Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 2008
EF1 tornado, Grandin, Missouri, June 13, 2008
This EF1 tornado ran 0.6 miles across Carter County on June 13, 2008, touching down at 3:55 PM CDT and reaching 125 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $50,000 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 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado
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
- EF1
- Date
- June 13, 2008
- Touchdown
- 3:55 PM CDT (20:55 UTC)
- Lifted
- 3:58 PM CDT (20:58 UTC)
- On the ground
- 3 minutes
- Path length
- 0.6 miles (1.0 km)
- Path width
- 125 yards (114 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $50,000
- County
- Carter County
- Touchdown point
- 36.830, -90.813
- Lift-off point
- 36.828, -90.803
- Record number
- 0806131455-01
What the Weather Service recorded
An isolated tornado occurred in southern Carter County. The tornado was spawned by a supercell thunderstorm that formed late in the afternoon in a hot, humid, and very unstable atmosphere. A cold front approaching from the northwest helped initiate the afternoon and evening storms.
The tornado touched down near the Grandin City Park on the east side of Grandin. A few trees were blown down at the ball fields. The tornado continued east, affecting two residences along County Road 247 just east of town. One house sustained moderate shingle damage. A second house sustained major roof damage. A large barn was heavily damaged, with one wall and door blown off. Large sections of roof were missing. Numerous large trees were snapped or uprooted. Trees on the south side of the track were laying in a northwest direction. South to north striations were easily visible in tall field grass. Several eyewitnesses clearly indicated a funnel cloud touched down. The track end point was estimated due to the fact the damage path continued into woods and fields that were inaccessible by vehicle. Peak wind speeds were estimated at 90 mph. The average path width was 75 yards.
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.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20:17 UTC | 21:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PAH |
| 21:16 UTC | 21:27 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PAH |
| 22:29 UTC | 02:06 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | PAH |
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 20:07 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.
Little Rock, AR (KLZK), 12:00Z
8.9 hours before the tornado, 235 km from the path. June 13, 2008.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 959 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -43 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 684 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 741 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 6 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 22 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -98 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
- 5.1 K/km
Little Rock, AR (KLZK), 00:00Z
3.1 hours after it, 235 km from the path. June 14, 2008.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1331 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -3 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 2092 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1481 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 20 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 5 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 27 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 92 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.2
- Supercell composite
- 2.5
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 7.9 K/km
The surface observations
Popular Bluff (POF), 43 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19:42 UTC | 87.8 | 68 | 250° 8 kt | 1014.9 | VCTS | |
| 19:53 UTC | 87 | 67 | 240° 8 kt | 1014.9 | VCTS | |
| 20:00 UTC | 89.6 | 68 | 260° 9 kt | 1014.6 | ||
| 20:53 UTC | 88 | 69 | 330° 7 kt | 1014.6 | ||
| 21:19 UTC | 87.8 | 73.4 | 350° 8 kt | 1013.9 | VCTS | |
| 21:53 UTC | 83 | 72 | 20° 10 kt | 1013.9 | TS | |
| 22:48 UTC | 80.6 | 71.6 | 320° 12 kt | 1015.2 | ||
| 22:53 UTC | 80 | 71 | 330° 15 kt | 20 | 1015.6 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Paducah radar (KPAH), 183 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:54 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21:45 UTC | TORNADO | Grandin | Carter, MO | TREES DOWN, ROOF MISSING FROM BARN, HOUSE DAMAGED NEAR PARK. SEVERAL EYEWITNESSES TO TOUCHDOWN. DAMAGE SURVEY WILL BE CONDUCTED ON SATURDAY. |
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 13, 2008
3 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.