Jefferson County - East-West Gateway Coordinating Council

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Jefferson County – Section 2
Jefferson County has had 23 tornadoes, three of which have resulted in 48 injuries and
five deaths. The estimated damage from these storms cost approximately $9.7 million
dollars. The most recent tornado in May 2003 located in Desoto, Jefferson County resulted
in one death and approximately $1million dollars in damage. Missouri is considered to be
in the top ten lists for total number of tornadoes and number of killer tornadoes (ranking
number seven).
Locations/Areas Affected
FIGURE J43 TORNADOES
Source: NOAA; U.S. data
Based on available data, there is no predictable pathway for tornadoes and windstorms to
follow. In general, however, these storms run in a southwest to northeast direction.
Figure J44 below depicts the distribution of storms across the planning region. Based upon
Table J39 above, one can see that each jurisdiction has had multiple tornadoes. Jefferson
County has had the third largest number of storms in the EWG planning region.
FIGURE J44 TORNADO STORM DAMAGE HISTORY FROM 1950 TO 2001
Source: NOAA