EF0 tornado, Channing to Dumas Muni Arpt, Texas, May 25, 2008

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.

Rating

EF0

Date

May 25, 2008

Touchdown

3:37 PM CDT (20:37 UTC)

Lifted

3:49 PM CDT (20:49 UTC)

On the ground

12 minutes

Path length

7.7 miles (12.3 km)

Path width

75 yards (69 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Hartley and Moore counties

Touchdown point

35.741, -102.254

Lift-off point

35.760, -102.120

Record number

0805251437-02

Severe thunderstorms producing large hail...damaging winds...and a few tornadoes moved across the western and central Texas Panhandle during the afternoon and evening hours. No injuries were reported.

The tornado developed four miles north northwest of Channing at 1429 CST and moved northeast. There were multiple reports from trained spotters...the broadcast media...and an off-duty National Weather Service employee of the tornado touching the ground. The tornado remained over open country and ended at 1435 CST roughly four to five miles north of Channing. No structural damage or injuries were reported. The tornado path length and path width were estimated. There were reports that four inch diameter tree branches were snapped off by the tornado.

This tornado formed six miles northeast of Channing in Hartley County and tracked east northeast for about five miles before exiting Hartley County about ten and a half miles east northeast of Channing at 1444 CST. The tornado continued in western Moore County for about another two miles...before dissipating at 1449 CST. The tornado remained over open country and no damage or injuries were reported. The tornado path length and path width were estimated.

This tornado formed six miles northeast of Channing in Hartley County and entered western Moore County about ten miles southwest of Dumas at 1444 CST. The tornado then continued moving east northeast for another two miles before dissipating about eight miles southwest of Dumas at 1449 CST. The tornado tracked across Middlewell Road just south of Farm to Market Road 722 at 1448 CST by law enforcement officials which was also confirmed by off-duty National Weather Service employees. No damage or injuries were reported and the tornado remained over open country. The tornado path length and path width were estimated.

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

11 minutes of warning. NWS AMA issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:26 UTC, 11 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:53 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:51 UTC and running to 22:59 UTC.

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 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 20:34 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 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.

Dumas (DUX), 20 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 72 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:35 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.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2008 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

31 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.