Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 2008
EF0 tornado, Licking, Missouri, March 27, 2008
This EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Texas County on March 27, 2008, touching down at 8:00 PM CDT and reaching 50 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.
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
- March 27, 2008
- Touchdown
- 8:00 PM CDT (01:00 UTC)
- Lifted
- 8:01 PM CDT (01:01 UTC)
- On the ground
- 1 minutes
- Path length
- 0.1 miles (0.1 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Texas County
- Touchdown point
- 37.475, -91.861
- Lift-off point
- 37.476, -91.859
- Record number
- 0803271900-01
What the Weather Service recorded
Severe thunderstorms containing large hail impacted numerous locations across the Missouri Ozarks Region.
A National Weather Service storm survey revealed that a weak tornado briefly touched down in an open field south of Licking. No damage occurred from the tornado.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
38 minutes of warning. NWS SGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:22 UTC, 38 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:00 UTC.
The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 21:43 UTC and running to 06:00 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21:43 UTC | 06:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SGF |
| 23:54 UTC | 00:35 UTC | Tornado Warning | SGF |
| 00:22 UTC | 01:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | SGF |
| 00:54 UTC | 01:22 UTC | Tornado Warning | SGF |
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 00:28 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.
Springfield, MO (KSGF), 00:00Z
1.0 hours before the tornado, 183 km from the path. March 28, 2008.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1283 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -25 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 1689 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1560 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 40 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 15 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 102 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 204 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.4
- Supercell composite
- 5.1
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 7.7 K/km
Springfield, MO (KSGF), 12:00Z
11.0 hours after it, 183 km from the path. March 28, 2008.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 4 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- 0 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 12 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 499 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 57 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 9 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -71 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 125 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 1.3 K/km
The radar
The Springfield radar (KSGF), 139 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:01 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23:35 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Laquey | Pulaski, MO | TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN. TIME ESTIMATED. |
| 23:39 UTC | TORNADO | 1 S Waynesville | Pulaski, MO | BRIEF TOUCHDOWN OF TORNADO REPORTED NEAR HWY H AND POLLA RD BY 911 CALL. |
| 23:40 UTC | HAIL 2.75 | Laquey | Pulaski, MO | BASEBALL SIZE HAIL REPORTED |
| 23:43 UTC | TSTM WND GST 0 | 6 Se Stoutland | Laclede, MO | 70-80 MPH WINDS REPORTED WITH DAMAGE TO SEVERAL SMALL STRUCTURES. |
| 23:43 UTC | TSTM WND GST 80 | 6 Se Stoutland | Laclede, MO | 70-80 MPH WINDS REPORTED WITH DAMAGE TO SEVERAL SMALL STRUCTURES. |
| 23:44 UTC | TSTM WND GST 70 | Waynesville | Pulaski, MO | |
| 23:44 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | Waynesville | Pulaski, MO | |
| 23:49 UTC | HAIL 1 | 1 Wnw Northwye | Phelps, MO | TIME ESTIMATED |
| 23:50 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | 1 E Rolla | Phelps, MO | FUNNEL CLOUD NEAR INTERSTATE 44. |
| 23:50 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | 1 E Rolla | Phelps, MO | PENNY SIZE HAIL ON INTERSTATE 44. |
| 23:53 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Laquey | Pulaski, MO | ESTIMATED 70 MPH WIND. POWER LINES DOWN. |
| 23:55 UTC | HAIL 0.88 | St. Robert | Pulaski, MO | NICKEL SIZE HAIL REPORTED |
| 23:56 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | Fort Leonard Wood | Pulaski, MO | REPORTED AT THE BASE |
| 00:08 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | 3 Nw Beulah | Phelps, MO | HAIL COVERING THE GROUND RANGING FROM PEA TO GOLF BALL SIZE IN THE TOWN OF DUKE. |
| 00:10 UTC | HAIL 1 | 1 W Edgar Springs | Phelps, MO | TIME ESTIMATED |
| 00:10 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | Competition | Laclede, MO | |
| 00:20 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | Lenox | Dent, MO | |
| 00:20 UTC | TORNADO | Edgar Springs | Phelps, MO | TORNADO REPORTED NEAR EDGAR SPRINGS. TIME ESTIMATED. |
| 00:27 UTC | HAIL 1.25 | 5 N Lynchburg | Laclede, MO | DIME TO HALF DOLLAR SIZE HAIL |
| 00:30 UTC | HAIL 1 | 7 N Licking | Phelps, MO | |
| 00:30 UTC | HAIL 1 | 8 N Licking | Phelps, MO | TIME AND LOCATION ESTIMATED. |
| 00:30 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | Lenox | Dent, MO | GOLFBALL SIZE COVERING THE GROUND. |
| 00:36 UTC | HAIL 1.25 | Falcon | Laclede, MO | |
| 00:40 UTC | HAIL 1 | Salem | Dent, MO | QUARTER SIZE HAIL AT JUNCTION OF J AND 32 HIGHWAY. |
| 00:42 UTC | HAIL 1.25 | 5 N Lynchburg | Laclede, MO | |
| 00:44 UTC | HAIL 1 | Salem | Dent, MO | |
| 00:50 UTC | HAIL 1 | Salem | Dent, MO | |
| 00:51 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 7 Se Salem | Dent, MO | POLE BARN FLATTENED. |
| 01:00 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | Licking | Texas, MO | 60MPH WIND DRIVEN GOLFBALL SIZE HAIL DAMAGED SIDING...CARS AND A TRAILER. |
| 01:00 UTC | TORNADO 0 | 1 S Licking | Texas, MO | A NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICIAL CONDUCTING A STORM SURVEY IN NORTHERN TEXAS COUNTY DETERMINED THAT AN EF0 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN BREIFLY APPROXIMATELY ONE MILE SOUTH OF LICKING. THE TORNADO TRAVELED ALONG A 30 YARD WID |
| 01:01 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | Licking | Texas, MO | HAIL UP TO GOLFBALL SIZED. DAMAGE TO SIDING AND SCREENS ON A TRAILER AND OUTBUILDING. |
| 01:02 UTC | HAIL 0.7 | Licking | Texas, MO | |
| 01:02 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | 1 W Licking | Texas, MO | |
| 01:05 UTC | HAIL 1.5 | 3 N Montauk | Dent, MO | TIME ESTIMATED |
| 01:05 UTC | TORNADO | 2 N Gladden | Dent, MO | TORNADO NEAR HIGHWAY 19 HEADING TOWARDS TOWN OF BUNKER. TIME AND LOCATION ESTIMATED. |
| 01:06 UTC | HAIL 1 | Licking | Texas, MO | |
| 01:06 UTC | WALL CLOUD | Licking | Texas, MO | ROTATING WALL CLOUD. |
| 01:15 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | Montauk | Dent, MO | |
| 01:20 UTC | HAIL 2.5 | 10 Se Turtle | Dent, MO | TENNIS BALL SIZE HAIL NEAR TOWN OF BUNKER. TIME ESTIMATED. |
| 01:25 UTC | HAIL 1 | Jadwin | Dent, 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 March 27, 2008
2 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.