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.
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 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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</html>Local storm report, Jun 19, 2:57 PM CDT, 33 minutes before
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</html>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
&&
KARDELLSpecial 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.
- 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
Springfield, MO (KSGF), 00:00Z
3.5 hours after it, 63 km from the path. June 20, 2008.
- 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
The surface observations
Springfield (SGF), 15 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (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.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 19 | 3:37 PM EDT | EF1 | Chatham, GA | 0.8 | 100 | $3.1 million | ||
| June 19 | 3:13 PM MDT | EF0 | Union, NM | 0.1 | 10 | |||
| June 19 | 5:28 PM CDT | EF0 | Cottle, TX | 0.0 | 50 | |||
| June 19 | 6:30 PM CDT | EF0 | Cimarron, OK | 0.3 | 25 | |||
| June 19 | 5:32 PM MDT | EF0 | Cheyenne, CO | 0.5 | 25 | |||
| June 19 | 5:36 PM MDT | EF0 | Cheyenne, CO | 0.5 | 25 | |||
| June 19 | 5:36 PM MDT | EF0 | Cheyenne, CO | 0.5 | 25 | |||
| June 19 | 6:45 PM CDT | EF0 | Lancaster, NE | 0.1 | 40 |
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.