A shower produced a persistent wall cloud, funnel clouds and several brief tornado touchdowns along a frontal boundary aligned along Interstate 70 in southwest Ohio.
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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 ILN wrote it up.
A shower produced a persistent wall cloud, funnel clouds and several brief tornado touchdowns along a frontal boundary aligned along Interstate 70 in southwest Ohio.
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 Wilmington, OH wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 8, 3:18 PM EST, 1 hour 2 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OH 418 PM EDT THU MAY 8 2008 .SYNOPSIS... A SURFACE LOW WILL TRACK EASTWARD ACROSS KENTUCKY TO THE EAST COAST FRIDAY MORNING...ALLOWING RAIN TO COME TO AN END. WEAK HIGH PRESSURE WILL PROVIDE A BRIEF PERIOD OF DRY WEATHER FOR FRIDAY. ANOTHER LOW WILL TRACK THROUGH KENTUCKY OFFERING A CHANCE OF RAIN SHOWERS LATE FRIDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT. && .NEAR TERM /UNTIL 6 AM FRIDAY MORNING/... SHORTWAVE OVER THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY TO SLIDE EAST OVERNIGHT. ASSOCIATED SURFACE LOW WRN KY TO TRACK EAST INTO WV BY 06Z AND TO THE MID ATLANTIC BY 12Z FRIDAY. AXIS OF FAVORABLE 8H CONVERGENCE TO FOCUS BEST CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION ACRS THE SRN PORTION OF FA OVERNIGHT. SOME MARGINAL INSTABILITY IS INDICATED ACRS THE FAR SOUTH EARLY THIS EVENING...THUS HAVE A MENTION OF SLIGHT CHC OF THUNDER. EXPECT PRECIP TO END WITH THE PASSAGE OF THE MID LEVEL TROF. NAM SOLUTION APPEARS A LTL TOO QUICK ENDING THE RAIN. PREFER SOLN CLOSE TO GFS/SREF MEAN HOLDING ONTO SLIGHT CHC OF SHOWERS IN THE FAR SE INTO EARLY FRIDAY MORNING. DUE TO CLDS AND WINDS HAVE TRENDED OVERNIGHT LOWS SLIGHTLY ABOVE MAV GUID TONIGHT. && .SHORT TERM /6 AM FRIDAY MORNING THROUGH SATURDAY/... MINOR MID LEVEL RIDGING TEMPORARILY BUILDS IN EARLY ON FRIDAY. THIS WILL ALLOW FOR A DRY PERIOD. NUMERICAL MODEL SOLNS ARE TRENDING A LTL STRONGER WITH SECOND MID LEVEL SHORTWAVE TO AFFECT THE REGION MAINLY FRIDAY NIGHT. BEST FORCING ACRS THE SOUTH WHERE FAVORABLE 8H CONVERGENCE WL EXIST FRIDAY NIGHT. HAVE BUMPED UP POPS TO HIGH CHC AND SPREAD A LOW CHC INTO THE FAR NORTH. GFS KEEPS INSTABILITY TO OUR SOUTH WITH NAM DEVELOPING MARGINAL INSTBY MAINLY SOUTH OF THE OHIO RIVER. A RUMBLE OF THUNDER IS NOT OUT OF QUESTION FRIDAY EVENING... MAINLY SOUTH OF THE OHIO RIVER BUT FCST SOUNDING DO NOT LOOK FAVORABLE SO HAVE OPTED NOT TO MENTION THUNDER. THIS SYSTEM IS PROGRESSIVE WITH SHOWERS COMING TO AN END OVERNIGHT FRIDAY. SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS INTO THE REGION OFFERING DRY WEATHER ON SATURDAY. TEMP WISE...HAVE GENERALLY ACCEPTED A BLEND OF MAV/MET GUIDANCE THROUGH THE PERIOD. && .LONG TERM /SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY/... EXPECT AN ACTIVE PERIOD WITH THREE AREAS OF LOW PRESSURE TO AFFECT THE REGION. THE FIRST LOW WILL APPROACH ON SATURDAY NIGHT AND CROSS OHIO ON SUNDAY...ACCOMPANIED BY SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. SCATTERED SHOWERS WILL PERSIST SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY BEHIND THE LOW. A RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE WILL PROVIDE A BREAK IN PRECIPITATION MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY. THE CHANCE FOR SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL RETURN ON WEDNESDAY WITH THE NEXT LOW. A SECONDARY LOW MAY PRODUCE SHOWERS NEXT THURSDAY. CLOUDS AND PRECIPITATION...LACK OF PROLONGED WARM ADVECTION...AND A SOUTHWARD-DIPPING JET STREAM INDICATE BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES. STAYED CLOSE TO MEX GUIDANCE MOST DAYS. && .AVIATION /20Z THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY/... SURFACE LOW PRESSURE WAS LOCATED OVER WESTERN TENNESSEE THIS AFTERNOON. MEANWHILE...A STATIONARY FRONT WAS LOCATED ACROSS SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...SOUTHERN INDIANA AND CENTRAL OHIO. THE LOW IS FORECAST TO MOVE NORTHEAST TO A POSITION OVER SOUTH CENTRAL KENTUCKY BY 00Z...TO SOUTHERN WEST VIRGINA BY 06Z...THEN OVER THE MID ATLANTIC REGION BY 12Z. WITH PLENTY OF MOISTURE AND LOW LEVEL CONVERGENCE IN THE VICINITY OF THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY...AVIATORS CAN EXPECT WIDESPREAD SHOWERS ACROSS THE REGION THROUGH 00Z. AS THE SURFACE LOW PIVOTS NORTHEAST TOWARD SOUTHERN WEST VIRGINIA...SHOWERS WILL DECREASE NORTHWEST TO SOUTHEAST ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA BETWEEN 00Z AND 06Z. CIGS/VSBYS WILL GENERALLY REMAIN IN THE MVFR CATEGORY THROUGH 00Z. ONCE THE SURFACE WIND SWITCHES TO THE NORTHEAST HOWEVER...CIGS ARE EXPECTED TO DROP INTO THE IFR CATEGORY. WITH CLOUDS AND ENOUGH SURFACE PRESSURE GRADIENT OVERNIGHT...HAVE KEPT MIST MOSTLY IN THE MVFR RANGE. A WEAK MID LEVEL RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA BETWEEN 12Z AND 18Z. THIS WILL ALLOW LOW CLOUDS TO SCATTER ACROSS THE NORTH WHILE MVFR CIGS REMAIN NEAR THE OHIO RIVER. OUTLOOK...POTENTIAL FOR MVFR CIGS/VSBYS WITH SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY. && .ILN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... OH...NONE. KY...NONE. IN...NONE. && SYNOPSIS...AR NEAR TERM...AR SHORT TERM...AR LONG TERM...CONIGLIO AVIATION...HICKMAN
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OH 335 PM EDT THU MAY 8 2008 INZ050-058-059-066-073>075-080-KYZ089>100-OHZ026-034-035-042>046- 051>056-060>065-070>074-077>082-088-091945- WAYNE-FAYETTE IN-UNION IN-FRANKLIN IN-RIPLEY-DEARBORN-OHIO- SWITZERLAND-CARROLL-GALLATIN-BOONE-KENTON-CAMPBELL-OWEN-GRANT- PENDLETON-BRACKEN-ROBERTSON-MASON-LEWIS-HARDIN-MERCER-AUGLAIZE-DARKE- SHELBY-LOGAN-UNION OH-DELAWARE-MIAMI-CHAMPAIGN-CLARK-MADISON- FRANKLIN OH-LICKING-PREBLE-MONTGOMERY-GREENE-FAYETTE OH-PICKAWAY- FAIRFIELD-BUTLER-WARREN-CLINTON-ROSS-HOCKING-HAMILTON-CLERMONT-BROWN- HIGHLAND-ADAMS-PIKE-SCIOTO- 335 PM EDT THU MAY 8 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EAST CENTRAL INDIANA...SOUTHEAST INDIANA...NORTHEAST KENTUCKY...NORTHERN KENTUCKY...CENTRAL OHIO...MIAMI VALLEY OF OHIO...SOUTH CENTRAL OHIO...SOUTHWEST OHIO AND WEST CENTRAL OHIO. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.
The Cincinnati radar (KILN), 15 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:21 UTC.
3 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A tornado breifly touched down in Port William, producing minor tree and trailer damage. The tornado was rated EF-0 with top winds at 65-70 mph.
An EF-0 tornado breifly touched down near Jamestown.
An EF-0 tornado briefly touched down near Selma.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Ohio in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Ohio, 2008Warnings in Ohio, May 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: 98071, 98072, 98073.