EF-0 tornado struck Butler Co. Sunday, according to NWS

An EF-0 tornado was part of a severe thunderstorm that blew through southern Butler County Sunday evening, damaging a house on Highway 53 northwest of Qulin and a grain bin on Highway 51.

The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning at 7:16 p.m., warning residents that a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado was located near Qulin, 9 miles southeast of Poplar Bluff, moving at 20 miles per hour. The storm had radar-indicated rotation, the NWS reported.

"My guys were out," said Craig Meador with the Poplar Bluff Severe Weather Response Team. "The spotters were already out, and Jim Hager and Keith Berry, two of my spotters, had actually got up under the wall cloud down on 53 highway."

Shortly after the warning was issued, Meador got a call from the Butler County Sheriff's Department, saying that a tornado had been reported crossing Highway 53. About that time, the tornado hit a residence in the 9300 block of Highway 53 and damaged it.

Meador said Hager and Berry got an excellent view of the storm in action.

"They actually were up under it and chasing it," Meador said. "And they were seeing tails of a tornado dipping up and down out of the wall cloud out on that particular cell."

The storm was originally thought to have been a microburst, with straight-line wind damage, but it was later found to be a tornado.

An EF-0 tornado is the smallest on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, with a three-second wind gust estimated between 65-85 mph based on the damage.

"The next morning, the [National] Weather Service came over from Paducah -- and after their surveys they determined it was an EF-0 with a brief touchdown right there in that vicinity," Meador said. "Now there was also some damage over almost due east over off of [Highway] 51 in Broseley [where] a grain bin was blown over -- so I'm assuming they're saying that was part of it too. I don't know that officially, but I do know the house that was hit was definitely [by] an EF-0."