Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2008

EF0 tornado, Bremond to New Baden, Texas, May 7, 2008

From Bremond to New Baden, this EF0 tornado ran 2.1 miles across Robertson County on May 7, 2008, touching down at 8:39 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
May 7, 2008
Touchdown
8:39 PM CDT (01:39 UTC)
Lifted
8:48 PM CDT (01:48 UTC)
On the ground
9 minutes
Path length
2.1 miles (3.3 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Robertson County
Touchdown point
31.083, -96.438
Lift-off point
31.080, -96.403
Record number
0805071939-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A cold front and bulging dryline moved into north Texas during the afternoon hours as an upper level low pressure system moved from west Texas into Oklahoma. Numerous severe storms were the result with several reports of severe hail and wind damage. A cyclic supercell produced three tornadoes in Robertson County.

A brief touchdown was reported on the southeast edge of Bremond. The tornado downed power lines and damaged trees.

A tornado was observed by the Bremond Fire Department and the public near Petteway. Numerous trees were downed or damaged along its path.

The Franklin Fire Department reported a brief touchdown. No damage was reported.

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

The warnings

34 minutes of warning. NWS FWD issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:05 UTC, 34 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:42 UTC and running to 02:21 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
20:42 UTC02:21 UTCTornado WatchFWD
00:41 UTC01:30 UTCTornado WarningFWD
01:05 UTC01:45 UTCTornado WarningFWD
01:40 UTC02:01 UTCTornado WarningFWD

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 01:01 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

1.7 hours before the tornado, 211 km from the path. May 8, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Fort Worth, TX at 00:00Z on 2008-05-08Temperature 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 -88664, lifted condensation level 4305 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 2008-05-08The 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 127 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 38 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
-88664 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
4305 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
127 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
139 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
9.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

10.3 hours after it, 211 km from the path. May 8, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Fort Worth, TX at 12:00Z on 2008-05-08Temperature 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 -87294, lifted condensation level 722 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 12:00Z on 2008-05-08The 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 -20 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 40 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
-87294 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
722 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
40 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-20 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
33 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Ft Hood radar (KGRK), 100 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:39 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
23:56 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Sw BuffaloLeon, TXTREES DOWN BETWEEN BUFFALO AND JEWETT. RELAYED BY TV STATION.
00:47 UTCHAIL 1MarlinFalls, TXNEAR REAGAN COMMUNITY
01:08 UTCTSTM WND GST 7012 E MarlinFalls, TX
01:10 UTCTORNADO2 Sse BremondRobertson, TXBRIEF TOUCHDOWN...TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN
01:16 UTCTORNADO6 Ese BremondRobertson, TXNEAR PETTEWAY COMM...FROM BREMOND FD RELAYED BY HAMS
01:39 UTCTORNADO6 Ene FranklinRobertson, TXDELAYED REPORT FROM FRANKLIN F.D. RELAYED BY HAMS

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 7, 2008

10 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 711:50 AM CDTEF0Hockley, TX1.220
May 73:12 PM MDTEF0Natrona, WY0.130
May 74:56 PM CDTEF1Garvin, OK0.5301$50,000
May 74:57 PM CDTEF1Canadian, OK7.5120$150,000
May 75:21 PM CDTEF0Cleveland, OK4.625$25,000
May 75:22 PM CDTEF0Oklahoma, OK2.820$50,000
May 76:40 PM CDTEF0Okmulgee, OK4.0200$35,000
May 77:28 PM CDTEF0Tulsa, OK0.350$75,000
May 78:10 PM CDTEF0Robertson, TX1.050$10,000
May 78:15 PM CDTEF1Robertson, TX2.6250

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.