Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 2008

EF0 tornado, Ramona, Oklahoma, March 31, 2008

This EF0 tornado ran 0.2 miles across Washington County on March 31, 2008, touching down at 7:25 AM CDT and reaching 100 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.

  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
7:25 AM CDT (12:25 UTC)
Path length
0.2 miles (0.3 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Washington County
Touchdown point
36.525, -95.937
Lift-off point
36.525, -95.937
Record number
0803310625-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Severe thunderstorms occurred across eastern Oklahoma on the 31st.

A storm chaser for KOTV in Tulsa reported a tornado over open country. An NWS storm survey found no damage from the tornado.

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 severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 10:05 UTC and running to 13:46 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
10:05 UTC13:46 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchTSA
11:06 UTC11:45 UTCTornado WarningTSA
11:45 UTC12:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSA
12:30 UTC13:00 UTCTornado WarningTSA
12:31 UTC12:59 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSA
12:33 UTC15:30 UTCFlash Flood WarningTSA
13:21 UTC13:52 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSA
13:46 UTC18:44 UTCTornado WatchTSA
14:15 UTC18:49 UTCFlash Flood WatchTSA
15:38 UTC16:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSA
16:45 UTC17:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSA

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 surface observations

Bartlesville/Philli (BVO), 27 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
10:37 UTC66.262.6130° 10 kt1007.8-RA
10:53 UTC6663150° 7 kt1008.1-RA
11:11 UTC66.262.6150° 6 kt1008.1VCTS RA BR
11:33 UTC64.462.6120° 18 kt1006.8+TSRA BR
11:44 UTC66.262.6170° 16 kt241007.8-TSRA BR
11:53 UTC6563160° 17 kt261007.5TSRA BR
12:01 UTC64.462.6190° 14 kt211007.8TSRA BR
12:17 UTC60.857.2220° 10 kt1007.1-TSRA
12:26 UTC62.659190° 18 kt251006.4VCTS
12:53 UTC6561200° 10 kt211006.8VCTS
13:00 UTC66.260.8190° 13 kt171006.8

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

The radar

The Tulsa radar (KINX), 51 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 12:24 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
10:38 UTCHAIL 0.754 N HominyOsage, OK
10:50 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 N HominyOsage, OKTHREE POWER POLES BROKEN OFF
10:59 UTCHAIL 2.75WynonaOsage, OK
11:07 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 N HominyOsage, OKROOF BLOWN OFF AN OUTBUILDING
11:07 UTCFLASH FLOODHominyOsage, OKMAJOR STREET FLOODING OCCURRED.
11:12 UTCTSTM WND DMGAvantOsage, OKTIN ROOF BLOWN OFF GARAGE. BARN ROOF DAMAGED.
11:12 UTCHAIL 0.75AvantOsage, OK
11:21 UTCHAIL 22 Wsw RamonaWashington, OK
11:30 UTCTSTM WND GST 60CollinsvilleTulsa, OK
11:37 UTCHAIL 0.88WynonaOsage, OK
11:50 UTCFLASH FLOOD3 S WynonaOsage, OKWATER WAS FLOWING OVER A ROAD.
11:54 UTCHAIL 11 Nw TalalaRogers, OK
11:58 UTCHAIL 1.75BarnsdallOsage, OK
12:15 UTCHAIL 1.5OchelataWashington, OK
12:20 UTCHAIL 13 N New AlluweNowata, OKBETWEEN HIGHWAY 60 AND NEW ALLUWE
12:32 UTCHAIL 1.75RamonaWashington, OK
12:33 UTCHAIL 1.75RamonaWashington, OK
12:37 UTCHAIL 1.252 Nne RamonaWashington, OK
12:55 UTCHAIL 1WatovaNowata, OK
13:02 UTCHAIL 12 S WatovaRogers, OK
13:19 UTCHAIL 14 N New AlluweNowata, OK
13:36 UTCHAIL 0.7510 Nne RamonaWashington, OKPENNY HAIL REPORTED IN OGLESBY.

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 OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma 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 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 315:47 PM CDTEF0Howell, MO0.020$10,000
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.