New Madrid storm damage came from downburst

PADUCAH, Ky. — National Weather Service Paducah has determined the wind event that flipped vehicles and tore open outbuildings near Neelyville on Tuesday morning was not a tornado, but a downburst.

At 5:15 a.m. Tuesday, southeast of Neelyville, residents were already dealing with a storm when suddenly winds spiked to between 80-90 miles per hour. Buildings, trees and vehicles sustained varying levels of damage. There was some debate over whether the event was a short-lived tornado.

Christine Wielgos with NWS said she and her team looked at radar and damage on the ground to categorize what happened. A tornado usually has a width of 100-200 yards wheras the damage around Neelyville and its neighboring town, Vastus, was approximately 1000 yards wide. There were also no signs of convergence.

“The width of the damage really helped to determine, in this case, that it was probably just some downburst of higher winds,” Wielgos said.

A downburst is a heavy downward rush of wind in a thunderstorm, which hits the grounds and fans out in all directions. Radar found evidence of this pattern in Southeast Missouri.

“There were actually signatures on radar that would suggest that there was a spreading out of the wind,” Weilgos said. “So basically, winds hit the ground and spreads out, kind of banding in all directions.”

No injuries or deaths were reported.

The downburst travelled 6.5 miles through New Madrid County, and caused “sporadic” damage in the towns of Conrad and Marston.