Tornadoes · United States · Missouri · 2008

EF0 tornado, South Fork, Missouri, March 31, 2008

This EF0 tornado ran 0.0 miles across Howell County on March 31, 2008, touching down at 5:47 PM CDT and reaching 20 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $10,000 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 mphthis tornado

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. EF186 to 110 mph

    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
EF0
Date
March 31, 2008
Touchdown
5:47 PM CDT (22:47 UTC)
Lifted
5:48 PM CDT (22:48 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.0 miles (0.0 km)
Path width
20 yards (18 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$10,000
County
Howell County
Touchdown point
36.627, -91.962
Lift-off point
36.628, -91.961
Record number
0803311647-01

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 touched down in South Fork. A barn housing a camping unit was destroyed.

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

The warnings

13 minutes of warning. NWS SGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:34 UTC, 13 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:26 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:45 UTC and running to 00:22 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
12:58 UTC18:00 UTCFlood WarningSGF
20:02 UTC02:00 UTCFlash Flood WarningSGF
20:45 UTC00:22 UTCTornado WatchSGF
22:09 UTC23:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSGF
22:34 UTC23:26 UTCTornado WarningSGF

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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.10 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.

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

10.8 hours before the tornado, 167 km from the path. March 31, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2008-03-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 640 joules per kilogram, CIN -126, lifted condensation level 596 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 2008-03-31The 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 336 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 48 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Springfield, MO (KSGF), 00:00Z

1.2 hours after it, 167 km from the path. April 1, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 2008-04-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 25 joules per kilogram, CIN -145, lifted condensation level 571 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 2008-04-01The 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 134 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 51 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Springfield radar (KSGF), 145 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:45 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)ReportWhereCountyRemark
22:16 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 N GainesvilleOzark, MODAMAGE TO HOUSE AND MILK BARN ALONG COUNTY ROAD 107.
22:16 UTCNON-TSTM WND DMG3 N GainesvilleOzark, MODAMAGE TO HOUSE AND MILK BARN ALONG COUNTY ROAD 107.
22:16 UTCTORNADO3 Nw GainesvilleOzark, MOAN EF-0 RATED TORNADO DAMAGED A TURKEY BARN ALONG COUNTY ROAD 803 ONE MILE WEST OF HIGHWAY 5...OR APPROXIMATELY THREE AND A HALF MILES NORTHWEST OF GAINESVILLE. PATH WIDTH WAS 20 YARDS WITH PATH LENGTH OF ONE TENTH OF A
22:30 UTCTSTM WND DMGDoraOzark, MOTREE LIMBS DOWN IN DORA.
22:45 UTCTORNADOSouth ForkHowell, MOA BRIEF TORNADO TOUCHDOWN RATED EF-0 DESTROYED A BARN IN SOUTH FORK. PATH WIDTH WAS 20 YARDS WITH PATH LENGTH OF ONE TENTH OF A MILE...AND MAXIMUM ESTIMATED WINDS OF 75 MPH.
22:54 UTCTSTM WND DMGBirch TreeShannon, MOTRAILER BLOWN OFF OF ITS FOUNDATION.
22:54 UTCHAIL 0.53 Sw West PlainsHowell, MO1/2 INCH HAIL REPORTED BY VOLUNTEER OBSERVER HOW300.
22:55 UTCHAIL 0.5West PlainsHowell, MOREPORT OF 1/2 INCH HAIL.
22:55 UTCNON-TSTM WND GST 0West PlainsHowell, MOREPORT OF 50 MPH WIND GUST.
22:56 UTCTSTM WND GST 0West PlainsHowell, MOREPORT OF 40 MPH WIND GUST.
22:56 UTCHAIL 0.88West PlainsHowell, MOREPORT OF HAIL 0.88 INCHES IN DIAMETER.

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.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 311:23 AM CDTEF0Oklahoma, OK0.220
March 311:39 AM CDTEF1Oklahoma, OK3.5100$450,000
March 315:46 AM CDTEF1Osage, OK5.5250$50,000
March 317:25 AM CDTEF0Washington, OK0.2100
March 319:20 AM CDTEF0Noble, OK0.120$5,000
March 319:48 AM CDTEF0Hickory, MO3.4100$25,000
March 3110:09 AM CDTEF0Lawrence, MO0.540$20,000
March 3110:33 AM CDTEF0Vernon, MO0.210
March 3111:59 AM CDTEF0Cedar, MO0.675$5,000
March 311:44 PM CDTEF1Ottawa, OK to MO5.4200$125,000
March 311:59 PM CDTEF0Newton, MO3.8803$100,000
March 312:17 PM CDTEF2Dallas, MO4.73003$1.0 million
March 312:46 PM CDTEF2Laclede, MO1.875$500,000
March 313:05 PM CDTEF0Johnson, TX0.840$35,000
March 313:10 PM CDTEF0Johnson, TX1.540$75,000
March 314:45 PM CDTEF0Monroe, IL1.830
March 315:06 PM CDTEF0Polk, MO0.850$25,000
March 315:12 PM CDTEF0Ozark, MO0.220$1,000
March 317:10 PM CDTEF0Choctaw, OK0.175
March 317:31 PM CDTEF1McCurtain, OK4.9450$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.