regions. As part of a larger late-May sequence of tornadic activity, the extremely violent tornado began just west of Joplin at about 5:34 p.m. CDT (UTC–05:00) and quickly reached a peak width of nearly 1 mile (1.6 km) as it tracked through the southern part of the city, before later impacting rural Jasper and Newton counties and dissipating after 38 minutes on the ground at 6:12 p.m. The tornado was on the ground for a total of 21.62 miles (34.79 km).
The tornado devastated a large portion of the city of Joplin, damaging nearly 8,000 buildings and destroying over 4,000 houses. The damage—which included major facilities like one of Joplin's two hospitals as well as much of its basic infrastructure—amounted to a total of $2.8 billion (equivalent to about $4 billion today), making the Joplin tornado the costliest single tornado in U.S. history. The insurance payout was the highest in Missouri history, breaking the previous $2 billion record from the hailstorm of April 10, 2001. The tornado was the fifth out of six total EF5 tornadoes that occurred in 2011, with four having occurred a month earlier during the 2011 Super Outbreak, and only two days before the same outbreak sequence produced another EF5 tornado in El Reno, Oklahoma on May 24.
Overall, the tornado killed 158 people (including eight indirect deaths) and injured some 1,150 others, making it the deadliest tornado of 2011. It ranks as the deadliest tornado in Missouri in addition to being one of the deadliest in the United States, having the highest death toll since the Glazier–Woodward F5 tornado in Texas and Oklahoma in 1947 and the seventh-deadliest overall in the U.S. It was the first F5/EF5 tornado to occur in Missouri since May 20, 1957, when an F5 tornado destroyed several suburbs of Kansas City, and only the second F5/EF5 tornado in Missouri since 1950. It was the third tornado to strike Joplin since May 5, 1971.
In the aftermath, President Barack Obama toured the city on May 29, speaking at a memorial service for the victims. He would also deliver the commencement address at Joplin High School a year later in 2012. Services were set up to help rebuild, with most of the town having businesses reopen as well as new ones being built by 2018. Additionally, the tornado helped inspire FEMA to create the Waffle House Index for disaster preparations as a result of some locations remaining open during the storm.
On the evening of May 21, 2011, an area of low pressure developed, centered over western South Dakota. This feature, in addition to steep lapse rates and dewpoints above 60 °F (16 °C), was conducive to the supercell development later in the day. Very large hail was forecasted, but the tornado threat was predicted to remain isolated. At 8:00 a.m. CDT (1300 UTC), the National Weather Service (NWS) Storm Prediction Center (SPC) issued a slight risk of severe storms for much of the upper Plains and the Midwest.
By 8:00 a.m. CDT (1300 UTC) on May 22, forecasters at the SPC realized that a more intense weather outbreak was likely to occur, and upgraded a large swath of the Midwest to a moderate risk. The system was forecast to evolve into a wave early Monday morning as a trough strengthened from the western United States. At the surface, a cold front was forecast to pass through the region later in the day, while a dryline was forecast to intersect the cold front in Kansas. These features, accompanied by the low-pressure system, encouraged very strong storm development along the cold front. By the 11:30 a.m. CDT (1630 UTC) updated outlook, certainty had grown stronger that a major severe weather event would occur that afternoon. A public severe weather outlook was issued at this time, and the outlook stated that severe weather was expected that afternoon, with tornadoes, large hail and strong winds all named as threats.
At 1:30 p.m. CDT (1830 UTC), four hours prior to the tornado, the SPC issued a tornado watch for southwestern Missouri, to remain in effect until 9:00 p.m. CDT. The watch predicted "explosive thunderstorm development," with a "strong tornado or two possible." Thunderstorms began developing between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m. over southeast Kansas and quickly became severe. As thunderstorm development continued moving to the east, forecasters became more concerned about imminent tornado development. A tornado warning west of Joplin that eventually produced the EF5 tornado was first issued at 5:17 p.m. CDT (22:17 UTC), 17 minutes before it touched ground and 19 minutes before it entered the city of Joplin.
Tornado summary, track and damage
The tornado first touched down in Newton County, Missouri, just east of the Missouri–Kansas state line, approximately one-half mile (0.80 km) southwest of the intersection of South Central City Road and 32nd Street, at 5:34 p.m. CDT (22:34 UTC). Eyewitnesses and storm chasers reported multiple vortices rotating around the parent circulation. Here, the tornado downed several large trees at EF0 intensity. Civil defense sirens sounded in Joplin twenty minutes before the tornado struck, in response to the tornado warning issued at 5:17 p.m. CDT (22:17 UTC) for northwestern Newton and southwestern Jasper counties in Missouri, and southeastern portions of Cherokee County, Kansas, but many Joplin residents did not heed the warning or the sirens.
The tornado moved east-northeast and strengthened to EF1 intensity as it continued through rural areas towards Joplin, snapping trees and power poles and damaging outbuildings. The tornado then widened and tracked into the more densely populated southwest corner of the city near the Twin Hills Country Club. The tornado heavily damaged several homes at a subdivision in this area at up to EF3 strength before continuing to move through another subdivision just east of Iron Gates Road. Numerous homes were destroyed and multiple vehicles tossed around, some of which were thrown onto or rolled into homes.
The tornado reached EF4 intensity just before crossing S. Schifferdecker Ave. The now massive and wedge-shaped tornado then crossed S. Schifferdecker Ave. at 5:38 p.m. CDT (22:38 UTC), producing its first area of EF4 damage just four minutes after touching down, as several small but well-built commercial buildings were flattened. One person was killed after they were ejected from their car as the tornado crossed the road. Further strengthening resulted in the tornado reaching EF5 intensity shortly afterwards. Consistent EF4 to EF5 damage was noted east of S. Schifferdecker Ave. and continued through most of southern Joplin. Numerous homes, businesses, and medical buildings were flattened in this area, with concrete walls crushed into the foundations. A large steel-reinforced step and floor structure leading to a completely destroyed medical building was "deflected upward several inches and cracked". Steel trusses from some of the buildings were "rolled up like paper", and deformation or twisting of the main support beams was noted. Multiple vehicles were thrown and mangled or wrapped around trees nearby. Several 300-pound concrete parking stops anchored with rebar were torn from a parking lot in this area and thrown up to 60 yards (55 m) away. Iowa State University wind engineer Partha Sarkar calculated the force needed to remove the parking stops from the lot and found that winds exceeding 200 mph (320 km/h) would have been required.
Damage became widespread and catastrophic at and around the nearby St. John's Regional Medical Center, which lost nearly every window on three sides, interior walls, ceilings, and part of its roof; its life flight helicopter was also blown away and destroyed. Loss of backup power caused five fatalities, and the building was damaged so severely that it was rendered completely non-functional and was later torn down. According to the NWS office in Springfield, Missouri, such extreme structural damage to such a large and well-built structure likely indicated winds at or exceeding 200 mph (320 km/h). Vehicles in the hospital parking lot were thrown into the air and mangled beyond recognition, including a semi-truck that was tossed 125 yards (114 m) and wrapped completely around a debarked tree. Small pieces of debris from the hospital, including X-rays, medical reports, and dental records, were found in Greene and Polk counties many miles to the east. Wind-rowing of debris was noted in this area, and more concrete parking stops were removed from the St. John's parking lot. Virtually every house near McClelland Boulevard and 26th Street was flattened; some were swept completely away, and trees sustained severe debarking.