EF2 tornado, Clinton to Stull, Kansas, May 2, 2008

1. EF065 to 85 mph

   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 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

EF2

Date

May 2, 2008

Touchdown

1:04 AM CDT (06:04 UTC)

Lifted

1:06 AM CDT (06:06 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

2.2 miles (3.6 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$260,000

County

Douglas County

Touchdown point

38.971, -95.446

Lift-off point

38.950, -95.476

Record number

0805020004-01

Thunderstorms developed along a dryline during the late afternoon of May 1st, and sustained as the synoptic cold front dove through the region later that evening. Two tornadoes touched down and caused damage in portions of Osage and Douglas Counties. One residence in Douglas County was almost completely demolished by one of the tornadoes, rated an EF-2. Hail from the size of quarters to the size of golfballs was also reported across portions of northeast and east central Kansas. After 11pm CST, the severe weather threat focus turned to strong winds. Trees were damaged across portions of the warning area, as was property including homes, outbuidings, power poles, and transformers. The Emergency Manager from Osage County reported that property damage estimates were around $100,000. Spotters estimated wind speeds up to 70 mph, and a measured gust of 71 mph was reported by the ASOS at the Lawrence Municipal Airport.

The tornado demolished and removed a garage and two-thirds of an unoccupied house from it's foundation just after touching down. Debris from the house and the garage was strewn across a nearby field for approximately 500 yards. A metal outbuilding was destroyed near the end of the tornado path. Between these two points, moderate tree damage was noted.

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

0 minutes of warning. NWS TOP issued a tornado warning for this county at 06:04 UTC, 0 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 06:31 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 06:01 UTC and running to 06:59 UTC.

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 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.

The Topeka radar (KTWX), 67 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 06:04 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.

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

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2008 tornado in KansasEvery tornado in Kansas since 1950Warnings in force in Kansas nowThe forecast where you are

39 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.