Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2008

EF1 tornado, Primrose, Texas, March 3, 2008

This EF1 tornado ran 1.4 miles across Van Zandt County on March 3, 2008, touching down at 6:36 AM CST and reaching 40 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $50,000 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 mph

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

    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
EF1
Date
March 3, 2008
Touchdown
6:36 AM CST (12:36 UTC)
Lifted
6:38 AM CST (12:38 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
1.4 miles (2.2 km)
Path width
40 yards (37 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$50,000
County
Van Zandt County
Touchdown point
32.401, -95.591
Lift-off point
32.414, -95.574
Record number
0803030636-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Upper level disturbances triggered numerous thunderstorms over north Texas. This resulted in several reports of large hail and high winds.

The National Weather Service in Fort Worth conducted a survey and found that a tornado formed near the northwestern edge of a downburst damage swath. The tornado damaged a sturdy dwelling which lost a door and windows about a fourth of a mile southeast of the intersection of FM 314 and Highway 64. Also, a nearby garage had its doors removed. Numerous trees were damaged with some of them snapped near their bases. Maximum winds were between 85 to 90 MPH.

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.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 07:57 UTC and running to 13:09 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
02:40 UTC07:57 UTCTornado WatchFWD
06:00 UTC13:08 UTCFlash Flood WatchFWD
07:57 UTC13:09 UTCTornado WatchFWD
12:14 UTC13:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWD
21:55 UTC06:00 UTCSnow AdvisoryFWD

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 05:58 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), 12:00Z

0.6 hours before the tornado, 167 km from the path. March 3, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Fort Worth, TX at 12:00Z on 2008-03-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 6 joules per kilogram, CIN 0, lifted condensation level 424 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 2008-03-03The 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 -310 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 70 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
6 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
0 J/kg
Surface CAPE
9 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
424 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
70 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-310 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-10 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
1.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

11.4 hours after it, 167 km from the path. March 4, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Fort Worth, TX at 00:00Z on 2008-03-04Temperature 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 -83820, lifted condensation level 577 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 00:00Z on 2008-03-04The 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 -149 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 76 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-83820 J/kg
Surface CAPE
52 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
577 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
76 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
19 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-149 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
338 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Dallas/Ft Worth radar (KFWS), 162 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 12:36 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
12:23 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 Se AthensHenderson, TXVEHICLE HIT TREE WHICH FELL OVER FARM TO MARKET ROAD 1615
12:25 UTCTSTM WND DMGCantonVan Zandt, TXSHERIFFS OFFICE REPORTED NUMEROUS TREES DOWN THROUGHOUT THE COUNTY
12:45 UTCTSTM WND DMGBrownsboroHenderson, TXEM CONFIRMS WIND DAMAGE TO A HOUSE IN BROWNSBORO, ROOF DAMAGE TO A BARN IN MURICHSON AND TREES UP ROOTED BOTH AREAS.
12:45 UTCTSTM WND DMGLindaleSmith, TXROOF AND STRUCTURAL DAMAGE...TREES DOWN...1/4 MI S OF THE INTERSECTION OF CR 463 AND PEARL ST
13:00 UTCTSTM WND DMG10 Se QuitmanWood, TXTREES DOWN
13:22 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 S JacksonvilleCherokee, TXTREES DOWN ON FM 347...POWERLINE DOWN ON HWY 204
13:22 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 S JacksonvilleCherokee, TXTREES DOWN ON FM 22 1 MI E OF US 69
14:06 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 S JacksonvilleCherokee, TXON COUNTY ROAD 1616. PUBLIC REPORT RELAYED FROM SHERIFF. POSSIBLE TORNADO. TREE...POWER LINE DAMAGE.

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 3, 2008

14 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 38:13 AM CSTEF1Bowie, TX5.075$750,000
March 38:27 AM CSTEF0Little River, AR3.0100$20,000
March 38:46 AM CSTEF0Howard, AR7.5100$200,000
March 33:50 PM CSTEF1Amite, MS1.5250$150,000
March 35:17 PM CSTEF0Sharkey, MS0.950
March 35:25 PM CSTEF2Sharkey, MS7.0440$2,000
March 39:01 PM CSTEF1Simpson, MS0.475$5,000
March 39:10 PM CSTEF1Simpson, MS1.9150$300,000
March 39:25 PM CSTEF1Marion, MS0.650$250,000
March 39:43 PM CSTEF1Scott, MS2.1100$5,000
March 39:49 PM CSTEF1Scott, MS4.0175$1.2 million
March 310:49 PM CSTEF0Kemper, MS1.330$55,000
March 311:12 PM CSTEF1Forrest, MS1.110014$1.5 million
March 311:20 PM CSTEF2Clarke, MS8.3350$400,000

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.