Tornadoes · United States · Indiana · 2008

EF0 tornado, Pyrmont, Indiana, May 30, 2008

This EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Carroll County on May 30, 2008, touching down at 7:30 PM EDT and reaching 30 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.

  1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. EF186 to 110 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. EF4166 to 200 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. 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.

  7. 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
May 30, 2008
Touchdown
7:30 PM EDT (23:30 UTC)
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
30 yards (27 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Carroll County
Touchdown point
40.477, -86.672
Lift-off point
40.477, -86.672
Record number
0805301730-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A warm front moved through through the area earlier in the day allowing for warm temperatures over central Indiana. Severe storms formed in advance of a cold front that moved through later at night. These storms contained hail and damaging thunderstorm winds. Three tornadoes also formed with these storms including one that moved through the east side of Indianapolis. Heavy rain caused flash flooding across many locations.

A couple of trees sustained damage as a result of a supercell that formed a tornado that briefly touched down near a field. Wind speeds were around 65 mph based on damage indicators.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

The warnings

0 minutes of warning. NWS IND issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:30 UTC, 0 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:01 UTC and running to 03:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
19:01 UTC03:00 UTCTornado WatchIND
23:30 UTC00:15 UTCTornado WarningIND

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 19:55 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), 12:00Z

11.5 hours before the tornado, 167 km from the path. May 30, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lincoln, IL at 12:00Z on 2008-05-30Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 57 joules per kilogram, CIN -325, lifted condensation level 1164 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Lincoln, IL at 12:00Z on 2008-05-30The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 128 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 36 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
57 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-325 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1164 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
36 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
128 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
106 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Lincoln, IL (KILX), 00:00Z

0.5 hours after it, 167 km from the path. May 31, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lincoln, IL at 00:00Z on 2008-05-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1830 joules per kilogram, CIN -43, lifted condensation level 984 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Lincoln, IL at 00:00Z on 2008-05-31The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 0 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 0 knots.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
1830 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-43 J/kg
Surface CAPE
719 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
984 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
0 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
0 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
0 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
0 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
22:15 UTCHAIL 0.25S OxfordBenton, IN
22:20 UTCHEAVY RAIN 2.85FowlerBenton, IN
22:38 UTCHAIL 0.25BrookstonWhite, IN
23:10 UTCTSTM WND DMGBattle GroundTippecanoe, INSUBSTANTIAL TREE DAMAGE...SOME APPARENTLY TWISTED OFF. TIME IS ESTIMATED.
23:20 UTCFLASH FLOOD10 Nw Battle GroundWhite, INSPOTTY SECTIONS OF ROADS COVERED WITH WATER ALONG THE TIPPECANOE AND WHITE COUNTY BORDERS.
23:30 UTCTORNADO7 S DelphiCarroll, IN2 TORNADOES JUST NORTH OF PYRMONT MOVING EAST.
23:35 UTCFLOODReynoldsWhite, INANKLE DEEP WATER OVER ROADS ALL OVER WHITE COUNTY...SOME IMPASSABLE...WATER OVER STATE ROAD 43
23:43 UTCFLASH FLOOD5 Ene LafayetteTippecanoe, IN
23:44 UTCHAIL 0.256 Sw FloraCarroll, IN
00:16 UTCHAIL 0.758 W KokomoHoward, INLOCATED AT SR 22 AND 800 WEST
00:18 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD2 E RussiavilleHoward, INLOCATED AT 700 WEST AND 250 SOUTH
00:19 UTCFLASH FLOODBrookstonWhite, INANKLE TO KNEE DEEP WATER FLOWING ACROSS ROADS...STATE ROADS 43 AND 18 CLOSED AT THIS TIME
00:35 UTCTSTM WND GST 58KokomoHoward, IN
00:56 UTCFLASH FLOOD3 S WaynetownMontgomery, IN
01:10 UTCTSTM WND DMGKokomoHoward, INHALF INCH TREE LIMBS DOWN. MINOR FLOODING OF ROADWAYS.
01:19 UTCFLOODBrookstonWhite, INGREATER THAN 4 INCHES OF RAIN SINCE THIS AFTERNOON...WATER IS NOW RECEDING AND MOST ROADS ARE PASSABLE
01:20 UTCHEAVY RAIN 1.773 Ne LafayetteTippecanoe, IN
01:33 UTCHEAVY RAIN 1.53MonticelloWhite, INTOTAL SO FAR
02:30 UTCFLOODFowlerBenton, INMERIDIAN ROAD CLOSED FROM 100 NORTH TO 300 SOUTH.

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 IndianaEvery tornado in Indiana since 1950Warnings in force in Indiana nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 30, 2008

18 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 304:13 AM CDTEF1Clarke, IA9.1150$50,000
May 304:51 AM CDTEF1Warren, IA7.2125$80,000
May 305:07 AM CDTEF2Marion, IA19.290010$825,000
May 303:37 PM CDTEF0Stevens, MN0.120
May 304:25 PM CDTEF1Pike, IL1.450$5,000
May 305:10 PM CDTEF1Lewis, MO3.470$10,000
May 305:14 PM CDTEF0Ralls, MO3.350$30,000
May 306:15 PM EDTEF1Wabash, IN0.250$100,000
May 306:22 PM EDTEF0Wabash, IN0.125$40,000
May 306:15 PM CDTEF0Pike, IL3.940
May 307:17 PM CDTEF1Morgan, IL4.8100$192,000
May 308:20 PM CDTEF0Christian, IL0.010
May 308:33 PM CDTEF0Shelby, IL1.130
May 3010:27 PM EDTEF2Marion, IN7.115018$29 million
May 3010:35 PM EDTEF1Hancock, IN4.5200$500,000
May 3010:57 PM CDTEF0Adams, IN to OH0.325$61,000
May 3012:28 AM EDTEF0Putnam, OH3.2464$1.2 million
May 301:29 AM EDTEF2Hancock, OH8.31006$1.8 million

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.