Tornadoes · United States · Wyoming · 2008

EF0 tornado, Allendale, Wyoming, May 7, 2008

This EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Natrona County on May 7, 2008, touching down at 3:12 PM MDT and reaching 30 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
3:12 PM MDT (21:12 UTC)
Path length
0.1 miles (0.1 km)
Path width
30 yards (27 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Natrona County
Touchdown point
42.806, -106.318
Lift-off point
42.806, -106.318
Record number
0805071512-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Severe thunderstorms formed over central Natrona County during the mid-afternoon hours. These storms produced a brief tornado on the south side of Casper and hail up to the size of golf balls.

A car was lifted off the ground and swirling debris was observed near the intersection of Casper Mountain Road and McKinley Street.

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

The warnings

4 minutes of warning. NWS RIW issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:08 UTC, 4 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:45 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
20:11 UTC21:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningRIW
20:44 UTC21:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningRIW
21:08 UTC21:45 UTCTornado WarningRIW

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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 20:14 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.

Riverton, WY (KRIW), 12:00Z

9.2 hours before the tornado, 172 km from the path. May 7, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Riverton, WY at 12:00Z on 2008-05-07Temperature 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 -88846, lifted condensation level 1847 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km-30°-20°-10°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, Riverton, WY at 12:00Z on 2008-05-07The 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 0 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-88846 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1847 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
6 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
0 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
171 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
6.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Riverton, WY (KRIW), 00:00Z

2.8 hours after it, 172 km from the path. May 8, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Riverton, WY 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 -86850, lifted condensation level 1668 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km-30°-20°-10°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, Riverton, WY 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 -136 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 56 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-86850 J/kg
Surface CAPE
78 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1668 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
56 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-136 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-60 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
6.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Riverton/Lander radar (KRIW), 178 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:11 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
20:33 UTCHAIL 111 W CasperNatrona, WY
20:36 UTCHAIL 1.2511 W CasperNatrona, WY
20:48 UTCHAIL 0.887 Sw CasperNatrona, WY
20:57 UTCHAIL 1.57 Sw CasperNatrona, WY
21:00 UTCHAIL 1.75CasperNatrona, WYGOLF BALL SIZED HAIL FELL ALONG WYOMING BOULEVARD ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF CASPER FROM 1500 TO 1513 HOURS.
21:05 UTCFUNNEL CLOUDCasperNatrona, WYTWO SEPARATE REPORTS OF A FUNNEL CLOUD OVER CASPER.
21:07 UTCFUNNEL CLOUDCasperNatrona, WYEMERGENCY MANAGEMENT REPORTED A LARGE FUNNEL CLOUD OVER WYOMING BOULEVARD ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF CASPER.
21:12 UTCTORNADOCasperNatrona, WYCAR WAS LIFTED AND SURROUNDED BY DEBRIS ON WYOMING BOULEVARD BETWEEN CASPER MOUNTAIN ROAD AND MCKINLEY.
21:48 UTCHAIL 0.7510 W GlenrockConverse, WYI-25 MM 175
21:48 UTCHAIL 0.7510 W GlenrockConverse, WY
21:48 UTCHAIL 0.7511 W GlenrockNatrona, WYI-25 MM 175
21:58 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD5 N GlenrockConverse, WYREPORTED BY FIRE CHIEF
22:02 UTCHAIL 13 Se GlenrockConverse, WYI-25 MM160 NICKEL TO QUARTER HAIL
22:15 UTCHAIL 110 Se GlenrockConverse, WY

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 WyomingEvery tornado in Wyoming since 1950Warnings in force in Wyoming 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 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
May 78:39 PM CDTEF0Robertson, TX2.150

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.