NWS discusses tornado EF-3 rating, urges importance of seeking shelter

The National Weather Service in Springfield has issued a preliminary opinion that the tornado that tore through Bakersfield March 14 is rated as an EF-3. What does that mean, how is it determined and is the rating the final determination of the destructive tornado? We spoke with Warning Coordination Meteorologist Steve Runnels of the Springfield NWS office to answer those questions and to share a little more about the process of issuing the NWS weather alerts. 

 The NWS’s preliminary report says: “NWS storm survey and satellite data concluded that the tornado that started near Gamaliel, Arkansas, touched down just west of Highway 101 tracking into the town of Gamaliel, where it caused damage to the post office and fire station. 

“It then tracked northeast along Highway 101 where it uprooted and snapped numerous trees. This continued as it tracked just west of County Road 43 where it moved into Missouri. This part of the tornado has been rated an EF1 with winds of 100 mph, but the overall rating of the tornado is EF3 based on damage that occurred in Missouri along the track of this tornado. 

“The tornado obtained EF-3 intensity with peak winds of 140 mph as it moved through Bakersfield resulting in three fatalities… 

“The tornado then continued to the northeast before lifting near the intersection of County Roads 7320 and 7390 around 8:49 P.M. 

“The total tornado path length was 13.29 miles. The path length of the tornado in Missouri was 7.6 miles. The maximum width of the tornado was around 600 yards. 

“The tornado destroyed several homes and damaged numerous other homes. Multiple cars were rolled 50 to 100 yards. Numerous trees were also uprooted including entire groves of trees destroyed.”

Runnels said he and a fellow Springfield NWS colleague traveled in person to Bakersfield on Saturday, March 15, the day after the tornado, to conduct their initial storm survey investigation. They met with Ozark County Emergency Management Director Curtis Ledbetter, Sheriff Cass Martin and a couple of other local individuals who escorted the officials to the locations they requested in order to analyze the destruction. 

Runnels said the NWS usually has a pretty good idea where a storm moved through an area based upon the radar, storm spotter reports and damage reports. 

“Strong tornadoes...have pretty convincing evidence with debris blown to the east, west, north and south along a path, and that’s certainly the case as to the damage we saw coming into Bakersfield. So, we had a pretty good indication of rotation right off the bat,” he said. 

“We had an opportunity to visit some sites, not every site. But we did go where the three fatalities occurred and did most of our investigation in that residence area,” Runnels said. The location he references is Zastrow Hill, where Tammy Zastrow and Dana “Ray” Morris were killed in the tornado. Another woman, Erika Ryan, was severely injured after being carried by the tornado to a wooded area near the structures. She died shortly after arriving at the hospital, increasing the fatality count to three.  

Runnels said that the NWS uses what they see on site to rate the tornado based on the Enhanced Fujita scale (EF-Scale) which is based on wind speeds. 

“We look at…different damage indicators, - damage to mobile homes to frame homes to barns to trees nearby, to get a better feel for the most likely wind speeds that occurred, and then we have a toolkit that has been designed by structural engineers that gives us an idea of what wind speeds were reached to have that damage. It’s everything from the layout of structure...was the building attached to walls, how was it attached to foundation... to get most likely wind speeds. After viewing the damage, the most likely wind speeds  that would cause that type of damage to homes, mobile homes, trees, automobiles that were thrown, most likely were 140, maybe even a little stronger to that,” Runnels said. 

He clarified that it’s not a finalized rating, and he and others are still looking at data including damage to the northeast of their current track. “The tornado will get rated whatever the greatest - confidence is along the entire tornado track.” 

He says that NWS is charged with finalizing the data for each month within 60 days of the last day of the month. So, they will have until the end of May to finalize their decision.

For reference, an EF-2 tornado has wind speeds of 110 to 135 miles per hour, while an EF-3 has wind speeds of 136 to 165 mph. An EF-4 tornado’s speeds are 166-200 mph, and the scale tops out with wind speeds of over 200 miles per hour, which is classified as an EF-5 tornado. 

“So it’s currently in the mid to upper range of an EF-3. But I want to emphasize that we issue a tornado warning for any storm that we believe is a life threatening event. It does not take an EF-5 for structures to fail,” he said. 

In last week’s article, (See “Bakersfield tornado was five football fields wide with winds of 140 mph,” March 18, 2025, Ozark County Times), it was stated that the tornado was on the ground before the NWS issued a tornado warning. The story also said that Gamaliel, Arkansas, is in the NWS Little Rock territory, while Bakersfield is in the NWS Springfield coverage, and sometimes when tornados cross state lines warnings can be issued later, as the two offices have to communicate with one another. 

Runnels said that he’d like to correct and clarify those points. “We began with a radar-indicated tornado warning at 8:28 p.m. based off what we saw on the radar. We were in touch with Little Rock’s office, who had issued a warning previously for Baxter County at 8:11 p.m... We upgraded that to a considerable threat impact at 8:40 p.m. We know the tornado went through Gamaliel, Arkansas at 8:24 p.m. Then it tracked into Ozark County and into Howell County... it was crossing Highway AR, south of Bakersfield, at 8:42 p.m. and then proceeded, arriving at the house where the fatalities were at 8:43 p.m.,” Runnels said. “So, when our warning went out at 8:28 p.m., the tornado had yet to touchdown, plus the storm had not entered into our area of responsibility. We have 37 counties... which start from the south with Ozark County.”

When asked if there was anything he’d like to share with readers, Runnels said that he wants to urge residents to always seek shelter at the moment a tornado warning is issued. He said that after analyzing the 2011 EF-5 tornado that struck Joplin (also within the NWS Springfield territory), they know that often when a tornado warning is issued, people try to find out more information about the strength of the storm before seeking shelter. 

“When we issue a tornado warning, every single time, we are convinced that the storm is going to produce a tornado. It’s imminent or potentially on the ground,” he said. “I would encourage everybody, as soon as their cell phones go off - or their weather radios go off - or storm sirens in the community go off... immediately go to a safe location. Stay there. Then pull up information on a TV or laptop or phone,” he said. “By seeking additional information first, it sometimes takes time that you don’t have.”

“We are fortunate that while we do see severe weather every year, it’s not commonplace in every community. But when it is, it obviously has an immediate and lasting effect,” Runnels said. “Together, we can learn as much as possible from these events from the science and research so that we can apply it for the future to get information out as quickly as possible to save lives.”