Tornadoes · United States · North Dakota · 2008
EF0 tornado, Maddock, North Dakota, June 23, 2008
This EF0 tornado ran 0.2 miles across Benson County on June 23, 2008, touching down at 8:40 PM CDT and reaching 25 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
- June 23, 2008
- Touchdown
- 8:40 PM CDT (01:40 UTC)
- Lifted
- 8:41 PM CDT (01:41 UTC)
- On the ground
- 1 minutes
- Path length
- 0.2 miles (0.3 km)
- Path width
- 25 yards (23 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Crop damage
- $20,000
- County
- Benson County
- Touchdown point
- 47.970, -99.570
- Lift-off point
- 47.970, -99.570
- Record number
- 0806231940-01
What the Weather Service recorded
Severe thunderstorms developed across central and north central North Dakota Monday (23rd) evening. Most of the storms developed near a strong upper level disturbance and an upper jet tracking along the Canadian border.
A persistent funnel produced a brief touchdown in an open field.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
27 minutes of warning. NWS FGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:13 UTC, 27 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:15 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 00:25 UTC | 01:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF |
| 01:13 UTC | 02:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | FGF |
| 01:34 UTC | 02:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF |
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. The outlook in force was issued at 00:41 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.
Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), 00:00Z
1.7 hours before the tornado, 158 km from the path. June 24, 2008.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 735 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -25 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 2196 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1373 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 33 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 6 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 44 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 67 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.1
- Supercell composite
- 1.7
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 7.7 K/km
Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), 12:00Z
10.3 hours after it, 158 km from the path. June 24, 2008.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -79433 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1565 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 28 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 4 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 20 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 71 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- -0.1
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 3.5 K/km
The surface observations
Devils_lake (DVL), 52 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23:55 UTC | 75.2 | 51.8 | 200° 15 kt | 23 | 1014.6 | |
| 00:15 UTC | 73.4 | 48.2 | 200° 14 kt | 22 | 1014.6 | |
| 00:35 UTC | 73.4 | 50 | 190° 16 kt | 19 | 1013.9 | |
| 00:55 UTC | 71.6 | 51.8 | 190° 12 kt | 1013.9 | ||
| 01:15 UTC | 71.6 | 51.8 | 190° 12 kt | 1013.9 | ||
| 01:35 UTC | 71.6 | 51.8 | 180° 12 kt | 1013.5 | ||
| 01:55 UTC | 71.6 | 53.6 | 190° 15 kt | 1013.5 | TS | |
| 02:15 UTC | 71.6 | 53.6 | 180° 14 kt | 21 | 1012.9 | |
| 02:35 UTC | 69.8 | 53.6 | 180° 12 kt | 1012.9 | ||
| 02:55 UTC | 69.8 | 53.6 | 180° 13 kt | 18 | 1013.5 | |
| 03:15 UTC | 69.8 | 55.4 | 210° 20 kt | 1013.9 | ||
| 03:35 UTC | 64.4 | 51.8 | 230° 16 kt | 19 | 1014.2 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23:50 UTC | HAIL 1.25 | Rugby | Pierce, ND | LASTED FIVE MINUTES. |
| 23:55 UTC | HAIL 0.88 | Rugby | Pierce, ND | |
| 00:10 UTC | HAIL 0.88 | Rugby | Pierce, ND | NICKEL SIZE HAIL COMING DOWN IN SHEETS. CANNOT SEE ACROSS STREET. |
| 00:30 UTC | HAIL 0.88 | 4 Nne Balta | Pierce, ND | |
| 00:40 UTC | HAIL 1 | 1 Nw Fillmore | Benson, ND | HAIL FELL FOR 20 MINUTES. |
| 00:40 UTC | HAIL 1 | 1 Nw Fillmore | Benson, ND | HAIL FELL FOR 20 MINUTES RESULTING IN SEVERAL SECTIONS OF DAMAGED CROP LAND IN IMPARK TOWNSHIP. |
| 01:00 UTC | HAIL 0.88 | 2 Se Esmond | Benson, ND | |
| 01:05 UTC | HAIL 1 | 3 Se Silva | Pierce, ND | LASTED TEN MINUTES. |
| 01:25 UTC | HAIL 1 | 3 Nw Esmond | Benson, ND | |
| 01:35 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | 6 N Maddock | Benson, ND | |
| 01:35 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | Esmond | Benson, ND | SEVERAL SECTIONS OF CROP LAND RECEIVED DAMAGE IN ESMOND AND RICH VALLEY TOWNSHIPS. |
| 01:35 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | Esmond | Benson, ND | |
| 01:40 UTC | TORNADO 0 | 2 Wnw Maddock | Benson, ND | A PERSISTENT FUNNEL PRODUCED A BRIEF TOUCHDOWN IN AN OPENED FIELD. |
| 02:00 UTC | HAIL 1.5 | 8 Sw Maddock | Benson, ND | HAIL REMAINED ON THE GROUND FOR ABOUT 1.5 HOURS. SEVERAL SECTIONS OF CROP LAND RECEIVED DAMAGE IN ARNE TOWNSHIP. |
| 02:00 UTC | HAIL 1.5 | 8 Sw Maddock | Benson, ND | REMAINED ON THE GROUND FOR ABOUT 1.5 HOURS |
| 02:05 UTC | HAIL 1 | 2 S Maddock | Benson, ND | HAIL FROM 905 TO 915 PM. REPORTED BY NORTH DAKOTA ARB OBSERVER. |
| 02:05 UTC | HAIL 1 | 2 S Maddock | Benson, ND | HAIL FROM 905 TO 915 PM. REPORTED BY NORTH DAKOTA ARB OBSERVER. SEVERAL SECTIONS OF CROP LAND RECEIVED DAMAGE ACROSS HESPER AND NORTH VIKING TOWNSHIPS. |
| 02:08 UTC | HAIL 1.25 | 5 Ssw Wellsburg | Wells, ND | LASTED FOUR MINUTES. |
| 02:15 UTC | HAIL 1.5 | 10 W Hamberg | Wells, ND | GROUND WHITE WITH HAIL. 1.5 INCHES OF RAIN. |
| 02:16 UTC | HAIL 1 | 10 Se Harvey | Wells, ND | |
| 02:30 UTC | HAIL 0.88 | 7 Nw New Rockford | Eddy, ND | |
| 03:18 UTC | HAIL 1 | 2 Ene Chaseley | Wells, ND |
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 North DakotaEvery tornado in North Dakota since 1950Warnings in force in North Dakota nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of June 23, 2008
5 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.