EF1 tornado, Harviell to Broseley, Missouri, February 5, 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 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

EF1

Date

February 5, 2008

Touchdown

8:03 PM CST (02:03 UTC)

Lifted

8:09 PM CST (02:09 UTC)

On the ground

6 minutes

Path length

3.4 miles (5.4 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$100,000

County

Butler County

Touchdown point

36.633, -90.516

Lift-off point

36.643, -90.456

Record number

0802052003-01

A deepening low pressure system moved northeast from Arkansas along a warm front that extended across southeast Missouri and southern Illinois. Surface dew points were in the upper 50's to lower 60's along and southeast of the warm front. A strong upper level trough over the western Plains produced a strong southwest flow of 60 to 80 knots at 500 mb. Winds at 850 mb were south to southwest around 40 knots.

Large trees, limbs, and power poles were snapped off. An old barn was blown over, and a newer barn lost part of its roof and a large door. There was some shingle damage to homes. A large tree was uprooted and fell against a residence. Tree limbs fell on a vehicle and through a bedroom window. Several grain bins were dented by wind-blown debris. One equipment shed was blown away. The average path width was 275 yards. Peak winds were estimated near 90 mph.

The tornado touched down near the intersection of Highways FF and CC. Parts of roofs were ripped off of several houses. As it moved east, it threw tin silos more than 900 yards. One of the silos hit a house and likely played a role in destroying the house. The roof and most of the exterior walls were blown off the three bedroom brick house. The family survived in a closet near the back room of the house unhurt. At the same location, an abandoned mobile home was destroyed, and the metal frame was bent. Debris from this area was spread east about 1.5 miles. Peak estimated wind speeds were near 130 mph. The damage path continued into Stoddard County.

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

13 minutes of warning. NWS PAH issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:50 UTC, 13 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 21:13 UTC and running to 03:39 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 Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 00:48 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 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.

Popular Bluff (POF), 21 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 154 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:04 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 MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are

61 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 62 of them

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.