Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2008

EF0 tornado, Silver Vly, Texas, March 17, 2008

This EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Coleman County on March 17, 2008, touching down at 8:29 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
March 17, 2008
Touchdown
8:29 PM CDT (01:29 UTC)
Lifted
8:32 PM CDT (01:32 UTC)
On the ground
3 minutes
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Coleman County
Touchdown point
32.030, -99.520
Lift-off point
32.030, -99.520
Record number
0803171929-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A combination of low level moisture and an unstable airmass resulted in thunderstorms developing along a dry line during the afternoon. Thunderstorms became more widespread as an upper level disturbance swept northeast across West Central Texas. Thunderstorms became severe and produced a few tornadoes and large hail.

A report of a brief tornado touchdown was reported near Lake Coleman.

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

The warnings

43 minutes of warning. NWS SJT issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:46 UTC, 43 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 23:42 UTC and running to 06:53 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
18:33 UTC23:42 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchSJT
22:53 UTC23:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSJT
23:42 UTC00:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSJT
23:42 UTC06:53 UTCTornado WatchSJT
00:00 UTC15:00 UTCFlash Flood WatchSJT
00:07 UTC00:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSJT
00:46 UTC01:30 UTCTornado WarningSJT
01:26 UTC01:59 UTCTornado WarningSJT
02:22 UTC02:45 UTCTornado WarningSJT
02:38 UTC03:30 UTCTornado WarningSJT
06:53 UTC10:35 UTCTornado WatchSJT

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 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 01:02 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

1.5 hours before the tornado, 227 km from the path. March 18, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Fort Worth, TX at 00:00Z on 2008-03-18Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1768 joules per kilogram, CIN -3, lifted condensation level 1028 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 2008-03-18The 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 197 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 56 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
1768 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-3 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1325 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1028 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
56 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
197 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
222 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
2.4
Supercell composite
7.7
0-3 km lapse rate
6.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

10.5 hours after it, 227 km from the path. March 18, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Fort Worth, TX at 12:00Z on 2008-03-18Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 915 joules per kilogram, CIN -3, lifted condensation level 740 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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 2008-03-18The 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 234 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 69 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
915 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-3 J/kg
Surface CAPE
726 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
740 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
69 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
234 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
349 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
2.1
Supercell composite
7.5
0-3 km lapse rate
6.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Dyess AFB radar (KDYX), 62 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:29 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
23:06 UTCHAIL 0.88GoldsboroColeman, TX
00:06 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 W AbileneTaylor, TXSIX POWER POLES WERE REPORTED DOWN AT REBECCA LANE AND 277 ON THE WEST SIDE OF ABILENE. THE POLES WERE BLOWN OVER FROM WEST TO EAST.
01:29 UTCTORNADO5 Nne Silver ValleyColeman, TX
01:35 UTCHAIL 1.755 N Happy ValleyTaylor, 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 March 17, 2008

3 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 172:15 PM CDTEF0Nolan, TX0.150
March 177:53 PM CDTEF0Coleman, TX0.150
March 179:31 PM CDTEF0Polk, AR0.325$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.