Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2008

EF0 tornado, Buna, Texas, May 15, 2008

This EF0 tornado ran 0.3 miles across Jasper County on May 15, 2008, touching down at 4:00 AM CDT and reaching 25 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $10,000 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
May 15, 2008
Touchdown
4:00 AM CDT (09:00 UTC)
Lifted
4:01 AM CDT (09:01 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.3 miles (0.4 km)
Path width
25 yards (23 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$10,000
County
Jasper County
Touchdown point
30.408, -93.932
Lift-off point
30.410, -93.930
Record number
0805150300-01

What the Weather Service recorded

As a cold front approached the region, a squall line developed and produced isolated tornadoes and damaging winds.

Along Callier Loop, an EF-0 tornado briefly touched down and blew the roof off a barn and downed trees.

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

The warnings

1 minute of warning. NWS LCH issued a tornado warning for this county at 08:59 UTC, 1 minute before the tornado touched down, in force until 09:11 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 06:22 UTC and running to 09:34 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
06:22 UTC09:34 UTCTornado WatchLCH
07:06 UTC07:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLCH
07:21 UTC07:45 UTCTornado WarningLCH
07:46 UTC08:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLCH
08:59 UTC09:11 UTCTornado WarningLCH

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 05:51 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), 00:00Z

9.0 hours before the tornado, 77 km from the path. May 15, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 00:00Z on 2008-05-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2367 joules per kilogram, CIN -1, lifted condensation level 569 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, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 00:00Z on 2008-05-15The 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 57 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 43 knots.193958Sfc1 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
2367 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-1 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1847 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
569 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
43 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
7 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
57 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
96 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.0
Supercell composite
4.6
0-3 km lapse rate
5.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

3.0 hours after it, 77 km from the path. May 15, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 12:00Z on 2008-05-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 29 joules per kilogram, CIN -483, lifted condensation level 697 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 2008-05-15The 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 -285 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 35 knots.193958Sfc1 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
29 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-483 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
697 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-285 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-289 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.2
0-3 km lapse rate
3.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Orange (ORG), 40 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
07:05 UTC7775.2160° 8 kt151008.8VCTS
07:25 UTC75.275.2150° 7 kt191008.1+TSRA
07:46 UTC75.275.2160° 12 kt211007.1-TSRA
08:05 UTC71.669.8190° 12 kt251007.1-VCTSRA
08:26 UTC71.669.8170° 8 kt1007.5VCTS
08:45 UTC71.671.6170° 10 kt161007.5+RA
09:06 UTC71.671.6200° 10 kt1008.8+TSRA
09:25 UTC71.671.6300° 10 kt151009.5-TSRA
09:46 UTC66.266.2340° 12 kt191009.8+TSRA
10:05 UTC66.266.2360° 12 kt221010.2TSRA
10:28 UTC66.266.240° 6 kt1010.2-VCTSRA

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The radar

The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 76 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 09:01 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
09:00 UTCTORNADO3 Se BunaJasper, TXEF0 TORNADO BLEW A ROOF OFF A BARN AND DOWNED TREES ALONG CAILLIER LOOP. PATH LENGTH OF 1/4 MILE AND PATH WIDTH OF 25 YARDS.
09:35 UTCTSTM WND DMGDeweyvilleNewton, TXTREES DOWN THROUGHOUT THE COUNTY. REPORTED BY NEWTON COUNTY SHERIFF OFFICE.

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 May 15, 2008

13 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 154:15 AM CDTEF1Beauregard Parish, LA4.9502$100,000
May 154:25 AM CDTEF0Beauregard Parish, LA0.325$5,000
May 156:12 AM CDTEF0Vermilion Parish, LA0.325$35,000
May 156:15 AM CDTEF2Lafayette Parish, LA7.6200$400,000
May 156:35 AM CDTEF0Lafayette Parish, LA0.725$100,000
May 156:35 AM CDTEF0Vermilion Parish, LA5.550$50,000
May 156:40 AM CDTEF1Lafayette Parish, LA0.8100$3.0 million
May 156:55 AM CDTEF1Saint Martin Parish, LA3.8501$1.5 million
May 159:00 AM CDTEF1Saint Tammany Parish, LA5.075$50,000
May 159:20 AM CDTEF1Washington Parish, LA2.5100$100,000
May 1510:05 AM CDTEF1Lamar, MS15.4600$710,000
May 1510:15 AM CDTEF1Forrest, MS1.3150$80,000
May 1512:17 PM CDTEF0Conecuh, AL15.0100$175,000

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.