Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 2008
EF0 tornado, Woollam, Missouri, January 7, 2008
This EF0 tornado ran 0.3 miles across Gasconade County on January 7, 2008, touching down at 7:50 PM CST and reaching 50 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.
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
- January 7, 2008
- Touchdown
- 7:50 PM CST (01:50 UTC)
- Lifted
- 7:51 PM CST (01:51 UTC)
- On the ground
- 1 minutes
- Path length
- 0.3 miles (0.5 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Gasconade County
- Touchdown point
- 38.388, -91.636
- Lift-off point
- 38.392, -91.635
- Record number
- 0801071950-01
What the Weather Service recorded
A strong cold front slid across the region...triggering numerous thunderstorms...so of which became severe.
A tornado touched down just west of the intersection of Route A and Route Y, about 5.5 miles south of Mount Sterling, along the west bank of Crider Creek. The tornado moved to the north northeast across the creek, dissipating in a nearby field. Damage only consisted of a several uprooted trees, as well as some snapped trees and tree limbs.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:55 UTC and running to 01:54 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19:55 UTC | 01:54 UTC | Tornado Watch | LSX |
| 01:54 UTC | 07:09 UTC | Tornado Watch | LSX |
| 02:35 UTC | 03:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | LSX |
| 02:52 UTC | 03:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LSX |
| 03:04 UTC | 03:45 UTC | Tornado Warning | LSX |
| 03:43 UTC | 04:10 UTC | Tornado Warning | LSX |
| 04:01 UTC | 04:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LSX |
| 06:08 UTC | 07:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LSX |
| 10:26 UTC | 11:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LSX |
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 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 01:00 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.
Springfield, MO (KSGF), 00:00Z
1.8 hours before the tornado, 252 km from the path. January 8, 2008.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 765 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -14 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 725 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 955 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 58 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 33 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 281 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 338 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.7
- Supercell composite
- 7.2
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.6 K/km
Springfield, MO (KSGF), 12:00Z
10.2 hours after it, 252 km from the path. January 8, 2008.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 40 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -49 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 1 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 693 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 68 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 69 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -46 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- -78 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- -0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.1 K/km
The radar
The St Louis radar (KLSX), 90 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:49 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 02:10 UTC | HAIL 1 | 2 S New Bloomfield | Callaway, MO | |
| 02:10 UTC | HAIL 1 | New Bloomfield | Callaway, MO | |
| 02:13 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 7 E Dixon | Phelps, MO | POSSIBLE TORNADO... DAMAGED BUILDINGS... DOWNED POWER LINES... AND UPROOTED TREES IN THE VICINITY OF HIGHWAY C AND COUNTY ROAD 8490. |
| 02:15 UTC | TORNADO | 3 Ne Jerome | Phelps, MO | UNCONFIRMED TORNADO.TWO BARNS AND ONE HOME DESTROYED AT COUNTY ROAD 8490 JUST NORTH OF INTERSTATE 44. |
| 02:37 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | 10 Nne Steedman | Callaway, MO | |
| 03:00 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Owensville | Gasconade, MO | AT HIGHWAY 28 AND CUBA STREET IN OWENSVILLE...POWER LINES DOWNED AND TRANSFORMER CAUGHT FIRE. |
| 03:42 UTC | TORNADO 1 | 6 Nne Doolittle | Phelps, MO | A NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STORM SURVEY REVEALED THAT AN EF-1 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF HIGHWAY A AND HIGHWAY E. THIS TORNADO TRACKED NORTHEAST INTO MARIES COUNTY. THE TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN AT APPROXIM |
| 03:42 UTC | TORNADO | 6 Nne Doolittle | Phelps, MO | A NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STORM SURVEY REVEALED THAT AN EF-1 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF HIGHWAY A AND HIGHWAY E. THIS TORNADO TRACKED NORTHEAST INTO MARIES COUNTY. THE TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN AT APPROXIM |
| 03:50 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 Ne Vichy | Maries, MO | POSSIBLE TORNADO...SEVERAL HOMES SEVERELY DAMAGED OR DESTROYED INCLUDING A MOBILE HOME MOVED FROM ITS FOUNDATION AT THE INTERSECTION OF COUNTY ROAD 449 AND COUNTY ROAD 454. OTHER DAMAGE WEST OF VICHY ON HIGHWAY FF AND SO |
| 03:55 UTC | TORNADO 1 | Vichy | Maries, MO | *** 1 INJ *** DAMAGE RATED EF1 REPORTED IN A PATH FROM 8 MILES SOUTHWEST OF VICHY...THROUGH THE AIRPORT AREA...THEN 4 MILES NORTHEAST OF VICHY. ONE MOBILE HOME DESTROYED JUST NORTHEAST OF TOWN WITH ONE INJURY. 3 AIRPLANE |
| 03:55 UTC | TORNADO | Vichy | Maries, MO | *** 1 INJ *** DAMAGE REPORTED IN A PATH FROM SOUTHWEST OF VICHY...THROUGH THE AIRPORT AREA...THEN NORTHEAST OF VICHY. ONE MOBILE HOME DESTROYED JUST NORTHEAST OF TOWN WITH ONE INJURY. AIRPLANES DAMAGED. 84KT GUST BY THE |
| 04:04 UTC | TSTM WND GST 96 | Vichy | Maries, MO | MEASURED BY THE VICHY ASOS LOCATED AT THE ROLLA/VICHY AIRPORT. ASOS ALSO MEASURED A RAPID CHANGE IN WIND DIRECTION WITH THE GUST... POSSIBLE ROTATION. |
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 MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of January 7, 2008
33 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 7 | 2:22 PM CST | EF0 | St. Clair, MO | 0.1 | 20 | |||
| January 7 | 2:54 PM CST | EF0 | Benton, MO | 0.2 | 25 | $20,000 | ||
| January 7 | 3:30 PM CST | EF3 | Boone, IL | 13.1 | 100 | 5 | $4.0 million | |
| January 7 | 3:55 PM CST | EF0 | Audrain, MO | 0.3 | 40 | |||
| January 7 | 4:02 PM CST | EF3 | Walworth, WI | 10.8 | 200 | 15 | $14 million | |
| January 7 | 4:39 PM CST | EF1 | Kenosha, WI | 2.5 | 75 | $7.9 million | ||
| January 7 | 5:06 PM CST | EF2 | Barry, MO | 12.4 | 200 | $500,000 | ||
| January 7 | 5:22 PM CST | EF1 | Tazewell, IL | 3.0 | 100 | $30,000 | ||
| January 7 | 5:50 PM CST | EF0 | McDonald, MO | 0.3 | 20 | |||
| January 7 | 5:57 PM CST | EF2 | Greene, MO | 6.4 | 200 | $2.0 million | ||
| January 7 | 6:29 PM CST | EF3 | Greene, MO | 50.4 | 300 | 3 | 18 | $19 million |
| January 7 | 7:28 PM CST | EF0 | Lawrence, MO | 6.4 | 50 | $75,000 | ||
| January 7 | 7:32 PM CST | EF2 | Greene, MO | 6.7 | 300 | $1.0 million | ||
| January 7 | 7:42 PM CST | EF2 | Webster, MO | 8.6 | 200 | $1.0 million | ||
| January 7 | 8:05 PM CST | EF0 | Benton, AR | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| January 7 | 8:06 PM CST | EF3 | Pulaski, MO | 1.8 | 400 | 3 | $1.0 million | |
| January 7 | 8:08 PM CST | EF0 | Adair, OK | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| January 7 | 8:09 PM CST | EF3 | Phelps, MO | 4.7 | 400 | $110,000 | ||
| January 7 | 8:15 PM CST | EF1 | McDonald, MO | 7.4 | 100 | $300,000 | ||
| January 7 | 8:30 PM CST | EF0 | Pike, MO | 5.0 | 40 | |||
| January 7 | 8:40 PM CST | EF0 | Pike, IL | 2.4 | 40 | |||
| January 7 | 8:42 PM CST | EF1 | Webster, MO | 5.2 | 150 | $50,000 | ||
| January 7 | 8:50 PM CST | EF0 | Benton, AR | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| January 7 | 9:00 PM CST | EF2 | Laclede, MO | 5.4 | 300 | $100,000 | ||
| January 7 | 9:12 PM CST | EF0 | Barry, MO | 0.1 | 20 | |||
| January 7 | 9:36 PM CST | EF1 | Christian, MO | 0.4 | 100 | 1 | $200,000 | |
| January 7 | 9:40 PM CST | EF1 | Phelps, MO | 3.8 | 100 | $5,000 | ||
| January 7 | 9:57 PM CST | EF0 | Webster, MO | 10.6 | 50 | $8,000 | ||
| January 7 | 10:28 PM CST | EF0 | Cherokee, OK | 1.8 | 500 | $25,000 | ||
| January 7 | 10:43 PM CST | EF0 | Maries, MO | 11.3 | 100 | 1 | $5.0 million | |
| January 7 | 11:09 PM CST | EF1 | Benton, AR | 2.6 | 85 | |||
| January 7 | 11:38 PM CST | EF0 | Wagoner, OK | 0.5 | 75 | |||
| January 7 | 11:54 PM CST | EF0 | Wagoner, OK | 2.7 | 100 |
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.