Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2008

EF0 tornado, Luther, Texas, April 23, 2008

Name: EF0 tornado, Luther, Texas, April 23, 2008
Start: 2008-04-23T23:55:00.000Z
End: 2008-04-23T23:56:00.000Z
Location: Luther, Texas

This EF0 tornado ran 0.4 miles across Howard County on April 23, 2008, touching down at 6:55 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: April 23, 2008
Touchdown: 6:55 PM CDT (23:55 UTC)
Lifted: 6:56 PM CDT (23:56 UTC)
On the ground: 1 minutes
Path length: 0.4 miles (0.7 km)
Path width: 25 yards (23 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
County: Howard County
Touchdown point: 32.435, -101.470
Lift-off point: 32.435, -101.463
Record number: 0804231755-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Strong southeast winds were established during the proceeding night bringing abundant low level moisture to the region. By morning, a surface low located just west of Wink had an associated warm front extending northeastward into Oklahoma. Based on the NWS Midland morning upper air balloon sounding, a very unstable airmass was in place. The potential for large hail, damaging winds, and tornadoes was realized across the Permain Basin, Western Low Rolling plains, and Trans Pecos Regions as an upper level disturbance interacted with atmospheric instability currently in place across the area. In addition, strong low and mid level wind shear resulted in well organized and long lived thunderstorms. The strongest storms, which produced hail up to softball size and multiple tornadoes, developed as outflow boundaries from thunderstorms north of the area converged with the warm front that became stationary during the afternoon. The severe weather events began by mid morning and lasted into the early evening hours.

Trained spotters reported a brief tornado near the community of Luther. No damage was reported.

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

The warnings

20 minutes of warning. NWS MAF issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:35 UTC, 20 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:25 UTC and running to 01:49 UTC.

Issued (UTC)	Expired	Product	Office
15:10 UTC	20:25 UTC	Tornado Watch	MAF
20:25 UTC	01:49 UTC	Tornado Watch	MAF
23:14 UTC	23:39 UTC	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF
23:35 UTC	00:00 UTC	Tornado Warning	MAF
23:51 UTC	00:15 UTC	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF
23:55 UTC	00:20 UTC	Tornado Warning	MAF

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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:55 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.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Apr 23, 6:52 PM CDT, 3 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 23, 6:52 PM CDT, 3 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND/ODESSA TX
652 PM CDT WED APR 23 2008

.AVIATION...
VFR CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO PERSIST WEST OF A KMAF TO KHOB TO
KFST LINE THIS EVENING. THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP ALONG AND
NORTH OF A STALLED FRONTAL BOUNDARY LOCATED FROM BIG SPRING TO
JUST SOUTH OF SEMINOLE. SURFACE WINDS WILL GRADUALLY SHIFT TO
SOUTHERLY...THEN TO SOUTHWEST BY THE END OF THE TAF FORECAST PERIOD.

&&

.MAF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NM...RED FLAG WARNING FROM 5 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO 7 PM MDT THIS
     EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING ZONES...GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS
     NP/LINCOLN NF/LNZ...SOUTHEAST PLAINS/BLM ROSWELL/LNZ.

TX...RED FLAG WARNING FROM 6 PM CDT /5 PM MDT/ TO 8 PM CDT /7 PM MDT/
     THIS EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING ZONES...GUADALUPE
     MOUNTAINS...LOVING...REEVES COUNTY AND UPPER TRANS PECOS...
     VAN HORN AND HIGHWAY 54 CORRIDOR.

&&

03

Hazardous weather outlook, Apr 23, 1:57 PM CDT, 4 hours 58 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND/ODESSA TX
157 PM CDT WED APR 23 2008

NMZ027>029-033-034-TXZ045>048-050>053-057>063-067>070-074-075-
079>082-258-241900-
GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS OF EDDY COUNTY-EDDY COUNTY PLAINS-
NORTHERN LEA COUNTY-CENTRAL LEA COUNTY-SOUTHERN LEA COUNTY-GAINES-
DAWSON-BORDEN-SCURRY-ANDREWS-MARTIN-HOWARD-MITCHELL-
VAN HORN AND HIGHWAY 54 CORRIDOR-
REEVES COUNTY AND UPPER TRANS PECOS-LOVING-WINKLER-ECTOR-MIDLAND-
GLASSCOCK-WARD-CRANE-UPTON-REAGAN-DAVIS/APACHE MOUNTAINS AREA-
PECOS-PRESIDIO VALLEY-MARFA PLATEAU-BIG BEND AREA-TERRELL-
GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS-
157 PM CDT WED APR 23 2008 /1257 PM MDT WED APR 23 2008/

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST NEW
MEXICO...SOUTHWEST TEXAS AND WEST TEXAS.

.DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT

SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE AREA INTO THE
EVENING EAST OF A LINE FROM HOBBS TO NEAR FORT STOCKTON. SOME OF
THESES STORMS WILL BE SEVERE WITH BRIEF HEAVY RAIN. THE BEST
CHANCE FOR SEVERE WEATHER AND RAIN WILL BE NORTH AND EAST OF A
LINE FROM NEAR SEMINOLE...TO STANTON...TO GARDEN CITY. LARGE
HAIL...DAMAGING WIND...AND ISOLATED TORNADOES WILL BE POSSIBLE.

FIRE WEATHER CONCERNS REMAIN HIGH ACROSS SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO AND
THE UPPER TRANS PECOS INCLUDING VAN HORN AND THE GUADALUPE
MOUNTAINS WHERE DRY AND WINDY CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED. A RED FLAG
WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR THAT AREA.

ALSO ISOLATED DRY LIGHTNING IS A CONCERN IN AND AROUND THE DAVIS
MOUNTAINS AND INTO THE FORT STOCKTON AREA AS THE DRY AIR MOVES
EAST AS STORMS DEVELOP.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY

DRY AIR WILL MOVE FARTHER EAST THURSDAY AND FIRE WEATHER CONCERNS
WILL REMAIN ELEVATED WITH VERY DRY AIR AND WARM TEMPERATURES...
ESPECIALLY IN THE GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NECESSARY EAST OF A SEMINOLE TO FORT
STOCKTON LINE. SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGERS IN THIS AREA SHOULD
MONITOR DEVELOPING WEATHER CONDITIONS.

THIS PRODUCT...ALONG WITH OTHER WATCHES...WARNINGS...ADVISORIES...
AND STATEMENTS ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN
MIDLAND CAN BE FOUND ON THE INTERNET AT /LOWER CASE/
HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/MIDLAND

In the hours before

Local storm report, Apr 23, 4:53 PM CDT, 2 hours 2 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND/ODESSA TX
453 PM CDT WED APR 23 2008

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0440 PM     HAIL             4 E SEMINOLE            32.72N 102.58W
04/23/2008  E0.88 INCH       GAINES             TX   TRAINED SPOTTER

&&

CDANIELS

Local storm report, Apr 23, 5:20 PM CDT, 1 hour 35 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND/ODESSA TX
520 PM CDT WED APR 23 2008

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0515 PM     HAIL             SAND                    32.70N 102.18W
04/23/2008  E1.00 INCH       DAWSON             TX   PUBLIC

&&

DH

Local storm report, Apr 23, 5:29 PM CDT, 1 hour 26 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND/ODESSA TX
529 PM CDT WED APR 23 2008

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0237 PM     HAIL             14 NW SNYDER            32.86N 101.09W
04/23/2008  E0.88 INCH       SCURRY             TX   TRAINED SPOTTER

&&

CDANIELS

Local storm report, Apr 23, 5:39 PM CDT, 1 hour 16 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND/ODESSA TX
539 PM CDT WED APR 23 2008

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0531 PM     HAIL             SEMINOLE                32.72N 102.65W
04/23/2008  E0.88 INCH       GAINES             TX   LAW ENFORCEMENT

&&

DH

Local storm report, Apr 23, 6:24 PM CDT, 31 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND/ODESSA TX
624 PM CDT WED APR 23 2008

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0616 PM     HAIL             6 WSW ACKERLY           32.49N 101.81W
04/23/2008  E2.75 INCH       MARTIN             TX   TRAINED SPOTTER

            OCCURRED AT FM26 AND FM2002

&&

DH

Local storm report, Apr 23, 6:41 PM CDT, 14 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND/ODESSA TX
641 PM CDT WED APR 23 2008

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0620 PM     HAIL             3 SSE ACKERLY           32.48N 101.70W
04/23/2008  E1.00 INCH       MARTIN             TX   PUBLIC

&&

DH

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.

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), 12:00Z

11.9 hours before the tornado, 88 km from the path. April 23, 2008.

Skew-T log-p

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.

Hodograph

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: 2797 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -117 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 2087 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 758 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 49 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 219 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 211 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.8
Supercell composite: 13.3
0-3 km lapse rate: 5.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), 00:00Z

0.1 hours after it, 88 km from the path. April 24, 2008.

Skew-T log-p

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.

Hodograph

Mixed-layer CAPE: 714 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -196 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 2574 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2121 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 42 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 86 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 141 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 2.1
0-3 km lapse rate: 8.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Big_spring (BPG), 25 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)	Temp (°F)	Dew point (°F)	Wind	Gust (kt)	Pressure (mb)	Weather
22:06 UTC	78.8	60.8	160° 20 kt	25	1009.1
22:26 UTC	78.8	60.8	150° 17 kt	24	1008.5
22:50 UTC	80.6	59	160° 16 kt	26	1008.5	VCTS
23:06 UTC	80.6	59	150° 14 kt	20	1008.5
23:26 UTC	80.6	55.4	160° 14 kt		1008.8	VCTS
23:46 UTC	80.6	51.8	190° 12 kt	17	1008.8	VCTS
00:06 UTC	71.6	57.2	20° 10 kt	25	1010.2	TS
00:26 UTC	69.8	57.2	50° 15 kt	20	1009.5
00:46 UTC	69.8	57.2	60° 14 kt		1009.5
01:07 UTC	69.8	57.2	70° 14 kt	19	1010.2
01:26 UTC	66.2	57.2	80° 19 kt	22	1009.8
01:49 UTC	64.4	57.2	90° 14 kt		1010.2

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

The radar

The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 87 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:55 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)	Report	Where	County	Remark
20:57 UTC	TORNADO	14 Se Lamesa	Dawson, TX	REPORTED BY GREG MORGAN CH7 357-401PM CDT
23:16 UTC	HAIL 2.75	6 Wsw Ackerly	Martin, TX	OCCURRED AT FM26 AND FM2002
23:20 UTC	HAIL 1	3 Sse Ackerly	Martin, TX
23:45 UTC	HAIL 1	Gail	Borden, TX	HAIL COVERED THE GROUND.
00:00 UTC	HAIL 1.75	Gail	Borden, TX
00:00 UTC	HAIL 1.75	Lamesa	Dawson, TX
00:00 UTC	HAIL 2.75	Lamesa	Dawson, TX
00:04 UTC	HAIL 1.75	3 Wsw Lamesa	Dawson, TX
00:06 UTC	HAIL 1.75	1 S Lamesa	Dawson, TX
00:10 UTC	HAIL 4.25	1 S Lamesa	Dawson, TX
00:15 UTC	HAIL 2.75	Lamesa	Dawson, TX
00:30 UTC	HAIL 0.75	14 E Gail	Borden, TX

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

This ground now

The live radar over the track Every 2008 tornado in Texas Every tornado in Texas since 1950 Warnings in force in Texas now The forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 23, 2008

19 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
April 23	2:34 PM CDT	EF0	Scurry, TX	5.1	50	$10,000
April 23	2:50 PM CDT	EF1	Scurry, TX	1.7	100	$20,000
April 23	2:54 PM CDT	EF0	Fisher, TX	0.1	50
April 23	3:40 PM CDT	EF0	Fisher, TX	0.1	50
April 23	3:45 PM CDT	EF0	Dawson, TX	0.4	50
April 23	3:56 PM CDT	EF0	Dawson, TX	1.1	150
April 23	3:56 PM CDT	EF0	Gaines, TX	2.6	200
April 23	4:08 PM CDT	EF0	Dawson, TX	0.1	50
April 23	4:17 PM CDT	EF0	Jones, TX	0.1	50
April 23	4:29 PM CDT	EF0	Jones, TX	0.1	50
April 23	4:35 PM CDT	EF0	Jones, TX	6.1	300	$12,000
April 23	5:25 PM CDT	EF0	Osage, OK	0.1	50
April 23	5:29 PM CDT	EF0	Dawson, TX	0.4	25
April 23	5:30 PM CDT	EF0	Shackelford, TX	0.1	50
April 23	5:32 PM MDT	EF1	Morrill, NE	1.5	350	$300,000
April 23	6:56 PM CDT	EF0	Erath, TX	2.2	50	$20,000
April 23	6:58 PM CDT	EF0	Erath, TX	7.2	125	$50,000
April 23	7:40 PM CDT	EF0	Hood, TX	1.4	40	$60,000
April 23	9:35 PM CDT	EF2	Tarrant, TX	0.3	100	$1.0 million

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.