Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2008

EF0 tornado, Maryneal, Texas, March 17, 2008

This EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Nolan County on March 17, 2008, touching down at 2:15 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
2:15 PM CDT (19:15 UTC)
Lifted
2:18 PM CDT (19:18 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
Nolan County
Touchdown point
32.240, -100.520
Lift-off point
32.240, -100.520
Record number
0803171315-01

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 brief tornado was seen by the public with no damage reported.

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 18:33 UTC and running to 23:42 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
18:33 UTC23:42 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchSJT
19:18 UTC19:45 UTCTornado WarningSJT
23:42 UTC07:00 UTCTornado WatchSJT
01:01 UTC01:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSJT
01:16 UTC01:52 UTCTornado WarningSJT
03:05 UTC03:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSJT
03:12 UTC04:00 UTCTornado WarningSJT
03:59 UTC04:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSJT

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 16:18 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.

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

7.3 hours before the tornado, 162 km from the path. March 17, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Midland Regional, TX at 12:00Z on 2008-03-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 991 joules per kilogram, CIN -57, lifted condensation level 1017 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, Midland Regional, TX at 12:00Z on 2008-03-17The 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 -8 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 55 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
991 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-57 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1295 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1017 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
55 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-8 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
70 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
-0.1
Supercell composite
-0.7
0-3 km lapse rate
6.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

4.7 hours after it, 162 km from the path. March 18, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Midland Regional, 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 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -85729, lifted condensation level 3377 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, Midland Regional, 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 16 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 90 knots.1939587897117136Sfc1 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
-85729 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
3377 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
90 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
5 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
16 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
254 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
8.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The San Angelo radar (KSJT), 97 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:13 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
19:15 UTCTORNADO4 W MarynealNolan, TXA PICTURE WAS TAKEN OF THIS TORNADO AS IT WAS REPORTED BY THE PUBLIC WITH NO DAMAGE REPORTED.

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 177:53 PM CDTEF0Coleman, TX0.150
March 178:29 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.