Tornadoes · United States · Ohio · 2008

EF0 tornado, Lewisburg Gilmer Arp, Ohio, January 29, 2008

This EF0 tornado ran 2.0 miles across Preble County on January 29, 2008, touching down at 9:00 PM EST and reaching 80 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $25,000 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
January 29, 2008
Touchdown
9:00 PM EST (02:00 UTC)
Lifted
9:04 PM EST (02:04 UTC)
On the ground
4 minutes
Path length
2.0 miles (3.2 km)
Path width
80 yards (73 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$25,000
County
Preble County
Touchdown point
39.840, -84.559
Lift-off point
39.841, -84.534
Record number
0801292000-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A line of severe thunderstorms along a strong cold front produced wind damage across southern and western Ohio.

A tornado touched down near Lewisburg and produced scattered damage along a two mile path. A barn sustained damage along Shields Road. A house lost part of its roof near the Interstate 70-State Route 503 interchange just south of Lewisburg. There was extensive tree damage in vicinity of the house, with some of the tree debris dropped into a creek bed behind the house.

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.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 01:15 UTC and running to 03:13 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
00:00 UTC14:00 UTCWind AdvisoryILN
01:15 UTC03:13 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchILN
01:44 UTC02:16 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningILN
09:14 UTC16:23 UTCWind Chill AdvisoryILN

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 00:45 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.

Cncnati-Daytn, OH (KILN), 00:00Z

2.0 hours before the tornado, 79 km from the path. January 30, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 00:00Z on 2008-01-30Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -40224, lifted condensation level 787 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 00:00Z on 2008-01-30The 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 394 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 80 knots.1939587897117136Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-40224 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
787 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
80 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
394 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
451 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Cncnati-Daytn, OH (KILN), 12:00Z

10.0 hours after it, 79 km from the path. January 30, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 12:00Z on 2008-01-30Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -116259, lifted condensation level 962 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 12:00Z on 2008-01-30The 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 239 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 81 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-116259 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
962 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
81 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
239 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
374 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
2.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Dayton (DAY), 29 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
00:56 UTC5148170° 22 kt30988.8-RA
01:56 UTC5248170° 22 kt29986.8
02:21 UTC51.848.2240° 38 kt48989.2RA BR
02:32 UTC46.442.8240° 21 kt35988.8-RA
02:56 UTC4640260° 26 kt38990.2-RA
03:56 UTC4236250° 32 kt41990.9

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The radar

The Cincinnati radar (KILN), 78 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:01 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)ReportWhereCountyRemark
01:54 UTCTSTM WND DMGOxfordButler, OHONE HALF MILE OF POWER POLES DOWNED ALONG STATE ROUTE 732 NEAR OXFORD.
01:57 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Nw MillvilleButler, OHTHREE TREES...10 TO 12 INCHES IN DIAMETER...SNAPPED OFF ON REILY-MILLVILLE ROAD.
02:00 UTCTSTM WND DMGLewisburgPreble, OHNUMEROUS TREES DOWN...ONE TO TWO FEET IN DIAMETER.
02:00 UTCTSTM WND DMGMcgonigleButler, OHA GREENHOUSE WAS BLOWN OVER ON US ROUTE 27 IN HANOVER TOWNSHIP JUST SOUTH OF MCGONIGLE.
02:01 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Sw VeronaPreble, OHA LARGE TREE FELL INTO A HOUSE IN NORTHEAST PREBLE COUNTY.
02:02 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Ese McgonigleButler, OHA TRACTOR TRAILER WAS BLOWN OVER ON STATE ROUTE 130.
02:05 UTCTSTM WND DMGWest ManchesterPreble, OHNUMEROUS TREES DOWN ALONG THE DARKE/PREBLE COUNTY LINE...UP TO 30 INCHES IN DIAMETER.
02:06 UTCTSTM WND GST 562 Nne FairfieldButler, OHMEASURED AT BUTLER COUNTY AIRPORT...KHAO.
02:14 UTCTSTM WND GST 485 Wsw MasonButler, OHMEASURED IN WEST CHESTER.
02:15 UTCTSTM WND DMGMonroeButler, OHLARGE BRANCHES DOWN.
02:22 UTCTSTM WND GST 624 Ssw Tipp CityMontgomery, OHMEASURED AT COX DAYTON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT...KDAY.
02:40 UTCTSTM WND DMGDonnelsvilleClark, OHONE LARGE PINE TREE DOWNED.

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 OhioEvery tornado in Ohio since 1950Warnings in force in Ohio nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of January 29, 2008

7 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
January 294:09 PM CSTEF1Cape Girardeau, MO to IL4.3200$85,000
January 295:07 PM CSTEF2Posey, IN7.01002$250,000
January 297:20 PM ESTEF1Marion, IN0.150$100,000
January 297:40 PM ESTEF1Washington, IN10.7200$60,000
January 297:58 PM ESTEF1Clark, IN0.21001$50,000
January 298:00 PM ESTEF1Jefferson, KY16.4100$3.0 million
January 298:10 PM ESTEF1Scott, IN1.8100$70,000

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.