Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2008
EF0 tornado, Hollis, Kansas, April 25, 2008
This EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Cloud County on April 25, 2008, touching down at 1:26 AM 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.
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
- April 25, 2008
- Touchdown
- 1:26 AM CDT (06:26 UTC)
- Lifted
- 1:27 AM CDT (06:27 UTC)
- On the ground
- 1 minutes
- Path length
- 0.1 miles (0.2 km)
- Path width
- 25 yards (23 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Cloud County
- Touchdown point
- 39.640, -97.520
- Lift-off point
- 39.640, -97.520
- Record number
- 0804250026-01
What the Weather Service recorded
Elevated convection developed on the nose of the low level jet late the evening of the 24th, and continued through the morning of the 25th. Severe hail was the primary threat with the elevated storms, but a lone, long track supercell the developed over the northwestern part of the state was able to sustain it's strength through Cloud County. A relatively long track tornado crossed through Jewell County to just south of Jamestown in Cloud County before lifting. EF-1 damage was sustained in the Topeka Warning area.
Brief touch down reported in an open field. No significant damage was reported.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
45 minutes of warning. NWS TOP issued a tornado warning for this county at 05:41 UTC, 45 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 06:30 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 06:15 UTC and running to 08:57 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 03:21 UTC | 06:14 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | TOP |
| 05:26 UTC | 06:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TOP |
| 05:41 UTC | 06:30 UTC | Tornado Warning | TOP |
| 06:15 UTC | 08:57 UTC | Tornado Watch | TOP |
| 06:30 UTC | 06:50 UTC | Tornado Warning | TOP |
| 10:00 UTC | 15:05 UTC | Wind Advisory | TOP |
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 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.
Topeka, KS (KTOP), 00:00Z
6.4 hours before the tornado, 177 km from the path. April 25, 2008.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 956 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -138 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 1273 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 777 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 31 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 21 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 140 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 219 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.2
- Supercell composite
- 1.3
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.1 K/km
Topeka, KS (KTOP), 12:00Z
5.6 hours after it, 177 km from the path. April 25, 2008.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1558 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -15 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 1374 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 726 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 49 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 36 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 95 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 111 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.0
- Supercell composite
- 3.6
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.2 K/km
The surface observations
Concordia (CNK), 15 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 04:39 UTC | 64.4 | 62.6 | 100° 3 kt | 1001 | BR | |
| 04:55 UTC | 64 | 62 | 120° 4 kt | 1000.3 | BR | |
| 05:34 UTC | 66.2 | 64.4 | 150° 10 kt | 16 | 1000.3 | VCTS |
| 05:48 UTC | 66.2 | 62.6 | 340° 12 kt | 16 | 1000.7 | VCTS |
| 05:55 UTC | 67 | 64 | 350° 27 kt | 33 | 1000 | TS |
| 05:59 UTC | 69.8 | 64.4 | 350° 23 kt | 33 | 1000 | TS |
| 06:18 UTC | 62.6 | 57.2 | 350° 22 kt | 31 | 1002.4 | +TSRA BR |
| 06:21 UTC | 59 | 57.2 | 360° 21 kt | 31 | 1001.7 | +TSRA BR |
| 06:23 UTC | 57.2 | 55.4 | 10° 25 kt | 32 | 1001 | +TSRA BR |
| 06:30 UTC | 57.2 | 55.4 | 20° 22 kt | 35 | 1000.3 | +TSRA BR |
| 06:33 UTC | 57.2 | 55.4 | 20° 19 kt | 35 | 1000.7 | +TSRA BR |
| 06:36 UTC | 57.2 | 55.4 | 40° 12 kt | 28 | 1001 | -TSRA BR |
| 06:55 UTC | 58 | 56 | 40° 14 kt | 23 | 1000 | -TSRA |
| 07:10 UTC | 57.2 | 330° 16 kt | 25 | 1001.7 | TSRA | |
| 07:13 UTC | 55.4 | 40° 16 kt | 25 | 1000 | +TSRA | |
| 07:15 UTC | 55.4 | 50° 16 kt | 25 | 1000 | +TSRA | |
| 07:24 UTC | 55.4 | 40° 10 kt | 32 | 1001 | TSRA | |
| 07:32 UTC | 57.2 | 40° 15 kt | 1000.7 | -TSRA | ||
| 07:45 UTC | 57.2 | 50° 15 kt | 26 | 1000.7 | VCTS -RA | |
| 07:55 UTC | 57 | 10° 13 kt | 1002 | VCTS | ||
| 08:02 UTC | 57.2 | 330° 10 kt | 20 | 1002.7 | VCTS |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 109 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 06:25 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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 03:54 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | 4 Wsw Munden | Republic, KS | DIME SIZED HAIL. |
| 03:55 UTC | HAIL 1.5 | Munden | Republic, KS | WALNUT SIZED HAIL IN THE CITY OF MUNDEN. |
| 03:59 UTC | HAIL 1 | Wnw Munden | Republic, KS | |
| 04:00 UTC | HAIL 1 | 2 E Munden | Republic, KS | |
| 04:03 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | 8 N Morrowville | Washington, KS | |
| 04:03 UTC | HAIL 0.88 | 9 N Washington | Washington, KS | |
| 04:05 UTC | HAIL 0.88 | 9 N Washington | Washington, KS | |
| 04:09 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | 8 N Morrowville | Washington, KS | |
| 04:42 UTC | HAIL 1 | 8 N Morrowville | Washington, KS | |
| 05:00 UTC | HAIL 1 | 6 N Washington | Washington, KS | |
| 05:14 UTC | TORNADO | 3 N Beloit | Mitchell, KS | AT LEAST ONE HOME DESTROYED |
| 05:15 UTC | TSTM WND GST 60 | 4 N Republic | Republic, KS | |
| 05:15 UTC | HAIL 1.5 | 5 N Republic | Republic, KS | |
| 05:19 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | 5 Nw Hanover | Washington, KS | GOLFBALL SIZE HAIL NEAR 27TH AND XAVIER ROAD. |
| 05:26 UTC | TORNADO | 3 N Beloit | Mitchell, KS | CONE SHAPED TORNADO AROUND 1/3 TO 1/2 MILE WIDE AT BASE. NUMEROUS POWER FLASHES VISIBLE. ROOF GONE OFF 1 HOME AND OUTBUILDING DESTROYED. |
| 05:37 UTC | TORNADO | 6 Ne Beloit | Mitchell, KS | NUMEROUS POWER LINES AND TREES DOWN ALONG WITH SHED DESTROYED AT FARM. |
| 05:45 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 Ssw Jamestown | Cloud, KS | POSSIBLE TORNADO. SPOTTER REPORTED 3 POWER POLES SNAPPED...A ABANDONED ROCK HOME DESTROYED...AN OUT BUILDING DAMAGED...DAMAGE TO TREES. NEAR INTERSECTION OF PLUM AND 30TH ROADS. |
| 06:01 UTC | HAIL 1 | 6 Sse Courtland | Republic, KS | |
| 06:11 UTC | HAIL 0.88 | Norway | Republic, KS | ALSO 50 MPH WIND GUSTS |
| 06:16 UTC | HAIL 1 | 3 Ne Concordia | Cloud, KS | |
| 06:26 UTC | TORNADO | 7 Sw Agenda | Cloud, KS | BRIEF TORNADO ABOUT 2 OR 3 MILES NORTHWEST OF AMES. LASTED 1 TO 2 MINUTES. |
| 07:00 UTC | HAIL 1 | Agenda | Republic, KS | |
| 07:15 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | 5 Sse Concordia | Cloud, KS | |
| 07:50 UTC | HAIL 1 | 6 S Palmer | Clay, KS |
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 25, 2008
9 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 25 | 1:35 PM CDT | EF0 | Davis, IA | 0.8 | 30 | $25,000 | ||
| April 25 | 3:08 PM CDT | EF1 | Henry, IA | 1.3 | 20 | $10,000 | ||
| April 25 | 3:15 PM CDT | EF2 | Muscatine, IA | 6.5 | 150 | $200,000 | ||
| April 25 | 2:43 PM PDT | EF0 | Ferry, WA | 0.1 | 20 | |||
| April 25 | 5:18 PM CDT | EF1 | Columbia, WI | 21.1 | 75 | $600,000 | ||
| April 25 | 5:20 PM CDT | EF0 | Columbia, WI | 0.2 | 25 | |||
| April 25 | 5:44 PM CDT | EF0 | Green Lake, WI | 7.1 | 30 | |||
| April 25 | 6:20 PM CDT | EF0 | Bell, TX | 1.4 | 50 | |||
| April 25 | 6:47 PM CDT | EF0 | Bell, TX | 0.7 | 50 |
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.