Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2008

EF0 tornado, Arnett, Texas, April 8, 2008

This EF0 tornado ran 1.8 miles across Coryell County on April 8, 2008, touching down at 8:18 PM CDT and reaching 50 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
April 8, 2008
Touchdown
8:18 PM CDT (01:18 UTC)
Lifted
8:23 PM CDT (01:23 UTC)
On the ground
5 minutes
Path length
1.8 miles (2.9 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Coryell County
Touchdown point
31.436, -97.913
Lift-off point
31.439, -97.883
Record number
0804081918-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Several rounds of storms moved across north Texas on April 8th through 10th. Numerous reports of large hail were received on Tuesday evening. A lone supercell evolved during the afternoon hours of the 9th, producing tornadoes and large hail along its path. Later that evening and into Thursday morning a squall line tracked across north Texas, producing damaging winds and tornadoes into the morning hours.

A tornado was reported south of Highway 84 and CR 177 and moved east before dissipating. Only tree damage was noted.

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

The warnings

7 minutes of warning. NWS FWD issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:11 UTC, 7 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:15 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
00:03 UTC01:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWD
00:26 UTC01:15 UTCTornado WarningFWD
01:11 UTC02:15 UTCTornado WarningFWD
02:08 UTC04:00 UTCTornado WatchFWD
02:18 UTC02:34 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWD
18:27 UTC01:00 UTCTornado WatchFWD

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 00:55 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.

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.

Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), 00:00Z

1.3 hours before the tornado, 165 km from the path. April 9, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Fort Worth, TX at 00:00Z on 2008-04-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 209 joules per kilogram, CIN -242, lifted condensation level 1167 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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, Fort Worth, TX at 00:00Z on 2008-04-09The 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 -1 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 47 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
209 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-242 J/kg
Surface CAPE
301 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1167 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
47 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
5 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-1 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
105 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.3
0-3 km lapse rate
5.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), 12:00Z

10.7 hours after it, 165 km from the path. April 9, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Fort Worth, TX at 12:00Z on 2008-04-09Temperature 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 -89919, lifted condensation level 488 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, Fort Worth, TX at 12:00Z on 2008-04-09The 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 295 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 44 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
-89919 J/kg
Surface CAPE
7 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
488 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
44 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
295 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
215 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.5
0-3 km lapse rate
3.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Ft Hood radar (KGRK), 94 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:17 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
00:33 UTCHAIL 0.886 N AdamsvilleLampasas, TX5.8 MILES NORTH OF ADAMSVILLE
00:35 UTCHAIL 1EvantHamilton, TX
00:44 UTCHAIL 1.75AdamsvilleLampasas, TXGOLFBALL HAIL IN ADAMSVILLE
01:18 UTCTORNADO10 W GatesvilleCoryell, TXTORNADO REPORTED ON THE GROUND SOUTH OF HI WAY 84 AND HI WAY CR 177.
01:23 UTCTORNADO2 S ArnettCoryell, TXEMERGENCY MANAGER CONFIRMS TORNADO. AT 823 PM...APPROXIMATELY 2 MILES SOUTH OF ARNETT.
01:30 UTCHAIL 1.75GatesvilleCoryell, TX10 MINUTES OF GOLF BALL HAIL IN GATESVILLE
01:35 UTCHAIL 0.7516 Sw GatesvilleCoryell, TXPENNY HAIL COVERING GROUND. ON 116 16 MILES SW OF GATESVILLE
01:35 UTCHAIL 1.7516 Sw GatesvilleCoryell, TXGOLF BALL HAIL COVERING GROUND...CORRECTION TO PENNY SIZE
02:07 UTCTORNADO12 Sse GatesvilleCoryell, TXPOSSIBLE TORNADO...SPOTTERS SEE POWER FLASHES AND REPORTED CLOUDS POSSIBLY REACHING THE GROUND NEAR COLD SPRINGS.
02:29 UTCHAIL 0.88MoodyMclennan, TX3 MILES NORTH OF MOODY
02:35 UTCHAIL 1.75MoodyMclennan, TXGOLF BALL HAIL JUST SOUTH OF MOODY
02:37 UTCHAIL 1.25MoodyMclennan, TXHALF DOLLAR SIZE HAIL IN MOODY
02:59 UTCHAIL 0.758 N MoodyMclennan, TX1SW SPRING VALLEY

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 TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 8, 2008

1 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 81:39 AM EDTEF1Barry, MI4.7100$250,000

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.