Tornadoes · United States · Illinois · 2008
EF0 tornado, Alsey to Manchester, Illinois, June 3, 2008
From Alsey to Manchester, this EF0 tornado ran 6.7 miles across Scott County on June 3, 2008, touching down at 8:32 PM CDT and reaching 75 yards wide. It killed nobody.
The rating scale
Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.
EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
EF2111 to 135 mph
Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.
EF3136 to 165 mph
Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
EF5over 200 mph
Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.
Unrated
The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.
The record
- Rating
- EF0
- Date
- June 3, 2008
- Touchdown
- 8:32 PM CDT (01:32 UTC)
- Lifted
- 8:52 PM CDT (01:52 UTC)
- On the ground
- 20 minutes
- Path length
- 6.7 miles (10.8 km)
- Path width
- 75 yards (69 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Scott County
- Touchdown point
- 39.550, -90.411
- Lift-off point
- 39.593, -90.296
- Record number
- 0806031932-01
What the Weather Service recorded
Strong to severe thunderstorms developed across central Illinois during the evening of June 3rd. The worst of the storms were centered along the I-72 corridor from near Winchester northeastward to Champaign-Urbana, where numerous reports of hail and gusty winds were received. These storms also produced very heavy rainfall in some locations and produced flooding. In addition, a tornado touched down in Scott County near Alsey.
A tornado touched down just east of the town of Alsey, then tracked east-northeast across a rural area. No damage was reported.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 23:02 UTC and running to 07:00 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 08:35 UTC | 15:38 UTC | Tornado Watch | ILX |
| 09:13 UTC | 10:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILX |
| 10:23 UTC | 14:30 UTC | Flood Advisory | ILX |
| 15:11 UTC | 15:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILX |
| 18:18 UTC | 01:41 UTC | Flood Warning | LSX |
| 23:00 UTC | 02:23 UTC | Flash Flood Watch | ILX |
| 23:02 UTC | 07:00 UTC | Tornado Watch | ILX |
| 00:10 UTC | 01:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILX |
| 00:33 UTC | 01:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | ILX |
| 01:42 UTC | 07:36 UTC | Flash Flood Warning | ILX |
| 02:09 UTC | 07:49 UTC | Flash Flood Warning | ILX |
| 07:54 UTC | 22:00 UTC | Flood Warning | ILX |
Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.
The forecast that day
The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Moderate Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 01:01 UTC.
SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.
The air that afternoon
The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.
Lincoln, IL (KILX), 00:00Z
1.5 hours before the tornado, 163 km from the path. June 4, 2008.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 2538 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -28 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 2314 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 775 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 58 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 36 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 207 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 240 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 3.9
- Supercell composite
- 14.4
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.9 K/km
Lincoln, IL (KILX), 12:00Z
10.5 hours after it, 163 km from the path. June 4, 2008.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 176 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -131 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 258 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 842 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 17 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 26 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -2 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- -7 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.4 K/km
The surface observations
Jacksonville (IJX), 25 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23:45 UTC | 80.6 | 73.4 | 130° 4 kt | 1001 | ||
| 00:05 UTC | 80.6 | 73.4 | 120° 4 kt | 1000.7 | TS | |
| 00:25 UTC | 78.8 | 73.4 | 80° 7 kt | 1000 | -TSRA | |
| 00:45 UTC | 77 | 69.8 | 10° 4 kt | 1000 | TS | |
| 01:25 UTC | 71.6 | 66.2 | 300° 4 kt | 25 | 1001.7 | +TSRA |
| 01:26 UTC | 71.6 | 66.2 | 160° 3 kt | 25 | 1001.7 | +TSRA |
| 01:45 UTC | 69.8 | 68 | 40° 6 kt | 1001.4 | -TSRA | |
| 02:05 UTC | 69.8 | 68 | 190° 5 kt | 1001.7 | VCTSRA | |
| 02:25 UTC | 71.6 | 69.8 | 230° 8 kt | 22 | 1001.4 | +RA |
| 02:45 UTC | 69.8 | 68 | 140° 10 kt | 1001 | +TSRA | |
| 03:05 UTC | 69.8 | 68 | 20° 3 kt | 1001.4 | -RA | |
| 03:25 UTC | 69.8 | 66.2 | 180° 4 kt | 1001 | VCTSRA |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
What was reported nearby
Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:30 UTC | TORNADO | 4 S Winchester | Scott, IL | SPOTTER REPORTED A TORNADO ON THE GROUND |
| 00:30 UTC | TORNADO | 4 W Winchester | Scott, IL | SPOTTER REPORTED A TORNADO ON THE GROUND |
| 00:46 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | 2 S Philadelphia | Cass, IL | SWOP REPORT |
| 00:46 UTC | TORNADO | 2 N Manchester | Scott, IL | TORNADO OCCASIONALLY TOUCHING DOWN |
| 00:59 UTC | TORNADO | Pleasant Hill | Pike, IL | THROUGH SHERIFF OFFICE...TORNADO ON GROUND NEAR PLEASANT HILL |
| 01:01 UTC | TORNADO | Farmersville | Montgomery, IL | POSSIBLE TORNADO NEAR FARMERSVILLE |
| 01:05 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | Pleasant Hill | Pike, IL | FIRE DEPT REPORTS SEEING 2 FUNNEL CLOUDS FROM 750 TO 800 PM. NO CONFIRMED TORNADOES YET. |
| 01:08 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | Farmersville | Montgomery, IL | FIRE DEPT REPORTS SEEING FUNNEL CLOUDS AROUND 750 PM. NO TORNADOES. |
| 01:10 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | Hillview | Greene, IL | |
| 01:15 UTC | TORNADO | Eldred | Greene, IL | PUBLIC REPORTS TORNADO ON GROUND. |
| 01:31 UTC | WALL CLOUD | 1 W White Hall | Greene, IL | WALL CLOUD TO THE SOUTH OF LOCATION. |
| 02:30 UTC | TORNADO | 2 E Michael | Greene, IL | SPOTTED BY DEPUTY |
| 02:49 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | 5 S Carrollton | Greene, IL | HEADING EAST 25 TO 30 MPH...SPOTTED ON US HIGHWAY 67 |
| 03:03 UTC | WALL CLOUD | 1 S Rockbridge | Greene, IL | |
| 03:33 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | 5 Ese Chesterfield | Macoupin, IL | ON ROAD BETWEEN CHESTERFIELD AND MACOUPIN STATION. SEES FUNNEL CLOUD OFF TO HIS NORTHWEST. |
| 04:20 UTC | FLOOD | Winchester | Scott, IL | WATER OVER THE ROAD IN PLACES BETWEEN JACKSONVILLE AND WINCHESTER. OBSERVER REPORTED 2.5 INCHES OF RAIN SINCE 7 AM. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2008 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of June 3, 2008
11 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 3 | 7:54 AM CDT | EF0 | Marion, IL | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| June 3 | 11:10 AM EDT | EF1 | Greene, IN | 27.1 | 100 | 1 | $170,000 | |
| June 3 | 2:30 PM EDT | EF0 | Morgan, IN | 0.4 | 50 | $20,000 | ||
| June 3 | 7:27 PM EDT | EF0 | City of Roanoke, VA | 1.6 | 60 | $350,000 | ||
| June 3 | 8:40 PM EDT | EF0 | Chesterfield, VA | 0.3 | 20 | $3,000 | ||
| June 3 | 9:04 PM EDT | EF3 | Shelby, IN | 9.7 | 150 | 1 | 8 | $1.2 million |
| June 3 | 9:05 PM EDT | EF0 | Butler, OH | 0.3 | 25 | $30,000 | ||
| June 3 | 9:24 PM EDT | EF2 | Brown, IN | 10.6 | 150 | 4 | $23 million | |
| June 3 | 9:50 PM EDT | EF1 | Decatur, IN | 4.1 | 75 | $70,000 | ||
| June 3 | 12:25 AM EDT | EF0 | Clinton, OH | 0.2 | 25 | $15,000 | ||
| June 3 | 12:25 AM CDT | EF1 | Camden, MO | 6.0 | 100 | $10,000 |
What this means
Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.
Sources
NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.