Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 2008

EF1 tornado, Sgf Downtown Arpt, Missouri, June 19, 2008

This EF1 tornado ran 1.3 miles across Greene County on June 19, 2008, touching down at 3:30 PM CDT and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $150,000 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.

  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.

The record

Rating
EF1
Date
June 19, 2008
Touchdown
3:30 PM CDT (20:30 UTC)
Lifted
3:32 PM CDT (20:32 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
1.3 miles (2.0 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$150,000
County
Greene County
Touchdown point
37.230, -93.228
Lift-off point
37.214, -93.217
Record number
0806191430-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A supercell thunderstorm tracked north to south along the Highway 65 corridor producing damaging winds and hail up to the size of baseballs. As this storm moved into the Springfield area, an EF-1 tornado developed and caused damage to furniture stores on the east side of town.

A National Weather Service storm survey revealed that an EF-1 tornado impacted a section of east Springfield. The tornado and its damaging rear flank downdraft tracked along the Highway 65 corridor, damaging numerous businesses and a few homes. Furniture Row sustained damage as a large section of the roof fell into the Sofa Mart.

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

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 20:01 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.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Springfield, MO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Jun 19, 12:42 PM CDT, 2 hours 48 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 19, 12:42 PM CDT, 2 hours 48 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO
1242 PM CDT THU JUN 19 2008

...UPDATE TO AVIATION...

.DISCUSSION...

MAIN FOCUS WITH THIS FORECAST PACKAGE WILL BE WITH PRECIPITATION
CHANCES AS WE REMAIN IN NORTHWEST FLOW DURING THE SHORT TERM PERIOD.

MAIN MCS ACTIVITY THIS MORNING WAS CENTERED FURTHER WEST THAN LAST
NIGHT AND WAS AFFECTING WESTERN KANSAS/OKLAHOMA INTO NORTHWEST
TEXAS. A SECONDARY AREA OF CONVECTION WAS PUSHING SOUTHEAST ACROSS
WESTERN NEBRASKA.

SHORT RANGE MODELS CONTINUE TO STRUGGLE WITH TIMING OF SHORTWAVE
ENERGY AND PRECIPITATION CHANCES ACROSS THE AREA. IT APPEARS AS IF
MOST OF THE CONVECTION WILL REMAIN WEST OF THE AREA
TODAY...ESPECIALLY THIS MORNING BEFORE INCREASED CHANCES DURING
THE AFTERNOON. ANOTHER SHORTWAVE WILL TAKE AIM AT THE AREA TONIGHT
INTO FRIDAY MORNING WHICH WILL LIKELY PROVIDE THE BEST OPPORTUNITY
FOR PRECIPITATION OVER THE CWA. HAVE GENERALLY UNDERCUT THE HIGH
MOS POPS FROM TODAY THROUGH FRIDAY TIME PERIOD DUE TO CONTINUED
UNCERTAINTY IN THE MODEL PERFORMANCE. BEST COVERAGE WILL STILL
LIKELY REMAIN TO THE WEST OF THE CWA SO WILL HAVE MY HIGHEST POPS
IN THE WESTERN CWA.

MAIN SHORTWAVE SHOULD PUSH SOUTH OF THE AREA ON FRIDAY WITH RIDGE
BUILDING FURTHER EAST HEADING INTO THE WEEKEND. FLY IN OINTMENT
MAY BE WITH SHORTWAVE ENERGY THE GFS ID BRINGING INTO EASTERN
MISSOURI ON SUNDAY.  HAVE LEFT DRY FOR NOW BUT WILL NEED TO BE
MONITORED.

SHOULD SEE A WARMING TREND OVER THE WEEKEND AND INTO EARLY NEXT
WEEK AS RIDGE BUILDS INTO THE REGION WITH TEMPERATURES HEADING TO
MORE NORMAL READINGS FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR.

LINDENBERG

&&

.AVIATION...

FOR THE 18Z TAF PACKAGE...THE AREA HAS DESTABALIZED EARLY THIS
AFTERNOON WITH LITTLE OR NO CAP IN PLACE. THIS HAS CAUSED ISOLATED
THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP INVOF SGF...AND A FEW ARE BEGINNING TO
DEVELOP IN THE JLN AREA AS WELL. THIS WILL LIKELY PERSIST THROUGH
THE AFTERNOON AND INTO THE EVENING HOURS BEFORE EVENTUALLY DYING
OFF. A CONVECTIVE COMPLEX WILL LIKELY INITIATE OVER NEBRASKA AND
KANSAS...AND MOVE SOUTH SOUTHEAST OVERNIGHT. THIS WILL LIKELY
IMPACT BOTH SGF AND JLN WITH THUNDERSTORMS...AS WELL AS LOWERED
CEILINGS WITH THE STORMS...AND POTENTIALLY IN THE WAKE OF THE
ACTIVITY AS WELL. AT THIS TIME...IT LOOKS TO CLEAR OUT BY AT
LEAST 15Z.

BARJENBRUCH

&&

.SGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
MO...NONE.
KS...NONE.
&&
Hazardous weather outlook, Jun 19, 2:30 PM CDT, 1 hour before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO
230 PM CDT THU JUN 19 2008

KSZ073-097-101-MOZ055>058-066>071-077>083-088>098-101>106-201930-
BOURBON-CRAWFORD-CHEROKEE-BENTON-MORGAN-MILLER-MARIES-VERNON-
ST. CLAIR-HICKORY-CAMDEN-PULASKI-PHELPS-BARTON-CEDAR-POLK-DALLAS-
LACLEDE-TEXAS-DENT-JASPER-DADE-GREENE-WEBSTER-WRIGHT-NEWTON-
LAWRENCE-CHRISTIAN-DOUGLAS-HOWELL-SHANNON-MCDONALD-BARRY-STONE-
TANEY-OZARK-OREGON-
230 PM CDT THU JUN 19 2008

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF THE MISSOURI
OZARKS AND EXTREME SOUTHEAST KANSAS.

.DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT.

  WEATHER HAZARDS EXPECTED:

  THUNDERSTORMS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL...
  DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 70 MPH...AND LOCALLY HEAVY
  RAINFALL.

  AREAS AFFECTED AND TIMING:

  SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS HAVE DEVELOPED ALONG AND JUST EAST OF
  HIGHWAY 65 THIS AFTERNOON. THE STRONGER STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE
  OF PRODUCING LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS...AND SHOULD REMAIN
  ALONG THE HIGHWAY 65 CORRIDOR.

  THIS EVENING...A LINE OF STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL
  MOVE SOUTHEAST INTO THE OUTLOOK AREA...GENERALLY WEST OF AN OSAGE
  BEACH TO WEST PLAINS LINE. LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS WILL BE
  POSSIBLE WITH THESE OF STORMS ALSO.

  DISCUSSION:

  AN UNSTABLE AIRMASS HAS DEVELOPED ACROSS THE OUTLOOK AREA THIS
  AFTERNOON. WITHIN THIS INSTABILITY...THUNDERSTORMS HAVE
  DEVELOPED ALONG A BOUNDARY ROUGHLY ALONG HIGHWAY 65. THE
  STRONGER STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING LARGE HAIL AND
  DAMAGING WINDS.

  IN ADDITION...AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE IS MOVING ACROSS THE
  CENTRAL PLAINS THIS AFTERNOON...WITH THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING
  FROM NORTH CENTRAL OKLAHOMA INTO SOUTHWESTERN IOWA. THESE STORMS
  WILL MOVE INTO THE OUTLOOK AREA THIS EVENING. DAMAGING WINDS AND
  LARGE HAIL WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH THESE STORMS. IN ADDITION TO
  THE SEVERE THREAT...LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL AND FLASH FLOODING
  WILL BE POSSIBLE.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY.

  THUNDERSTORM CHANCES WILL CONTINUE INTO FRIDAY AS A FRONT MOVES
  THROUGH THE AREA. SEVERE STORMS ARE NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

  THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE DURING THE MIDDLE HALF OF NEXT
  WEEK.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

 SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED ALONG AND WEST OF AN OSAGE BEACH
 TO WEST PLAINS LINE THROUGH THIS EVENING.

&&

THIS PRODUCT IS NOW AVAILABLE IN GRAPHICAL FORMAT...ALONG WITH
OTHER WEATHER...HYDROLOGICAL AND CLIMATE INFORMATION...AT
HTTP://WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/SGF(ALL LOWERCASE)

WISE

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jun 19, 2:50 PM CDT, 40 minutes before
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Local storm report, Jun 19, 2:57 PM CDT, 33 minutes before
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Local storm report, Jun 19, 3:04 PM CDT, 26 minutes before
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Local storm report, Jun 19, 3:06 PM CDT, 24 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO
306 PM CDT THU JUN 19 2008

..TIME..    ...EVENT...     ...CITY LOCATION...      ...LAT.LON...
..DATE..    ....MAG....     ..COUNTY LOCATION.. ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0257 PM     HAIL             1 SE PLEASANT HOPE      37.45N  93.26W
06/19/2008  E1.75 INCH       POLK               MO   AMATEUR RADIO

&&

KARDELL
Special weather statement, Jun 19, 3:29 PM CDT, 1 minute before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO
329 PM CDT THU JUN 19 2008

MOZ082-192130-
TEXAS MO-
329 PM CDT THU JUN 19 2008

...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ALERT FOR WESTERN AND SOUTHERN TEXAS COUNTY
UNTIL 430 PM CDT...

AT 327 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A
STRONG THUNDERSTORM 12 MILES NORTH OF MOUNTAIN GROVE...MOVING
SOUTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

NICKEL SIZE HAIL...AND WINDS AROUND 50 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH THIS
STORM.

RUNNELS

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), 12:00Z

8.5 hours before the tornado, 63 km from the path. June 19, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2008-06-19Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 756 joules per kilogram, CIN -29, lifted condensation level 879 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2008-06-19The 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 17 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 29 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
756 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-29 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
879 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
2 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
17 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
135 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.3
0-3 km lapse rate
4.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Springfield, MO (KSGF), 00:00Z

3.5 hours after it, 63 km from the path. June 20, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 2008-06-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1524 joules per kilogram, CIN -40, lifted condensation level 993 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 2008-06-20The 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 59 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 31 knots.193958Sfc1 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
1524 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-40 J/kg
Surface CAPE
282 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
993 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
59 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
69 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.2
Supercell composite
1.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Springfield (SGF), 15 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
00:00 UTC

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

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 19, 2008

8 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 193:37 PM EDTEF1Chatham, GA0.8100$3.1 million
June 193:13 PM MDTEF0Union, NM0.110
June 195:28 PM CDTEF0Cottle, TX0.050
June 196:30 PM CDTEF0Cimarron, OK0.325
June 195:32 PM MDTEF0Cheyenne, CO0.525
June 195:36 PM MDTEF0Cheyenne, CO0.525
June 195:36 PM MDTEF0Cheyenne, CO0.525
June 196:45 PM CDTEF0Lancaster, NE0.140

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.