Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 2008

EF0 tornado, Unionville, Missouri, June 12, 2008

This EF0 tornado ran 0.2 miles across Putnam County on June 12, 2008, touching down at 4:13 PM CDT and reaching 25 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 12, 2008
Touchdown
4:13 PM CDT (21:13 UTC)
Lifted
4:14 PM CDT (21:14 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.2 miles (0.4 km)
Path width
25 yards (23 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Putnam County
Touchdown point
40.440, -92.960
Lift-off point
40.441, -92.956
Record number
0806121513-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Severe thunderstorms brought high winds and large hail, to portions of the area on June 12, 2008.

Brief EF0 tornado touchdown in open country at 15:13 CST.

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

The warnings

15 minutes of warning. NWS EAX issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:58 UTC, 15 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:06 UTC and running to 03:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
20:06 UTC03:00 UTCTornado WatchEAX
20:58 UTC21:30 UTCTornado WarningEAX
21:24 UTC00:30 UTCFlood AdvisoryEAX
21:26 UTC21:47 UTCTornado WarningEAX
22:10 UTC22:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningEAX
22:15 UTC22:34 UTCTornado WarningEAX
00:00 UTC06:01 UTCFlash Flood WatchEAX

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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:04 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.

Davenport, (KDVN), 12:00Z

9.2 hours before the tornado, 244 km from the path. June 12, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Davenport, at 12:00Z on 2008-06-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 698 joules per kilogram, CIN -96, lifted condensation level 983 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, Davenport, at 12:00Z on 2008-06-12The 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 285 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 47 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
698 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-96 J/kg
Surface CAPE
241 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
983 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
47 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
285 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
272 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.7
Supercell composite
7.8
0-3 km lapse rate
5.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Davenport, (KDVN), 00:00Z

2.8 hours after it, 244 km from the path. June 13, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Davenport, at 00:00Z on 2008-06-13Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 3526 joules per kilogram, CIN -23, lifted condensation level 947 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, Davenport, at 00:00Z on 2008-06-13The 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 192 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 43 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
3526 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-23 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2399 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
947 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
43 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
192 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
304 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
5.4
Supercell composite
26.7
0-3 km lapse rate
4.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Des Moines radar (KDMX), 157 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:12 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
21:12 UTCTORNADO8 N Green CitySullivan, MOALONG HIGHWY 129...TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN IN PASTURE
21:13 UTCTORNADO3 Se UnionvillePutnam, MOTWO TORNADOES SPOTTED.
21:14 UTCHAIL 1.75UnionvillePutnam, MO
21:22 UTCHAIL 1.756 Se UnionvillePutnam, MOGULF BALL SIZE HAIL APROXIMATELY AT 420-430PM.
21:25 UTCHAIL 13 Nnw DunlapGrundy, MOTIME ESTIMATED.
21:33 UTCHAIL 1.75PrincetonMercer, MO
21:37 UTCHAIL 1PrincetonMercer, MOLOTS OF QUARTER SIZE HAIL FALLING NOW WITH SOME NICKEL AND DIME SIZE HAIL ALSO.
22:40 UTCHAIL 11 W LancasterSchuyler, MO

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 June 12, 2008

26 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 122:29 PM CDTEF0Grant, WI0.350$3,000
June 124:12 PM CDTEF0Sullivan, MO0.225
June 124:34 PM CDTEF0Columbia, WI5.350
June 124:42 PM CDTEF0Green Lake, WI0.220
June 124:55 PM CDTEF0Davis, IA1.350
June 125:01 PM CDTEF1Green, WI1.650
June 125:15 PM CDTEF1Green, WI12.3100
June 125:30 PM CDTEF0Green, WI1.350
June 125:53 PM CDTEF0Van Buren, IA0.025
June 126:05 PM CDTEF0Shawnee, KS0.325
June 126:19 PM CDTEF0Dane, WI2.650
June 126:25 PM CDTEF0Dodge, WI0.120
June 126:33 PM CDTEF0Chase, KS3.575$50,000
June 126:40 PM CDTEF0Becker, MN1.825$100,000
June 127:00 PM CDTEF0Lyon, KS0.125
June 127:00 PM CDTEF0Chase, KS8.075
June 127:14 PM CDTEF1Hubbard, MN1.550$300,000
June 127:26 PM CDTEF0Rock Island, IL0.025
June 128:05 PM CDTEF0Leavenworth, KS0.225
June 129:26 PM EDTEF1Mason, MI1.3300
June 128:35 PM CDTEF0Sedgwick, KS0.140$750
June 128:44 PM CDTEF1Becker, MN3.1100$200,000
June 129:45 PM EDTEF0Manistee, MI1.0425$15,000
June 128:50 PM CDTEF1Hubbard, MN5.4100$500,000
June 1211:06 PM CDTEF1Cowley, KS2.175$125,000
June 1212:30 AM CDTEF1Boone, IL6.2150$25,000

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.