A cold front moved through the area triggering showers and thunderstorms. Some of the thunderstorms produced severe weather and flash flooding.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS LSX wrote it up.
A cold front moved through the area triggering showers and thunderstorms. Some of the thunderstorms produced severe weather and flash flooding.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS St. Louis, MO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 8, 11:51 AM CST, 1 hour 24 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED AVIATION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO 1251 PM CDT TUE JUL 8 2008 .DISCUSSION... /320 AM CDT TUE JUL 8 2008/ ACTIVE ZONE OF CONVECTION...WELL AHEAD OF THE COLD FRONT...SLOWLY SINKING SOUTH INTO NORTHERN MISSOURI AND CENTRAL ILLINOIS THIS MORNING. OVERALL INTENSITY OF THUNDERSTORMS HAVE DIMINISHED WITH HEAVY RAIN/FLASH FLOODING BEING THE MAIN THREAT ACROSS SOUTHEAST IOWA...NORTHERN ILLINOIS...AND EXTREME NORTHERN MISSOURI. CONVECTION SHOULD CONTINUE TO WEAKEN AND DRIFT SOUTH THROUGH MID MORNING AS NOCTURNAL LOW LEVEL JET VEERS. FRONTAL BOUNDARY WILL CONTINUE TO SINK SOUTH ACROSS THE MIDWEST AS WELL...WITH OUTFLOW BOUNDARIES ABOUND THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS THE CWA FROM MORNING CONVECTION. PARTLY CLOUDY CONDITIONS THIS MORNING WILL SEND TEMPERATURES RISING INTO THE UPPER 80S/LOWER 90S BY THIS AFTERNOON. AN UNSTABLE ATMOSPHERE...WITH LITTLE CIN SHOULD ALLOW GOOD COVERAGE OF THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AS SHORTWAVE MOVES ACROSS THE CWA. MOST OF THE AREA OUTLOOKED IN A SLIGHT RISK BY SPC TODAY AS A FEW CLUSTERS OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING ARE POSSIBLE. MAIN THREAT STILL APPEARS TO BE DAMAGING WIND GUSTS. FRONTAL BOUNDARY STALLS SOMEWHERE ACROSS THE CWA TONIGHT. MODEL GUIDANCE IN GOOD AGREEMENT OF SOUTHWEST LOW LEVEL JET RAMPING UP OVERNIGHT...WITH A MCS DEVELOPING. HAVE ADDED HEAVY RAINFALL TO THE GRIDS/ZONE FORECAST FOR TONIGHT AND WILL CONTINUE TO HIGHLIGHT IN THE HWO...BUT WILL LET THE DAYSHIFT DECIDE IF/AND WHERE A FLASH FLOOD WATCH IS NEEDED TONIGHT. SEVERAL FACTORS HAVE LEANED ME AGAINST A FLOOD WATCH AT THIS TIME. FIRST...FLASH FLOOD GUIDANCE IS PRETTY HIGH...WITH 2 INCHES OF WIDESPREAD CONVECTIVE RAINFALL IN LESS THAN 3 HOURS NEEDED TO BRING STREAMS TO BANKFULL. SECOND...THE EXACT LOCATION OF THE FRONT AND MCS IS STILL UP FOR GRABS WITH THE 00Z GFS SLIGHTLY FURTHER NORTH THAN THE 00Z NAM QPF BULLSEYE. I WOULD NORMALLY DISCOUNT THE BULLSEYE PRONED GFS...BUT IT MAY HAVE SOME MERIT GIVEN THE CURRENT FRONTAL POSITION STILL BACK IN NEBRASKA AND IOWA. CVKING && .AVIATION... /1245 PM CDT TUE JUL 8 2008/ FOR THE 18Z TAFS...RATHER COMPLICATED FORECAST FOR THIS TAF PACKAGE. LATEST RADAR TRENDS WOULD INDICATE THAT ONGOING CONVECTION ACROSS SW MO AND ERN KS WILL CONTINUE TO PROPAGATE ENE INTO CENTRAL AND ERN MO THIS AFTERNOON. WITH AIRMASS DESTABILIZING AHEAD OF THIS AREA OF CONVECTION...TSRA MAY DEVELOP AND AFFECT SITES EARLIER THAN TEMPOS IN FORECAST BUT THE GENERAL TREND SHUD BE CORRECT. WITH THE COLD FRONT STILL IN NRN IA...EXPECT CONVECTION TO DEVELOP ALONG AND AHEAD OF A PREFRONTAL TROF LATER THIS AFTERNOON. THIS CONVECTION IS EXPECTED TO MOVE SWD THIS EVE AND AFFECT COU...STL AND SUS AROUND MIDNIGHT. BEHIND THE FRONT...WINDS WILL BECOME NLY AND CIGS WILL LIFT LATE TONIGHT AND TOMORROW MORNING. TILLY && .LSX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... MO...NONE. IL...NONE. && WFO LSX
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO 350 AM CDT TUE JUL 8 2008 ILZ058>060-064-065-069-070-074-079-095>102-MOZ018-019-026-027- 034>036-041-042-047>052-059>065-072>075-084-085-099-091200- GREENE IL-MACOUPIN IL-MONTGOMERY IL-BOND IL-FAYETTE IL-CLINTON IL- MARION IL-WASHINGTON IL-RANDOLPH IL-ADAMS IL-BROWN IL-PIKE IL- CALHOUN IL-JERSEY IL-MADISON IL-ST. CLAIR IL-MONROE IL-KNOX-LEWIS- SHELBY-MARION-MONROE-RALLS-PIKE-BOONE-AUDRAIN-MONITEAU-COLE-OSAGE- CALLAWAY-MONTGOMERY-LINCOLN-GASCONADE-WARREN-ST. CHARLES-FRANKLIN- ST. LOUIS-ST. LOUIS CITY-JEFFERSON-CRAWFORD-WASHINGTON- ST. FRANCOIS-STE. GENEVIEVE-IRON-MADISON-REYNOLDS- 350 AM CDT TUE JUL 8 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EASTERN AND CENTRAL MISSOURI AS WELL AS WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST ILLINOIS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THUNDERSTORMS ARE LIKELY AS A COLD FRONT MOVES SLOWLY SOUTH ACROSS THE MIDWEST. A FEW OF THE STORMS MAY BE SEVERE WITH DAMAGING WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL IS ALSO POSSIBLE. HOT AND HUMID CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED AGAIN THIS AFTERNOON IN THE ST. LOUIS METROPOLITAN AREA AND SOUTHWEST ILLINOIS. HEAT INDICES WILL TOP OUT NEAR 100 DEGREES FOR THE SECOND DAY IN A ROW. MODERATE RIVER FLOODING WILL CONTINUE ALONG PARTS OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. SEE THE APPROPRIATE FLOOD STATEMENT FOR SPECIFIC DETAILS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY THUNDERSTORMS ARE LIKELY WEDNESDAY ALONG AND SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 70 AS THE COLD FRONT SLOWLY PUSHES SOUTH OF THE AREA. THERE IS A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS ON FRIDAY ACROSS THE EASTERN OZARKS. MODERATE RIVER FLOODING WILL CONTINUE ALONG PARTS OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. SEE THE APPROPRIATE FLOOD STATEMENT FOR SPECIFIC DETAILS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS ARE ASKED TO RELAY ANY SEVERE WEATHER OR HEAVY RAINFALL REPORTS TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ST. LOUIS. && FOR A GRAPHICAL VERSION OF THIS INFORMATION SEE OUR WEBPAGE AT (LOWERCASE)... HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/LSX/?N=HWO1 CVKING
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 thunderstorm wind, 2 flash flood, 1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck the county courthouse for the fourth time since June 4th of this year. This time it knocked out part of the 911 capabilities, along with other software and computers throughout the courthouse.
Numerous large tree limbs were blown down in Hannibal.
Over 2 inches of rain fell in a short amount of time on already saturated soils in northern Ralls county. Several secondary roads were flooded for a time including Cedar Cove Place south of Highway M.
Thunderstorm winds blew down several large tree limbs onto Highway 15 north of Mexico, blocking the highway for a time. Also, a couple of power lines and power poles were blown down at the intersection of Highway 22 and Ringo Street in Mexico.
Three to four inches of rain fell onto already saturated soils in about a 40 minute time frame causing flash flooding. In the southern sections of Hannibal, water was 3 to 4 feet deep in the area of Irwin Street and Bowling Avenue as the nearby creek overflowed its banks. A couple of cars were destroyed in the flood and a couple of mobile homes had some water damage.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Missouri in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Missouri, July 2008
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 123773, 123482, 123486, 123493, 123771.