Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 2008
EF0 tornado, Tarkio to Milton, Missouri, June 5, 2008
From Tarkio to Milton, this EF0 tornado ran 10.5 miles across Atchison County on June 5, 2008, touching down at 7:59 PM CDT and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $210,000 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 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
- June 5, 2008
- Touchdown
- 7:59 PM CDT (00:59 UTC)
- Lifted
- 8:04 PM CDT (01:04 UTC)
- On the ground
- 5 minutes
- Path length
- 10.5 miles (16.9 km)
- Path width
- 100 yards (91 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $210,000
- County
- Atchison County
- Touchdown point
- 40.420, -95.360
- Lift-off point
- 40.269, -95.379
- Record number
- 0806051859-01
What the Weather Service recorded
A complex storm system, brought severe thunderstorms with a few|tornadoes, high winds, hail, and flooding rains to the area, late on|June 5, 2008, into the early morning hours of June 6, 2008.
Brief EF0 tornado touchdown in open country at 1823CST. No damage or injuries reported.
An EF1 tornado entered Atchison County at 18:59CST 2.3 miles east southeast of Milton. It proceeded north northeast and dissipated 1.3 miles east southeast of Tarkio. It damaged 5 sheds and destroyed 3 grain bins. Several power poles were also snapped off.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
20 minutes of warning. NWS EAX issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:39 UTC, 20 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:15 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 21:50 UTC and running to 04:53 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11:32 UTC | 23:46 UTC | Flood Warning | EAX |
| 15:00 UTC | 01:22 UTC | Wind Advisory | EAX |
| 21:50 UTC | 04:53 UTC | Tornado Watch | EAX |
| 23:22 UTC | 00:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | EAX |
| 23:33 UTC | 00:05 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | EAX |
| 23:57 UTC | 00:30 UTC | Tornado Warning | EAX |
| 00:00 UTC | 08:37 UTC | Flash Flood Watch | EAX |
| 00:39 UTC | 01:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | EAX |
| 00:45 UTC | 07:00 UTC | Flash Flood Warning | EAX |
| 01:10 UTC | 01:32 UTC | Tornado Warning | EAX |
| 14:20 UTC | 14:30 UTC | Flood Warning | EAX |
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 High Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 20:18 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.
Omaha, NE (KOAX), 00:00Z
1.0 hours before the tornado, 137 km from the path. June 6, 2008.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 2054 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -33 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 2393 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 905 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 72 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 35 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 280 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 303 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 4.0
- Supercell composite
- 14.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.5 K/km
Omaha, NE (KOAX), 12:00Z
11.0 hours after it, 137 km from the path. June 6, 2008.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -79110 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 6 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 784 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 43 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 32 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -7 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- -2 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.5 K/km
The radar
The Omaha radar (KOAX), 137 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:00 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23:53 UTC | HAIL 1 | 2 W Langdon | Atchison, MO | SPOTTER ALSO REPORTED 45-50 MPH WINDS. |
| 23:53 UTC | HAIL 1 | Langdon | Atchison, MO | SPOTTER ALSO REPORTED 45-50 MPH WINDS. |
| 23:55 UTC | HAIL 0.88 | 1 W Rockport | Atchison, MO | |
| 23:55 UTC | TORNADO | Watson | Atchison, MO | 911 REPORTING TORNADO ON GROUND NEAR WATSON. |
| 00:09 UTC | HAIL 1 | Rockport | Atchison, MO | |
| 00:23 UTC | TORNADO | 6 E Rockport | Atchison, MO | MULTIPLE TORNADOES ON THE GROUND |
| 00:43 UTC | FLOOD | Clearmont | Nodaway, MO | DUE TO FLOODING ON THE NODAWAY RIVER. REPORT OF FLOODING ON HWY 71 BETWEEN CLEARMONT AND BRADDYVILLE IA. ALSO...STATE HWY C BETWEEN ELMO AND CLEARMONT IS CLOSED...AS WELL AS SEVERAL GRAVEL ROADS IN THE COUNTY. |
| 00:53 UTC | TORNADO | Corning | Holt, MO | LARGE TORNADO ON THE GROUND CROSSING MISSOURI RIVER NEAR HOLT AND ATCHISON COUNTY LINE MOVING NORTHEAST. |
| 00:55 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 S Fairfax | Atchison, MO | POWER LINES DOWN ON HIGHWAY 59. |
| 00:55 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 Se Fairfax | Atchison, MO | GRAIN BIN AND FARM OUTBUILDINGS DESTROYED. |
| 00:55 UTC | TORNADO | Craig | Holt, MO | TWO SEMI TRUCKS BLOWN OVER INJURIES UNKNOWN BUT ONE DRIVER REQUIRING EXTRICATION. MILE MARKER 92 ON INTERSTATE 29. |
| 01:04 UTC | TORNADO | 2 Se Tarkio | Atchison, MO | TRAINED SPOTTER REPORTED TORNADO ON THE GROUND BECOMING RAIN-WRAPPED. |
| 01:15 UTC | TSTM WND GST 60 | Skidmore | Nodaway, MO | |
| 01:20 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Burlington Jct | Nodaway, MO | ROOF OFF A BUILDING AND A FEW POWER LINES DOWN IN BURLINGTON JUNCTION. EM ALSO RELAYED A REPORT OF POWER LINES LEANING NEAR A BUSINESS JUST WEST OF TOWN. DAMAGE POSSIBLY DUE TO A TORNADO. TIME ESTIMATED. |
| 02:00 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | 1 Ne Hopkins | Nodaway, MO | LAW ENFORCEMENT REPORTED WATER DRAINING OFF FIELDS AND ONTO HWY 148 ONE HALF MILE SOUTH OF THE IOWA BORDER JUST NORTH OF HOPKINS. WATER ALSO OVER HWY 148 ONE HALF MILE SOUTH OF HOPKINS. |
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 5, 2008
40 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 5 | 12:15 PM MDT | EF0 | Prowers, CO | 6.5 | 150 | $5,000 | ||
| June 5 | 2:30 PM CDT | EF0 | Logan, KS | 1.0 | 25 | |||
| June 5 | 2:41 PM CDT | EF0 | Logan, KS | 1.0 | 25 | |||
| June 5 | 2:59 PM CDT | EF1 | Pratt, KS | 1.1 | 100 | $65,000 | ||
| June 5 | 3:13 PM CDT | EF0 | Gove, KS | 1.0 | 25 | |||
| June 5 | 3:39 PM CDT | EF0 | Trego, KS | 1.0 | 75 | |||
| June 5 | 3:40 PM CDT | EF2 | Rock, NE | 29.9 | 50 | $200,000 | ||
| June 5 | 3:40 PM CDT | EF0 | Trego, KS | 1.7 | 75 | |||
| June 5 | 4:19 PM CDT | EF1 | Clay, KS | 14.3 | 100 | |||
| June 5 | 4:20 PM CDT | EF0 | Clay, KS | 4.6 | 50 | |||
| June 5 | 4:33 PM CDT | EF1 | Clay, KS | 10.1 | 25 | |||
| June 5 | 5:00 PM CDT | EF1 | Charles Mix, SD | 9.9 | 100 | $100,000 | ||
| June 5 | 5:08 PM CDT | EF0 | Washington, KS | 0.1 | 25 | |||
| June 5 | 5:41 PM CDT | EF0 | Marshall, KS | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| June 5 | 6:20 PM CDT | EF1 | Nemaha, NE | 2.6 | 100 | |||
| June 5 | 6:23 PM CDT | EF1 | Nemaha, NE | 6.5 | 220 | |||
| June 5 | 6:35 PM CDT | EF1 | Nemaha, NE | 0.7 | 100 | |||
| June 5 | 6:55 PM CDT | EF0 | Atchison, MO | 0.1 | 25 | |||
| June 5 | 7:02 PM CDT | EF0 | Fremont, IA | 0.5 | 50 | |||
| June 5 | 7:11 PM CDT | EF0 | Fremont, IA | 1.3 | 50 | |||
| June 5 | 7:23 PM CDT | EF0 | Atchison, MO | 0.1 | 25 | |||
| June 5 | 7:24 PM CDT | EF0 | Page, IA | 1.2 | 80 | |||
| June 5 | 7:27 PM CDT | EF0 | Brown, KS | 0.1 | 25 | |||
| June 5 | 7:33 PM CDT | EF0 | Richardson, NE | 1.3 | 100 | |||
| June 5 | 7:39 PM CDT | EF2 | Richardson, NE to MO | 18.4 | 880 | $250,000 | ||
| June 5 | 7:55 PM CDT | EF0 | Holt, MO | 4.4 | 25 | $2,000 | ||
| June 5 | 8:12 PM CDT | EF0 | Cass, IA | 1.5 | 50 | |||
| June 5 | 8:15 PM CDT | EF0 | Minnehaha, SD | 1.5 | 50 | |||
| June 5 | 8:42 PM CDT | EF2 | Minnehaha, SD | 2.6 | 100 | |||
| June 5 | 9:00 PM CDT | EF1 | Moody, SD | 0.8 | 50 | $10,000 | ||
| June 5 | 9:24 PM CDT | EF1 | Union, IA | 3.0 | 150 | $25,000 | ||
| June 5 | 10:57 PM CDT | EF0 | Linn, KS | 1.0 | 25 | $50,000 | ||
| June 5 | 11:15 PM CDT | EF0 | Bates, MO | 0.3 | 50 | $25,000 | ||
| June 5 | 11:35 PM CDT | EF0 | Okmulgee, OK | 4.4 | 100 | $15,000 | ||
| June 5 | 11:49 PM CDT | EF1 | Clarke, IA | 7.6 | 125 | |||
| June 5 | 12:10 AM CDT | EF1 | Warren, IA | 18.3 | 150 | $180,000 | ||
| June 5 | 12:23 AM CDT | EF0 | Lafayette, MO | 0.3 | 25 | $500 | ||
| June 5 | 12:36 AM CDT | EF1 | Jasper, IA | 9.8 | 125 | $75,000 | ||
| June 5 | 12:45 AM CDT | EF1 | Jasper, IA | 14.3 | 150 | 2 | $250,000 | |
| June 5 | 12:49 AM CDT | EF0 | Jasper, IA | 10.9 | 75 | $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.