Tornadoes · United States · Kansas · 2008

EF0 tornado, Grainfield to Hoxie, Kansas, May 22, 2008

Name: EF0 tornado, Grainfield to Hoxie, Kansas, May 22, 2008
Start: 2008-05-22T22:25:00.000Z
End: 2008-05-22T22:43:00.000Z
Location: Grainfield to Hoxie, Kansas

From Grainfield to Hoxie, this EF0 tornado ran 10.7 miles across Gove and Sheridan counties on May 22, 2008, touching down at 5:25 PM CDT and reaching 75 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $25,000 of property damage.

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: May 22, 2008
Touchdown: 5:25 PM CDT (22:25 UTC)
Lifted: 5:43 PM CDT (22:43 UTC)
On the ground: 18 minutes
Path length: 10.7 miles (17.2 km)
Path width: 75 yards (69 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $25,000
Counties: Gove and Sheridan counties
Touchdown point: 39.077, -100.510
Lift-off point: 39.230, -100.494
Record number: 0805221625-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A series of intense supercell thunderstorms moved north across the area during the afternoon and early evening hours. Long-track tornadoes, flash flooding, large hail and damaging winds were reported across much of northwest Kansas into extreme southern Nebraska. Eleven tornadoes were verified by storm chasers and damage surveys.

This tornado developed 3 miles SW of Grainfield and moved north 11 miles into Sheridan county, dissipating 9 miles SW of Hoxie. This tornado remained over open fields.

This tornado moved into southern Sheridan county from Gove county, and remained over open fields until dissipation 9 miles SW of Hoxie.

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

The forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a High Risk, with a 0.30 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 19:59 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.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Goodland, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at May 22, 2:23 PM CDT, 3 hours 2 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 22, 2:23 PM CDT, 3 hours 2 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
123 PM MDT THU MAY 22 2008

.DISCUSSION...
123 PM MDT THU MAY 22 2008

FORECAST PROBLEMS INTO THE WEEKEND WILL CONTINUE TO REVOLVE AROUND
STRONG WINDS...FIRE WEATHER CONCERNS...AND BOUTS OF SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS. SATELLITE SHOWING THAT THE AMPLIFICATION PROCESS
CONTINUES. UPPER LOW NOW HAS NOT ONLY CUT OFF OVER THE GREAT BASIN...
BUT HAS ALSO BEGUN TO RETROGRESS. WITH VERY STRONG RIDGE IN THE
EASTERN PACIFIC AND STRONG CENTRAL NORTH AMERICA RIDGE/LARGE
EASTERN NORTH AMERICAN UPPER LOW...CONTINUE TO EXPECT VERY LITTLE
CHANGE IN THE UPPER FLOW.

ON THIS PACKAGE WILL NOT BE ISSUING ANY NEW HIGHLIGHTS. WILL BE TIED
UP WITH SEVERE WEATHER...AND DO NOT WANT TO BURDEN EVENING CREW
WITH UPDATES. WILL HIT THESE PARAMETERS HARD IN THE GRIDS AND
REGULARLY ISSUED PRODUCTS. WILL LET OVERNIGHT CREW DECIDE ON THE
NEED FOR ANY WIND AND FIRE HIGHLIGHTS.

TONIGHT/FRIDAY...DRY LINE HAS SET UP FURTHER SOUTH AND WEST THAN
DEPICTED 24 HOURS AGO. AHEAD OF THIS...LOW LEVEL AIR MASS IS VERY
MOIST WITH DEEP SOUTHERLY FLOW ABOVE THIS BRINGING IN ADDITIONAL
MOISTURE. STRONG SHORTWAVE TROUGH AND JET SEGMENT TO OUR WEST AND
SOUTH WILL MOVE INTO THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON. ALSO EXPECT DIFLUENT
FLOW ALOFT TO SPREAD OVER THE AREA. SO EXPECT WIDESPREAD
THUNDERSTORMS WITH SEVERE WEATHER ALMOST A DEFINITE. ANOTHER CONCERN
IS LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL. STORMS THAT FORMED YESTERDAY IN COLORADO
TRAINED OVER THE SAME AREA. EVEN THOUGH STORMS WILL BE MOVING
QUICKLY WOULD EXPECT THE SAME TRAINING AFFECT TODAY WITH A MUCH
MORE MOIST AIR MASS. EXCESSIVE RAINFALL DISCUSSION HAS MENTIONED OUR
AREA. SO IN ADDITION TO THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL MENTION HEAVY
RAINFALL AS WELL.

SIMILAR SETUP FOR FRIDAY...AND ALL THE WEATHER DEPENDS ON THE
POSITION OF THE DRY LINE. OBVIOUSLY GREATER POPS WILL BE TO NORTH
AND EAST OF THIS FEATURE. WILL BE CLOSE TO ABOVE WIND ADVISORY
CRITERIA FOR MOST OF THE AREA. SOME PLACES AGAIN MAY GET CLOSE TO
HIGH WIND WARNING. WEST OF THE DRY LINE MAY NEED A FIRE HIGHLIGHT AS
WELL. WILL BE GOING NEAR TO BELOW GUIDANCE.

FRIDAY NIGHT/SATURDAY...POPS WILL BE ORIENTED FOR THE NIGHT
ACCORDING TO THE BOUNDARY POSITION. WILL PROBABLY BE HIGHER OVER THE
NORTHEAST HALF AGAIN. ON SATURDAY...WHEREVER THE DRY LINE IS WILL BE
DETERMINER FOR POPS...AND WILL PUT IN THE APPROPRIATEPOPS.

SATURDAY NIGHT/SUNDAY...AGAIN NOT A LOT TIME TO LOOK AT THIS. POPS
CHANCE AND COVERAGE WILL BE DETERMINED BY BOUNDARY POSITION.

SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY...DID NOT SPEND A LOT OF TIME ON THIS
DUE TO CURRENT AND EXPECTED HAZARDOUS WEATHER. SOME KIND OF
BOUNDARY WILL BE IN...NEAR OR MOVING THROUGH DURING THIS TIME. ALSO
PERIODIC PIECES OF THE JET AND SHORTWAVE TROUGHS MOVING THROUGH IN
SOUTHWEST FLOW ALOFT MAKE FOR SOME KIND OF CHANCE THROUGH THE WHOLE
PERIOD. USED HPC GRIDS AND TWEEKED THEM AT MOST.

THANKS TO ALL FOR COLLABORATION.

BULLER
&&

.AVIATION...
1130 AM MDT THU MAY 22 2008

FOR THE 18Z TAFS...STRONG SOUTH/SOUTHEASTERLY WINDS WILL CONTINUE
AND CONDITIONS WILL FLUCTUATE BETWEEN VFR AND MVFR THROUGH THE FIRST
12 HOURS OF THE TAF PERIOD. AS THE STRATUS BEGINS TO LIFT
THUNDERSTORMS WILL ENTER THE REGION.

KJ
&&

.FIRE WEATHER...
123 PM MDT THU MAY 22 2008

AS STATED ABOVE DUE TO TIME CONSTRAINTS DUE TO EXPECTED SEVERE
WEATHER...WILL NOT BE ISSUING ANY FIRE WEATHER HIGHLIGHTS AT THIS
TIME. HOWEVER...GRIDS AND APPROPRIATE PRODUCTS WILL BE ADJUSTED TO
FIT EXPECTED CONDITIONS. IT WILL BE POSSIBLE...ESPECIALLY ON
SATURDAY...TO REACH CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS.

BULLER
&&

GLD WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
KS...WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 6 PM MDT /7 PM CDT/ THIS AFTERNOON FOR
     KSZ001>004-013>016-027>029-041-042.

     RED FLAG WARNING UNTIL 9 PM MDT THIS EVENING FOR KSZ027-041.

NE...WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 6 PM MDT /7 PM CDT/ THIS AFTERNOON FOR
     NEZ079>081.

CO...WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 6 PM MDT THIS AFTERNOON FOR COZ090.

     RED FLAG WARNING UNTIL 9 PM MDT THIS EVENING FOR COZ253-254.

     HIGH WIND WARNING UNTIL 6 PM MDT THIS AFTERNOON FOR COZ091-092.

&&

WFO GOODLAND

Hazardous weather outlook, May 22, 2:37 PM CDT, 2 hours 48 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
137 PM MDT THU MAY 22 2008

COZ090>092-KSZ001>004-013>016-027>029-041-042-NEZ079>081-231600-
YUMA-KIT CARSON-CHEYENNE CO-CHEYENNE KS-RAWLINS-DECATUR-NORTON-
SHERMAN-THOMAS-SHERIDAN-GRAHAM-WALLACE-LOGAN-GOVE-GREELEY-WICHITA-
DUNDY-HITCHCOCK-RED WILLOW-
137 PM MDT THU MAY 22 2008 /237 PM CDT THU MAY 22 2008/

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EXTREME SOUTHWEST
NEBRASKA...NORTHWEST KANSAS AND EAST CENTRAL COLORADO.

.DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT

...DANGEROUS SEVERE WEATHER OUTBREAK LIKELY THIS AFTERNOON...

SUPERCELL THUNDERSTORMS ARE LIKELY WITH LARGE HAIL AND TORNADOES.
STRONG VERTICAL WIND SHEAR AND FAVORABLE INSTABILITY WILL CREATE THE
POTENTIAL FOR A FEW LONG TRACKED TORNADOES. THIS IS A PARTICULARLY
DANGEROUS SITUATION AND PEOPLE ACROSS THE TRI STATE AREA SHOULD BE
PREPARED FOR POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS WEATHER THIS AFTERNOON AND
EVENING.

THE THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP MAINLY ALONG AND EAST OF
A JOES TO SELKIRK LINE. STORMS WILL MOVE RAPIDLY TO THE NORTH...HOWEVER
IF TRAINING OF STORMS OCCURS...AREAS OF HEAVY RAINFALL ARE POSSIBLE.
THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE INTO TONIGHT...ESPECIALLY NORTH OF
INTERSTATE 70.

IN ADDITION...STRONG SOUTHERLY WINDS WILL OCCUR ACROSS THE AREA
TODAY. THE STRONGEST WINDS WILL BE SOUTH OF THE INTERSTATE...
WHERE SUSTAINED WINDS OF 30 TO 40 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 60 MPH WILL
BE POSSIBLE. ELSEWHERE WINDS WILL BE SUSTAINED AT 20 TO 30 MPH
WITH GUSTS OF UP TO 50 MPH. AREAS OF BLOWING DIRT MAY ALSO
DEVELOP...ESPECIALLY IN OPEN COUNTRY.

EXTREME FIRE WEATHER WILL EXIST THIS AFTERNOON IN THE SOUTHWEST
PORTION OF THE AREA...GENERALLY SOUTH OF A FLAGLER COLORADO TO
RUSSEL SPRINGS KANSAS LINE. LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY COMBINED WITH
VERY STRONG WINDS WILL RESULT IN VERY DANGEROUS BURNING
CONDITIONS.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY

A SURFACE TROUGH REMAINS IN PLACE ACROSS THE TRI-STATE REGION
FRIDAY AND SATURDAY WITH DRY AND WINDY CONDITIONS ACROSS MAINLY
THE WESTERN PORTION OF THE FORECAST AREA WITH THUNDERSTORMS
ACROSS MAINLY THE EASTERN SECTIONS. ADDITIONAL CRITICAL FIRE
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE FROM
FRIDAY INTO SATURDAY AS A RESULT.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL BE REQUIRED.

JRM

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 22, 5:01 PM CDT, 24 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
401 PM MDT THU MAY 22 2008

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0401 PM     HAIL             2 SSE REXFORD           39.44N 100.73W
05/22/2008  E1.75 INCH       THOMAS             KS   TRAINED SPOTTER

&&

SJOHNSON

Local storm report, May 22, 5:02 PM CDT, 23 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
402 PM MDT THU MAY 22 2008

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0359 PM     FLASH FLOOD      4 S GRINNELL            39.07N 100.63W
05/22/2008                   GOVE               KS   EMERGENCY MNGR

            WATER RUNNING OVER THE ROAD.

&&

SJOHNSON

Local storm report, May 22, 5:04 PM CDT, 21 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
404 PM MDT THU MAY 22 2008

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0348 PM     HAIL             5 N GRINNELL            39.20N 100.63W
05/22/2008  E2.00 INCH       SHERIDAN           KS   STORM CHASER

&&

SJOHNSON

Local storm report, May 22, 5:16 PM CDT, 9 minutes before

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Local storm report, May 22, 5:17 PM CDT, 8 minutes before

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Local storm report, May 22, 5:25 PM CDT, 0 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
425 PM MDT THU MAY 22 2008

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0420 PM     HAIL             1 NW GRINNELL           39.14N 100.64W
05/22/2008  M3.00 INCH       SHERIDAN           KS   TRAINED SPOTTER

            HAIL UP TO 3.5 IN. RELAYED FROM NSSL

&&

SJOHNSON

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), 12:00Z

10.4 hours before the tornado, 162 km from the path. May 22, 2008.

Skew-T log-p

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.

Hodograph

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: 1191 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -320 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 1434 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1232 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 21 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 46 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 84 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 92 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1
0-3 km lapse rate: 4.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Dodge City, (KDDC), 00:00Z

1.6 hours after it, 162 km from the path. May 23, 2008.

Skew-T log-p

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.

Hodograph

Mixed-layer CAPE: 2192 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -8 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 2773 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1576 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 59 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 285 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 313 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.9
Supercell composite: 17.0
0-3 km lapse rate: 8.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Colby (CBK), 56 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)	Temp (°F)	Dew point (°F)	Wind	Gust (kt)	Pressure (mb)	Weather
00:00 UTC

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

The radar

The Goodland radar (KGLD), 106 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:26 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.

This ground now

The live radar over the track Every 2008 tornado in Kansas Every tornado in Kansas since 1950 Warnings in force in Kansas now The forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 22, 2008

27 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 22	11:26 AM MDT	EF3	Weld, CO	38.7	1,760	1	78	$147 million
May 22	12:30 PM MDT	EF1	Weld, CO	0.1	100		1
May 22	12:58 PM MDT	EF0	Albany, WY	0.0	50
May 22	12:58 PM MDT	EF2	Albany, WY	25.1	100		1	$300,000
May 22	3:45 PM CDT	EF0	Gove, KS	0.5	10
May 22	4:07 PM CDT	EF0	Gove, KS	3.0	50
May 22	5:11 PM CDT	EF1	Sheridan, KS	17.6	400			$500,000
May 22	4:29 PM MDT	EF0	Chase, NE	0.1	50
May 22	5:32 PM CDT	EF0	Lane, KS	5.4	100
May 22	5:48 PM CDT	EF1	Decatur, KS	12.5	300			$1.0 million
May 22	5:55 PM CDT	EF2	Sheridan, KS	9.4	300			$750,000
May 22	6:08 PM CDT	EF1	Gove, KS	8.0	200			$150,000
May 22	6:18 PM CDT	EF0	Sheridan, KS	2.0	75
May 22	6:20 PM CDT	EF0	Sheridan, KS	0.5	50
May 22	6:26 PM CDT	EF0	Trego, KS	5.0	100
May 22	4:30 PM PDT	EF0	Riverside, CA	0.9	20
May 22	6:31 PM CDT	EF1	Decatur, KS to NE	34.0	400			$1.9 million
May 22	6:32 PM CDT	EF0	Gove, KS	0.5	25
May 22	4:42 PM PDT	EF2	Riverside, CA	2.8	75		1	$350,000
May 22	4:50 PM PDT	EF0	Riverside, CA	1.0	20
May 22	5:40 PM PDT	EF0	Riverside, CA	0.4	10
May 22	8:00 PM CDT	EF1	Ness, KS	3.5	150
May 22	8:05 PM CDT	EF0	Lane, KS	1.4	100
May 22	8:42 PM CDT	EF0	Trego, KS	6.9	150
May 22	8:57 PM CDT	EF1	Trego, KS	3.0	300
May 22	8:28 PM MDT	EF1	Laramie, WY	0.7	50			$20,000
May 22	8:32 PM MDT	EF0	Laramie, WY	0.3	30

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.