95
Recorded events
0
Direct deaths
5
Direct injuries
$52.1M
Property damage
Thunderstorm Wind in Perry County, Missouri: 95 recorded events between 1956 and 2023. The strongest on record measured 83. That places the county #2,270 nationally and #92 statewide for this hazard.
Decade by decade
Thunderstorm Wind in Perry County, Missouri: events per decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
The busiest decade for thunderstorm wind in Perry County is the 2000s, when 24 of the county's 95 recorded events were logged. Comparing decades is useful for spotting active periods, but the earliest years are thin because systematic reporting for this hazard began later.
Within the Perry County archive, thunderstorm wind makes up 37.5% of all recorded severe weather across 8 hazard types. Nationally the county sits at #2,270 for this hazard and #92 within Missouri, putting it in the 28.0 percentile of all U.S. counties.
Seasonality
Events by month
May is the peak month for thunderstorm wind in Perry County with 20 recorded events, while Mar is the quietest. Seasonality here is a property of the archive as much as the climate: reports cluster where population and spotter networks are densest.
Significant events
Deadliest on record
| Date | Location | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 20, 2011 | BREWER | 70 | 0 | 2 | $1.0M |
| Oct 24, 2001 | BREWER | 61 | 0 | 2 | $25K |
| Jun 29, 2018 | PERRYVILLE | 56 | 0 | 1 | $1K |
Most recent
Latest recorded events
| Date | Location | Magnitude | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 3, 2023 | SILVER LAKE | 56 | $8K |
| Jul 29, 2023 | PERRYVILLE MUNI ARPT | 50 | $0 |
| Jul 18, 2022 | BIEHLE | 62 | $0 |
| May 19, 2022 | PERRYVILLE MUNI ARPT | 57 | $0 |
| Apr 30, 2022 | MENFRO | 70 | $60K |
| Apr 30, 2022 | PERRYVILLE | 52 | $0 |
| Apr 30, 2022 | BREWER | 74 | $25K |
| Oct 25, 2021 | PERRYVILLE | 52 | $0 |
| Oct 25, 2021 | LITHIUM | 56 | $5K |
| Aug 13, 2021 | PERRYVILLE | 56 | $5K |
Other hazards here
More from Perry County
- Hail 57
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
Widespread damaging winds affected most of the county. Hundreds of trees were blown down, roofs were blown off, and signs became airborne. In Perryville, the exterior wall of a tire company collapsed. The entire building was deemed a total loss. Structural damage occurred in many communities, mostly due to falling trees. Among other structures, a machine shed was destroyed in Millheim. Most residents of the county experienced some type of damage, ranging from downed trees to roofs off. Vehicles were smashed by falling trees. At a church, the roof was damaged, and tombstones were toppled at an adjacent cemetery. The glass of the front door was blown out. At another church in Altenburg, a 22,000-pound steeple constructed in 1867 blew down onto the roof. A large portion of the roof was peeled off an apartment complex in Perryville, forcing its evacuation. The roof of the new senior center in Perryville was destroyed. Emergency workers conducted door-to-door checks using vehicles and helicopters.
Thunderstorm winds estimated near 95 mph uprooted or snapped hundreds of trees. Thousands of large limbs were down. About 25 to 30 houses received roof damage. The roof was completely blown off a two-story house. The chimney was torn off a house. Numerous outbuildings and small sheds were destroyed. Trees and a small barn were blown across U.S. Highway 61. The damage area was about 7 to 8 miles long and two and one-half miles wide.
Scattered trees and power lines were blown down across the county. Near Biehle, one tree hit a gasoline tank with about 30 gallons of fuel in it. A more concentrated area of damage occurred near the Perryville airport, where a couple of citizens reported seeing a tornado. No confirmation of the tornado could be obtained. The private hangars at the airport were slightly damaged, and the roof was taken off a nearby residence. The damaging winds proceded northeast across a farm, destroying a number of barns and a grain silo. Elsewhere in the county, several utility poles were snapped off. Just south of Longtown, a camper trailer was turned on its side. In Perryville, a large tree fell through a carport. Road crews removed debris from roadways into the following day.
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many thunderstorm wind events are on record in Perry County, Missouri?
95 thunderstorm wind events are recorded in Perry County between 1956 and 2023, causing 0 direct deaths.
What is the strongest thunderstorm wind recorded in Perry County?
The strongest thunderstorm wind on record in Perry County measured 83.
Where does the thunderstorm wind data for Perry County come from?
All events come from the NOAA/NCEI Storm Events Database, the federal public-domain archive of severe weather reports. Dates are UTC, damage is as reported and not inflation-adjusted, and the most recent entries may still be revised.
Cite this page
“Thunderstorm Wind in Perry County, Missouri.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/missouri/perry-county/thunderstorm-wind/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.