Joplin tornado, 22 May 2011Photo: AP Photo / tornadovideo.net · Source. WebP conversion; aspect ratio preserved.- Location
- Joplin and nearby southwest Missouri
- Official rating
- EF5 Damage-based rating
- Local time · 22 May 2011
- 5:34–6:20 pm CDT (UTC−5)
- UTC
- 22:34–23:20 UTC · 22 May
- Time on the ground
- 46 minutes (NOAA Storm Events)
- Track length
- About 22 mi / 35 km
- Maximum width
- Up to 1 mi / 1.6 km
- Survey wind estimate
- Over 200 mph / 322 km/h
Event & radar context
Timing follows NOAA Storm Events records 296616, 296617 and 296620 across the full track. They use CST year-round; local times here are CDT. Some summaries report an earlier 6:12 pm end. The archive covers both accounts. NWS documented a roughly six-mile corridor of EF4–EF5 damage. RhoHV is unavailable in these KSGF scans.
Interpreting the rating
F, EF and IF are different damage-rating scales. Original source labels are preserved. Badge colours group the numerical categories for browsing; they do not imply identical wind thresholds. Radar products do not directly establish the damage rating.
Event facts: National Weather Service review ↗