Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2008

EF0 tornado, Stockton Muni Arpt to Woodston, Kansas, April 24, 2008

From Stockton Muni Arpt to Woodston, this EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Rooks County on April 24, 2008, touching down at 10:42 PM CDT and reaching 25 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
April 24, 2008
Touchdown
10:42 PM CDT (03:42 UTC)
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
25 yards (23 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Rooks County
Touchdown point
39.380, -99.270
Lift-off point
39.380, -99.270
Record number
0804242142-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Severe thunderstorms developed during the evening hours across north-central Kansas and produced large hail, strong winds and heavy rains. Hail up to the size of softballs was reported west of Stockton where windows were broken, roofs and siding damaged and crops pummeled. A couple of brief tornados were reported to have touched down in Rooks County. One was south of Stockton and the other was near Woodston. No damage occurred with these. There were other reports of hail, mainly up to the size of golf balls, and wind gusts of 60 to 70 mph reported across the area. A tornado touched down north of Beloit in Mitchell County and traveled east. Several houses, outbuildings, grain bins, trees and power poles were damaged along the it���s path. This tornado crossed into Cloud County.

A brief tornado that occurred in open country.

A brief tornado touchdown was observed by a storm chaser.

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.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 23:05 UTC and running to 05:08 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
23:05 UTC05:08 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchGID
02:41 UTC03:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningGID
03:26 UTC04:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningGID
04:16 UTC04:35 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningGID
07:55 UTC16:58 UTCWind AdvisoryGID

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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 01:00 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.

Dodge City, (KDDC), 00:00Z

3.7 hours before the tornado, 187 km from the path. April 25, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dodge City, at 00:00Z on 2008-04-25Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 68 joules per kilogram, CIN -137, lifted condensation level 3354 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, Dodge City, at 00:00Z on 2008-04-25The 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 37 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 36 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
68 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-137 J/kg
Surface CAPE
184 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
3354 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
36 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
5 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
37 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
96 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1
0-3 km lapse rate
9.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Dodge City, (KDDC), 12:00Z

8.3 hours after it, 187 km from the path. April 25, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dodge City, at 12:00Z on 2008-04-25Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -83969, lifted condensation level 942 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Dodge City, at 12:00Z on 2008-04-25The 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 -306 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 75 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-83969 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
942 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
75 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
19 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-306 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-224 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Phillipsburg (PHG), 40 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
01:53 UTC665690° 13 kt1000.3
02:53 UTC6258350° 29 kt491002-TSRA BR SQ
03:53 UTC625740° 5 kt181002.4VCTS
04:53 UTC494510° 28 kt351002.7

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The radar

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 126 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:40 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

What was reported nearby

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

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
02:40 UTCHAIL 1.7512 N Hill CityGraham, KS
02:45 UTCHAIL 1Hill CityGraham, KS
02:51 UTCHAIL 1.755 E Hill CityGraham, KSREPORTED BY KWCH
03:05 UTCHAIL 2.7515 W StocktonRooks, KSJUST EAST OF GRAHAM AND ROOKS COUNTY LINE ON HIGHWAY 24.
03:05 UTCHAIL 2.7520 W StocktonGraham, KSJUST EAST OF GRAHAM AND ROOKS COUNTY LINE ON HIGHWAY 24.
03:05 UTCTSTM WND GST 802 W NicodemusGraham, KSREPORTED BY KWCH
03:23 UTCHAIL 1.75Webster State ParkRooks, KS
03:27 UTCHAIL 1.758 W StocktonRooks, KSHAIL COVERING HIGHWAY 24
03:35 UTCTSTM WND GST 66StocktonRooks, KSMEASURED BY KSNW WEATHER LAB AT STOCKTON GRADE SCHOOL.
03:37 UTCNON-TSTM WND GST 0StocktonRooks, KSROOKS EMS RPTD WIND SHIFT NW GUST 45-50 MPH
03:37 UTCNON-TSTM WND GST 50StocktonRooks, KSROOKS EMS RPTD WIND SHIFT NW GUST 45-50 MPH
03:38 UTCHAIL 4.25StocktonRooks, KSQUARTER TO SOFTBALL SIZE HAIL WITH LOTS OF DAMAGE AND POWER OUTAGES.
03:42 UTCHAIL 0.88PhillipsburgPhillips, KS
03:42 UTCTORNADO4 S StocktonRooks, KSBRIEF TORNADO TOUCHDOWN
03:50 UTCTORNADO4 S WoodstonRooks, KSBRIEF TORNADO TOUCHDOWN OBSERVED BY STORM CHASER
04:00 UTCHAIL 1.75AltonOsborne, KS
04:09 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD4 E PlainvilleRooks, KSALONG HIGHWAY 18 FROM STORM CHASER
04:31 UTCHAIL 21 Nnw OsborneOsborne, KS
04:35 UTCTSTM WND GST 68OsborneOsborne, KSMEASURED BY KSNW WEATHER LAB AT OSBORNE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.
04:51 UTCHAIL 0.88PhillipsburgPhillips, KSWINDS ESTIMATED AT 50 MPH AND HEAVY RAIN
04:56 UTCTSTM WND GST 658 W KirwinPhillips, KSFROM KIRWIN RAWS OBSERVATION VIA MESOWEST.

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 KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 24, 2008

6 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 243:30 PM MDTEF0Custer, ID0.120$1,000
April 244:47 PM CDTEF0Kossuth, IA0.130
April 248:21 PM CDTEF0Hamilton, IA1.750$50,000
April 2410:50 PM CDTEF0Rooks, KS0.110
April 2412:23 AM CDTEF2Mitchell, KS14.11,050$750,000
April 2412:50 AM CDTEF1Nemaha, NE0.3100$100,000

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.