Tornadoes · United States · Minnesota · 2008
EF0 tornado, Stephen Arpt to Stephen, Minnesota, July 16, 2008
From Stephen Arpt to Stephen, this EF0 tornado ran 1.0 miles across Marshall County on July 16, 2008, touching down at 9:00 PM CDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $10,000 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
- July 16, 2008
- Touchdown
- 9:00 PM CDT (02:00 UTC)
- Lifted
- 9:02 PM CDT (02:02 UTC)
- On the ground
- 2 minutes
- Path length
- 1.0 miles (1.6 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $10,000
- Crop damage
- $20,000
- County
- Marshall County
- Touchdown point
- 48.510, -96.910
- Lift-off point
- 48.490, -96.895
- Record number
- 0807162000-01
What the Weather Service recorded
A somewhat vertically stacked low pressure system set up along the Canadian border in northeast North Dakota. Weak surface troughs also extended east and west from this low. These boundaries and the low pressure system were the focus for more severe weather.
The tornado tracked for nearly a mile to about 3 miles north-northwest of Stephen. Branches were broken off in shelterbelts and minor crop swirls were noted. Peak winds were estimated at 80 mph.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
21 minutes of warning. NWS FGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:39 UTC, 21 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:30 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01:39 UTC | 02:30 UTC | Tornado Warning | FGF |
| 02:26 UTC | 03:30 UTC | Tornado Warning | FGF |
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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 00:49 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.
International Fa, MN (KINL), 00:00Z
2.0 hours before the tornado, 265 km from the path. July 17, 2008.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 49 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -8 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 1736 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 795 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 41 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 21 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 125 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 219 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.8
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 9.0 K/km
International Fa, MN (KINL), 12:00Z
10.0 hours after it, 265 km from the path. July 17, 2008.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 444 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -44 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 705 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 40 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 15 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 96 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 136 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.3
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.3 K/km
The surface observations
Hallock (HCO), 28 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:14 UTC | 75.2 | 66.2 | 200° 4 kt | 1013.2 | ||
| 00:34 UTC | 75.2 | 66.2 | 140° 5 kt | 1012.9 | ||
| 00:53 UTC | 73.4 | 66.2 | 120° 5 kt | 1012.9 | ||
| 01:14 UTC | 73.4 | 66.2 | 130° 6 kt | 1012.5 | ||
| 01:34 UTC | 71.6 | 68 | 0° 0 kt | 1013.5 | TSRA | |
| 01:53 UTC | 71.6 | 69.8 | 190° 12 kt | 15 | 1012.5 | -TSRA |
| 02:14 UTC | 66.2 | 62.6 | 160° 8 kt | 1011.9 | TS | |
| 02:34 UTC | 64.4 | 62.6 | 130° 6 kt | 1011.9 | ||
| 02:53 UTC | 64.4 | 64.4 | 150° 8 kt | 1011.9 | ||
| 03:14 UTC | 64.4 | 64.4 | 150° 7 kt | 1011.5 | ||
| 03:34 UTC | 64.4 | 64.4 | 160° 6 kt | 1011.9 | ||
| 03:53 UTC | 64.4 | 64.4 | 190° 5 kt | 1011.5 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 113 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:58 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01:49 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | 5 Ese Robbin | Kittson, MN | |
| 01:52 UTC | HAIL 1 | Donaldson | Kittson, MN | |
| 02:00 UTC | TORNADO 0 | 4 Nnw Stephen | Marshall, MN | TORNADO TRACKED FOR NEARLY A MILE TO ABOUT 3 NNW OF STEPHEN BY 902 PM CDT. BRANCHES WERE BROKEN OFF IN SHELTER BELTS AND MINOR CROP SWIRLS WERE NOTED. PEAK WINDS ESTIMATED AT 80 MPH. |
| 02:21 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | 5 Ne Argyle | Marshall, MN | |
| 02:45 UTC | HAIL 0.88 | 5 W Newfolden | Marshall, MN |
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 MinnesotaEvery tornado in Minnesota since 1950Warnings in force in Minnesota nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of July 16, 2008
4 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
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.