Two tornadoes hit Clinton, Missouri; strongest reached 98 mph winds, NWS says
Not one, but two tornadoes struck Clinton on Wednesday evening, including an EF1 with peak winds near 98 mph, the National Weather Service said in an update Thursday afternoon.
The second tornado was weaker, an EF0 with peak winds of about 70 mph, a weather service survey team found.
No one was injured in what originally was thought to be a single tornado that spun through the city of about 9,500 residents about 75 miles southeast of Kansas City, the Clinton Fire Department said on Facebook on Wednesday night.
A supercell thunderstorm developed about 5:30 p.m. in southwest Henry County and spawned a tornado shortly after 6 p.m. just south of Clinton and moved northeast into the southeast side of the city, where it strengthened to an EF1 as it crossed East Calvird Drive.
The tornado then weakened to an EF0 before ending near East Clinton and East Eighth streets, according to damage survey from the weather service. The tornado traveled 2.5 miles.
A gap in damage and security video from the Henry County Emergency Management confirmed that a second tornado had formed from the same parent storm. This tornado touched down around 6:10 p.m. near East Lincoln Street and continued northeast to North Sixth Street, following along the Katy Trail into the northeast side of the city and crossing Missouri 7 west of Missouri 52. The second tornado traveled about 1.85 miles and had a peak width of 30 yards.
Henry Elementary School and the nearby Clinton Intermediate School, in the 700 and 800 blocks of South Eighth Street, sustained minor to moderate damage to their roofs.
Because of the damage and electrical issues, the Clinton School District announced that the schools would be closed on Thursday for cleanup and to assess the safety of the buildings. Instead, students were scheduled for remote learning.
Although there were reports of fuel tanks being damaged and leaking at Champion Brands, a manufacturer of specialty lubricants, the fire department said those reports were inaccurate. However, a set of empty above-ground diesel storage tanks at a warehouse on North Fifth Street was blown over, the fire department said.
Several homes had damage from tree limbs, and a storage building behind American Building Products at 1804 S. Second Street was destroyed. Several power poles in the area were snapped at their bases.
The tornadoes came during what has been an active severe weather week in the region.
On Monday, an EF2 tornado touched down around 7:25 p.m. in southern Ottawa, Kansas, toppling power lines, damaging buildings and leaving much of the city without electricity. About a half hour earlier, an EF0 tornado had touched down near Quenemo, Kansas, west of Ottawa.
Then shortly before 8:20 p.m., a supercell thunderstorm that had produced the Ottawa tornado, strengthened and developed a tornado just east of Hillsdale Lake, which lifted, tossed and spun mobile homes at the Shady Acres R.V. Park in Hillsdale.
An EF1 tornado also touched down near Blue Mound in Linn County, Kansas, at about 8 p.m. It tracked to Worland in Bates County, Missouri, damaging trees and outbuildings, flipping over campers and destroying a home, where two people were injured. That tornado traveled nearly 24 miles over the course of 43 minutes.
Meanwhile, storm spotters and drone videos observed another tornado of unknown strength north of the larger tornado. That tornado touched down northeast of Blue Mound about 8:07 p.m. No damage, however, has been found so far.
Another round of storms is expected on Friday, which the National Weather Service says has the highest chance for severe weather of any event this week.
The storms are possible from mid-afternoon into the evening. The biggest threats are large hail and damaging winds, though a few tornadoes are also possible.
This story was originally published April 16, 2026 at 10:53 AM.
