Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 2008
EF0 tornado, El Dorado Spgs Arpt, Missouri, March 31, 2008
This EF0 tornado ran 0.6 miles across Cedar County on March 31, 2008, touching down at 11:59 AM CDT and reaching 75 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $5,000 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
- March 31, 2008
- Touchdown
- 11:59 AM CDT (16:59 UTC)
- Lifted
- 12:00 PM CDT (17:00 UTC)
- On the ground
- 1 minutes
- Path length
- 0.6 miles (0.9 km)
- Path width
- 75 yards (69 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $5,000
- County
- Cedar County
- Touchdown point
- 37.851, -94.049
- Lift-off point
- 37.854, -94.039
- Record number
- 0803311059-01
What the Weather Service recorded
Eleven tornadoes and significant flash flooding occurred in response to several clusters of thunderstorms impacting the Missouri Ozarks. The ground was saturated from record rainfall in both the months of February and March.
A National Weather Service storm survey revealed that an EF-0 tornado caused minor damage to a barn. Several trees were uprooted and snapped near the barn.
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. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 13:45 UTC and running to 21:00 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12:51 UTC | 01:00 UTC | Flash Flood Warning | SGF |
| 13:42 UTC | 14:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | SGF |
| 13:45 UTC | 21:00 UTC | Tornado Watch | SGF |
| 14:26 UTC | 14:55 UTC | Tornado Warning | SGF |
| 16:56 UTC | 18:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | SGF |
| 18:45 UTC | 18:56 UTC | Tornado Warning | SGF |
| 20:29 UTC | 18:11 UTC | Flood Warning | SGF |
| 23:41 UTC | 17:02 UTC | Flood 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 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:00 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), 12:00Z
5.0 hours before the tornado, 108 km from the path. March 31, 2008.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 640 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -126 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 395 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 596 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 48 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 35 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 336 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 354 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.6
- Supercell composite
- 10.7
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.7 K/km
Springfield, MO (KSGF), 00:00Z
7.0 hours after it, 108 km from the path. April 1, 2008.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 25 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -145 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 571 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 51 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 22 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 134 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 88 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.6 K/km
The radar
The Springfield radar (KSGF), 89 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 16:59 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14:45 UTC | TORNADO | 5 Sse Weaubleau | Hickory, MO | AN EF-1 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN 5 MILES SOUTH SOUTHEAST OF WEAUBLEAU AND TRACKED NORTHEAST FOR APPROXIMATELY FOUR MILES BEFORE LIFTING NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF HIGHWAYS O AND H. NUMEROUS TREES WERE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED AND T |
| 14:48 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Se Weaubleau | Hickory, MO | POWERLINES AND POLES DOWN ALONG O HIGHWAY. |
| 15:33 UTC | TORNADO | 6 Sw Nevada | Vernon, MO | STORM SPOTTER WITNESSED A TORNADO DAMAGING A HOME ON HIGHWAY BB. |
| 16:59 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Sw El Dorado Springs | Cedar, MO | A BARN AND SEVERAL OUTBUILDINGS WERE HEAVILY DAMAGED. |
| 16:59 UTC | TORNADO 0 | 2 Sw El Dorado Springs | Cedar, MO | AN EF-0 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN 2 MILES SOUTHWEST OF ELDORADO SPRINGS. THE TORNADO WAS 75 YARDS WIDE AND HAD A PATH LENGTH OF A HALF MILE. ONE BARN WAS MINORLY DAMAGED AND SEVERAL TREES WERE UPROOTED OR SNAPPED OFF. |
| 17:06 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Se El Dorado Springs | Cedar, MO | A NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STORM SURVEY DETERMINED A SWATH OF DAMAGE DUE TO STRONG STRAIGHTLINE WINDS OCCURRED FROM 2 MILES SOUTH OF ELDORADO SPRINGS TO 3 MILES EAST OF EL DORADO SPRINGS. SEVERAL OUTBUILDINGS AND A CAMPE |
| 17:10 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 E El Dorado Springs | Cedar, MO | TREES DOWN AND SHINGLES BLOWN OFF ROOFS. |
| 17:45 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 Ne Weaubleau | Hickory, MO | A SWATH OF WIND DAMAGE STARTED 3 MILES NORTHEAST OF WEAUBLEAU NEAR HIGHWAY AA AND CONTINUED TO 2 MILES SOUTHWEST OF WHEATLAND. |
| 17:47 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | El Dorado Springs | Cedar, MO | SEVERAL ROADS CLOSED TO THROUGH TRAFFIC ACROSS TOWN. POSSIBLE EVACUATIONS FOR SOME HONES IN LOW AREAS NEAR TOWN. |
| 17:51 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | Nevada | Vernon, MO | WATER REPORTED OVER HIGHWAY 54 NEAR NEVADA. |
| 18:45 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 5 Sse Stockton | Cedar, MO | BOAT DOCKS DAMAGED AND TREES UPROOTED AT STOCKTON LAKE STATE PARK NEAR HIGHWAY 215. |
| 18:45 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | Wheatland | Hickory, MO | HOMES FLOODED SENIOR HOUSING ESTIMATED |
| 18:45 UTC | TSTM WND GST 60 | 1 W Humansville | Polk, MO | POWERLINES DOWN NUMEROUS TREES DOWN ON 91 LOOP |
| 19:21 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Humansville | Polk, MO | NUMEROUS OUTBUILDINGS DAMAGED. |
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 31, 2008
20 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 31 | 1:23 AM CDT | EF0 | Oklahoma, OK | 0.2 | 20 | |||
| March 31 | 1:39 AM CDT | EF1 | Oklahoma, OK | 3.5 | 100 | $450,000 | ||
| March 31 | 5:46 AM CDT | EF1 | Osage, OK | 5.5 | 250 | $50,000 | ||
| March 31 | 7:25 AM CDT | EF0 | Washington, OK | 0.2 | 100 | |||
| March 31 | 9:20 AM CDT | EF0 | Noble, OK | 0.1 | 20 | $5,000 | ||
| March 31 | 9:48 AM CDT | EF0 | Hickory, MO | 3.4 | 100 | $25,000 | ||
| March 31 | 10:09 AM CDT | EF0 | Lawrence, MO | 0.5 | 40 | $20,000 | ||
| March 31 | 10:33 AM CDT | EF0 | Vernon, MO | 0.2 | 10 | |||
| March 31 | 1:44 PM CDT | EF1 | Ottawa, OK to MO | 5.4 | 200 | $125,000 | ||
| March 31 | 1:59 PM CDT | EF0 | Newton, MO | 3.8 | 80 | 3 | $100,000 | |
| March 31 | 2:17 PM CDT | EF2 | Dallas, MO | 4.7 | 300 | 3 | $1.0 million | |
| March 31 | 2:46 PM CDT | EF2 | Laclede, MO | 1.8 | 75 | $500,000 | ||
| March 31 | 3:05 PM CDT | EF0 | Johnson, TX | 0.8 | 40 | $35,000 | ||
| March 31 | 3:10 PM CDT | EF0 | Johnson, TX | 1.5 | 40 | $75,000 | ||
| March 31 | 4:45 PM CDT | EF0 | Monroe, IL | 1.8 | 30 | |||
| March 31 | 5:06 PM CDT | EF0 | Polk, MO | 0.8 | 50 | $25,000 | ||
| March 31 | 5:12 PM CDT | EF0 | Ozark, MO | 0.2 | 20 | $1,000 | ||
| March 31 | 5:47 PM CDT | EF0 | Howell, MO | 0.0 | 20 | $10,000 | ||
| March 31 | 7:10 PM CDT | EF0 | Choctaw, OK | 0.1 | 75 | |||
| March 31 | 7:31 PM CDT | EF1 | McCurtain, OK | 4.9 | 450 | $10,000 |
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.