Missouri Storms Produced Category 1 Hurricane-Force Winds

A line of thunderstorms that moved across the Midwest Tuesday produced killer tornadoes that sadly took many lives. Even though Missouri was fortunate to not have any tornado-related fatalities, the highest confirmed wind speed in the state reached category 1 hurricane-force.

According to the NOAA Storm Prediction Center, there were numerous tornadoes that touched down in Illinois and Indiana. While there were tornado warnings in many Missouri counties, there were no confirmed damage, injuries or fatalities connected with those radar-indicated twisters. However, if you look at the wind reports, you'll see that Linn County, Missouri had a resident's private sensor record a wind speed of 77 mph which was confirmed by the NOAA Storm Prediction Center's storm reports.

There were also hundreds of hail reports in Missouri with one confirmed to be 4 inches in Platte County Tuesday night.

It will take days for the National Weather Service survey teams to determine damage from the numerous Tuesday storms that caused catastrophic damage in Kankakee, Illinois and several other locations in Indiana, too. All things considered, Missouri was fortunate that strong winds and big hail were the worst weather impacts that the state experienced. It could have been so much worse.