1967 was 57 years ago. 1967 was in the early years of modern Meteorology. On January 24th 1967 a rare tornado outbreak occurred. What made this outbreak rare was the area it occurred in. This tornado outbreak was later named the January 1967 Missouri and Iowa tornado outbreak. I decided to do an analysis on this historic event.

The 1967 January 24th Missouri-Iowa tornado outbreak occurred in a region that usually does not see tornadoes in January. Tornadoes occurred in Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin and parts of Illinois. Typically, tornadoes in January occur along the Gulf Coast of the United States and interior California. Missouri and Illinois can see tornadoes in March. March-Summer is their primary tornado season. Wisconsin usually has tornadoes from Mid April to early fall. But in January ingredients came together to produce a destructive tornado outbreak.

A ridge pulled warm air as far north as southern Wisconsin. Missouri and Iowa were in the 60's to low 70's based on chart data. In Southern Wisconsin temperatures got to near 60. A surge of moisture was also being pulled up from the Gulf of Mexico. A powerful storm system was coming out of the high plains. This storm system had cold air behind it. Data is limited but a trough was sending the storm system over the area. While data is limited it is estimated wind energy could have been up to 80 mph. Regardless there was wind energy, wind shear, moisture, and cold air colliding with warm air. Everything was in place for a significant tornado outbreak.

Earlier in the day severe storms quickly developed and started to turn severe. Doppler Radar would not be invented until a decade later. Warnings were based on confirmed tornadoes as they were happening. These tornadoes were unusual in the fact they were intense and long tracked. These types of tornadoes usually occur in spring, summer, and fall but not winter.

The most destructive tornadoes touched down in the Kansas City Metro Area, Kirksville MO, St. Louis MO, Fairfield Iowa, and Fort Madison Iowa.

The first destructive tornado touched down near Kansas City Mo. this tornado would be rated EF3 it did a lot of damage. The second destructive tornado occurred near Kirksville Missouri. This tornado was an EF4 type tornado and did massive damage. The most destructive tornado occurred in St.Louis MO, The St Louis tornado touched down to the west/southwest of the city. As the tornado rolled over St. Louis it became an EF4 type tornado. Millions of dollars worth of damage was done by this tornado. In the small town of Fairfield Iowa an EF3 type tornado did lots of damage. The town of Fort Madison Iowa was severely damaged by an EF3 tornado.

By the end of the day 30 tornadoes would be confirmed from this event. 23 of the 30 tornadoes were strong type tornadoes EF2 or higher type tornadoes. 6 were EF3's and 2 were EF4s. A total of 7 people died and over $50 million of dollars worth of damage was done. A lot of people were caught off guard because this is a storm system that would occur in the warmer months.

This is an interesting outbreak considering it occurred when ENSO conditions were Neutral. Neutral is when neither La Nina nor El Nino are present. In addition, it occurred in region that is not used to winter tornadoes. This event has later been referenced to prove tornadoes will occur when conditions are right regardless of the time of year.

In summary, despite it being in the middle of January. All the ingredients came together to produce this tornado outbreak. This type of set up would most likely occur along the Gulf Coast. As a meteorologist this event is one of a few historic January tornado outbreaks. For awhile this was the farthest Northern January tornado outbreak.