Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2008

EF0 tornado, Almeda, Texas, June 21, 2008

This EF0 tornado ran 1.0 miles across Harris County on June 21, 2008, touching down at 6:04 PM CDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $110,000 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
June 21, 2008
Touchdown
6:04 PM CDT (23:04 UTC)
Lifted
6:10 PM CDT (23:10 UTC)
On the ground
6 minutes
Path length
1.0 miles (1.6 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$110,000
County
Harris County
Touchdown point
29.624, -95.432
Lift-off point
29.614, -95.420
Record number
0806211704-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A strong line of southwestern-moving thunderstorms created severe weather across the region.

An EF0 tornado produced damage to residential and mobile homes near the intersection of Darlinghurst and Fleetwood Streets and also near the intersection of Almeda and Fuqua Roads. Two homes were damaged on Fleetwood with one roof blown completely off and large trees being downed. There were also large tree limbs down across the entire area.

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.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
21:35 UTC22:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGX
22:46 UTC23:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGX
22:57 UTC23:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGX
23:34 UTC00:04 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGX
23:44 UTC01:45 UTCFlood AdvisoryHGX

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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 20:00 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.

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), 12:00Z

11.1 hours before the tornado, 222 km from the path. June 21, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 12:00Z on 2008-06-21Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2352 joules per kilogram, CIN -15, lifted condensation level 798 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, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 12:00Z on 2008-06-21The 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 62 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 17 knots.1939Sfc1 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
2352 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-15 J/kg
Surface CAPE
397 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
798 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
17 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
11 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
62 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
93 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
3.8
0-3 km lapse rate
5.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), 00:00Z

0.9 hours after it, 222 km from the path. June 22, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 00:00Z on 2008-06-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1546 joules per kilogram, CIN -76, lifted condensation level 1314 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, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 00:00Z on 2008-06-22The 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 -38 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 8 knots.1939Sfc1 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
1546 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-76 J/kg
Surface CAPE
562 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1314 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
8 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
8 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-38 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-72 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
6.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 37 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:05 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
22:10 UTCHAIL 0.5AlvinBrazoria, TXPEA TO MARBLE SIZE HAIL IN ALVIN.
22:53 UTCHAIL 0.5HoustonHarris, TXDIME SIZE HAIL AT FONDREN AND WESTPARK
23:07 UTCHAIL 0.25CloverleafHarris, TXPEA SIZED HAIL AT BELTWAY 8 AND THE SHIP CHANNEL BRIDGE
23:10 UTCTSTM WND DMGHoustonHarris, TXSIGNIFICANT WIND DAMAGE IN THE SOUTH GLEN SUBDIVISION NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF ALMEDA AND FUQUA IN SOUTH HOUSTON. SEVERAL MOBILE HOMES DAMAGED IN THE VILLAGE GREEN MOBILE HOME PARK NEAR THE 3500 BLOCK OF DARLINGHURST WIT
23:15 UTCHAIL 0.25Deer ParkHarris, TX
23:20 UTCHAIL 0.88La PorteHarris, TX
23:25 UTCTSTM WND DMGMissouri CityFort Bend, TXTHREE HOMES SUSTAINED ROOF DAMAGE NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF GRAND PARK AND HONEYSUCKLE
23:30 UTCFUNNEL CLOUDPearlandBrazoria, TXFUNNEL CLOUD SIGHTED NEAR INTERSECTION OF US HIGHWAY 288 AND SH 518 IN PEARLAND. FUNNEL WAS FILMED BY SEVERAL SPOTTERS. PEARLAND PD CONFIRMED THAT IT DID NOT TOUCH THE GROUND.
23:30 UTCHAIL 0.5FresnoFort Bend, TX
23:30 UTCMARINE TSTM WIND 485 Ese BacliffGmz335, TX
23:34 UTCHAIL 0Hobby AirportHarris, TXHOBBY OBSERVER REPORTED PEA SIZED HAIL WITH PEAK WIND GUST OF 52 MPH
23:40 UTCTSTM WND GST 60PearlandBrazoria, TXPENNY SIZED HAIL ALSO REPORTED
23:45 UTCFUNNEL CLOUDFriendswoodGalveston, TXFUNNEL CLOUD SIGHTED ON FM 518
23:55 UTCFUNNEL CLOUDLeague CityGalveston, TXFUNNEL CLOUD SIGHTED NEAR INTERSECTION OF FM 518 AND I-45
23:56 UTCHAIL 0.25Texas CityGalveston, TX
00:05 UTCHAIL 0.75NeedvilleFort Bend, TX

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 June 21, 2008

3 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 214:58 PM EDTEF0Berkeley, SC0.3751$20,000
June 217:55 PM CDTEF0Sheridan, KS0.310
June 219:15 PM CDTEF0Jackson, TX0.125$20,000

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.