Tornadoes · United States · Maine · 2011

EF0 tornado, Jemtland to Connor, Maine, June 8, 2011

From Jemtland to Connor, this EF0 tornado ran 8.9 miles across Aroostook County on June 8, 2011, touching down at 6:22 PM EDT and reaching 75 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
June 8, 2011
Touchdown
6:22 PM EDT (22:22 UTC)
Lifted
6:42 PM EDT (22:42 UTC)
On the ground
20 minutes
Path length
8.9 miles (14.4 km)
Path width
75 yards (69 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Aroostook County
Touchdown point
46.990, -68.180
Lift-off point
46.990, -67.990
Record number
1106081622-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Severe thunderstorms developed across Aroostook County along a nearly stationary frontal boundary. The storms developed during the late afternoon and continued into the evening. The storms primarily produced damaging winds...though two weak tornadoes also occurred. Heavy rain from training thunderstorms produced localized flash flooding in the Fort Kent area.

An EF0 tornado snapped or uprooted numerous trees along an intermittent path. The tornado initially touched down around 1 mile east-southeast of Little Madawaska Lake. The tornado was embedded within an area of damaging straight line winds...intermittently touching down along its path. The final touch down point was around 4 miles west-northwest of Loring Air Force Base. Most of the damage along the path was uprooted or snapped trees. However...the tornado destroyed an older barn (DI 1, DOD 5) and damaged several farm outbuildings on the Brissette Road. Several other outbuildings were damaged or destroyed at various points along the path. Several homes (DI 2, DOD 2) received damage to shingles and siding. Damage along the path was due to a combination of straight line winds and the intermittent tornado touchdowns.

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

The warnings

17 minutes of warning. NWS CAR issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:05 UTC, 17 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:45 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
21:12 UTC22:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAR
22:02 UTC01:00 UTCFlood AdvisoryCAR
22:05 UTC22:45 UTCTornado WarningCAR
22:28 UTC23:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAR
22:31 UTC23:14 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAR
22:34 UTC23:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAR
22:35 UTC00:34 UTCFlash Flood WarningCAR
22:44 UTC23:15 UTCTornado WarningCAR
23:12 UTC00:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAR
23:17 UTC00:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAR
23:29 UTC02:57 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchCAR
23:32 UTC00:15 UTCTornado WarningCAR
00:31 UTC00:57 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAR

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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:00 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.

Caribou, ME (KCAR), 12:00Z

10.4 hours before the tornado, 15 km from the path. June 8, 2011.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Caribou, ME at 12:00Z on 2011-06-08Temperature 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 -153, lifted condensation level 875 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, Caribou, ME at 12:00Z on 2011-06-08The 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 25 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 44 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-153 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
875 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
44 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
6 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
25 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
104 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Caribou radar (KCBW), 108 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:22 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
21:54 UTCTSTM WND DMGSoldier PondAroostook, METREES AND POWERLINES DOWN IN SOLDIER POND.
22:22 UTCTORNADO4 Ssw StockholmAroostook, MENWS SURVEY CONFIRMS EF-0 TORNADO WITH A 10 MILE INTERMITTENT PATH.
22:31 UTCTSTM WND DMGStockholmAroostook, METREES AND POWERLINES DOWN IN STOCKHOLM.
22:32 UTCTSTM WND DMG4 Nw WoodlandAroostook, MENUMEROUS TREES UPROOTED
22:36 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Nw WoodlandAroostook, MESEVERAL LARGE TREES UPROOTED
22:45 UTCTSTM WND DMG6 Nne CaribouAroostook, MENUMEOROUS TREES AND POWERLINES DOWN ON ALBAIR ROAD.
22:45 UTCTSTM WND DMGAshlandAroostook, MENUMEROUS TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN ACROSS ASHLAND.
22:45 UTCTSTM WND DMGLoringAroostook, MENUMEROUS TREES DOWN
22:50 UTCFLASH FLOODFort KentAroostook, METWO FEET OF WATER ON MAIN STREET
23:00 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 E New SwedenAroostook, MEGARAGE MOVED IN TO ROAD ON PLANTE ROAD.
23:00 UTCTSTM WND DMG6 Nne CaribouAroostook, MEBARN DESTROYED ON BRISSETTE ROAD.
23:00 UTCTSTM WND DMGAshlandAroostook, MENUMEROUS TREES AND POWERLINES DOWN IN ASHLAND.
23:00 UTCFLASH FLOOD4 Ese Fort KentAroostook, MECULVERTS AND PARTS OF NORTH PERLEY BROOK ROAD WASHED OUT.
23:15 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 Wsw MapletonAroostook, METREES DOWN ON ROUTE 163.
23:15 UTCTORNADO6 Ene AshlandAroostook, MENWS SURVEY CONFIRMS BRIEF EF-0 TORNADO
23:20 UTCTSTM WND DMGAshlandAroostook, MENUMEROUS TREES AND POWERLINES DOWN IN ASHLAND.
23:20 UTCTSTM WND DMGCaribouAroostook, MENUMEROUS TREES DOWN IN CARIBOU.
23:30 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Ne CaribouAroostook, METREES DOWN ON BOWLS ROAD.
23:30 UTCTSTM WND DMG6 Ne CaribouAroostook, MENUMEROUS TREES AND POWERLINES DOWN ON MADAWASKA ROAD.
23:49 UTCTSTM WND DMG8 Wsw Presque IsleAroostook, MENUMEROUS TREES DOWN.
23:49 UTCTSTM WND DMGMapletonAroostook, METREES DOWN IN MAPLETON.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2011 tornado in MaineEvery tornado in Maine since 1950Warnings in force in Maine nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 8, 2011

2 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 87:10 PM EDTEF0Aroostook, ME0.150
June 87:41 PM CDTEF0Dane, WI17.1100$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.