EF3 tornado, Liberty Mitchell Arp to Gashland, Missouri, May 2, 2008

1. EF065 to 85 mph

   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 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

EF3

Date

May 2, 2008

Touchdown

1:56 AM CDT (06:56 UTC)

Lifted

2:00 AM CDT (07:00 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

0.9 miles (1.5 km)

Path width

75 yards (69 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$4.0 million

County

Clay County

Touchdown point

39.293, -94.490

Lift-off point

39.297, -94.474

Record number

0805020056-01

An early morning line of storms developed across south central Kansas. This line of storms, developed into a Bow Echo, which raced northeast at speeds in excess of 50 mph, into the greater Kansas City metropolitan area and surrounding communities, early on the morning of May 2, 2008. The Bow Echo generated hurricane force winds, which brought widespread wind damage, to areas from Olathe Kansas, northeast through Kansas City, to Brookfield in north central Missouri. As the Bow Echo moved through Kansas City, it spun up a couple of tornadoes along the apex, or nose, of its leading edge. One EF3 tornado moved across the north side of Gladstone, while the other EF2 tornado moved through an area just northwest of Liberty. However, most of the damage was due to the strong straight line winds, that were also occurring along the apex of the Bow Echo. Gladstone reported 20 homes destroyed, 280 homes with damage, and 19 businesses damaged. North Kansas City had 4 homes destroyed, and 117 damaged. Independence had 13 homes and two businesses badly damaged. Six people were injured and damage was in the millions of dollars.

A brief EF3 tornado developed along the apex of a bow echo, and touched down northwest of Liberty at 12:56 am CST. The tornado tracked east-northeast for nearly one mile before dissipating at 1:00 am. Four homes were destroyed and 117 suffered damage.

An EF2 tornado developed along a bow echo and touched down at 1:03 am in Gladstone. It then traveled northeast and dissipated at 1:08 am.|Numerous homes and businesses suffered damage or total loss.

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

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 05:54 UTC and running to 08:14 UTC.

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 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.

The Pleasant Hill radar (KEAX), 57 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 06:56 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.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2008 tornado in MissouriEvery tornado in Missouri since 1950Warnings in force in Missouri nowThe forecast where you are

39 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.