SPC Stats
Path length: 48.3 miles
Width: 200 yards
Fatalities: 1
Injuries: 22
Rating: F2
County: Christian, Greene, Polk, Dallas
This summary looks at an F2 tornado with a long, skipping path through parts of Southwest Missouri on December 14, 1971. The tornado developed just south of Billings. Several farm buildings were destroyed here. It moved northeasterly toward Republic hitting the Moneyham trailer park and a residential area. At least 12 homes were damaged. A factory also sustained damage in this area. Just west of Springfield, two mobile homes were destroyed and one man was killed.
The Municipal airport in NW Springfield was damaged along with 35 planes.
Tornado Path
SPC coordinates: Start: 37.03 / -93.57 End: 37.63 / -93.10
Corrected Coordinates based on Storm Data:
Start: 37.044357/-93.553147 End: 37.646546/-93.093299
Veer in path: 37.255372/-93.364624
Note: Exact tornado path may not be straight and/or continuous.
Newspaper Clippings
Discrepancies:
We gathered information for this event from the SPC & NCDC Databases, the December 1977 Storm Data Publication and Thomas Grazulis in Significant Tornadoes and found the following differences:
Path Length:
- SPC/NCDC have a 48.3 mile path length.
- Grazulis and Storm Data have a length at 49 miles. Both list intermittent/skipping path.
Counties:
- SPC lists Christian, Greene, Polk and Dallas Counties in the path.
- Storm Data and Grazulis do not have Polk County.
- The NCDC listing are not correct: They start with Christian and go to Greene. They then list Greene again and end with Polk.
- The SPC coordinates plot a path that included all 4 counties.
Sources:
December 1971 Storm Data Publication
Grazulis, Thomas P. (1993). Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991: A Chronology and Analysis of Events. St. Johnsbury, VT: The Tornado Project of Environmental Films. Page 1128.
Questions or comments about this summary? Contact us here!
Join the tornado history discussion on our Discord Server!
0 Comments