Tornadoes · United States · Arkansas · 1998

F0 tornado, Jasper, Arkansas, November 10, 1998

This F0 tornado ran 0.5 miles across Newton County on November 10, 1998, touching down at 2:05 AM CST and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. F040 to 72 mphthis tornado

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

  2. F173 to 112 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. F2113 to 157 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. F3158 to 206 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. F4207 to 260 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. F5261 to 318 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
F0
Date
November 10, 1998
Touchdown
2:05 AM CST (08:05 UTC)
Path length
0.5 miles (0.8 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Newton County
Touchdown point
36.000, -93.050
Lift-off point
36.000, -93.050
Record number
458

What the Weather Service recorded

A weak tornado was spawned in eastern Newton County near Hasty. The tornado touched down briefly, destroying a trailer and damaging several roofs. Trees were also uprooted.

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

The warnings

27 minutes of warning. NWS LZK issued a tornado warning for this county at 07:38 UTC, 27 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 08:40 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
07:38 UTC08:40 UTCTornado WarningLZK

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 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.

Springfield, MO (KSGF), 00:00Z

8.1 hours before the tornado, 120 km from the path. November 10, 1998.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 1998-11-10Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 16 joules per kilogram, CIN -341, lifted condensation level 524 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, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 1998-11-10The 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 505 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 59 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
16 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-341 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
524 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
59 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
47 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
505 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
565 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Springfield, MO (KSGF), 12:00Z

3.9 hours after it, 120 km from the path. November 10, 1998.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 1998-11-10Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 10 joules per kilogram, CIN -1, lifted condensation level 702 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, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 1998-11-10The 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 -4 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 105 knots.1939587897117136Sfc1 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
10 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-1 J/kg
Surface CAPE
75 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
702 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
105 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-4 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-41 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Harrison/Boone Co. (HRO), 31 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
06:50 UTC66.260.8170° 23 kt31998
07:41 UTC6860.8200° 14 kt22999.7+TSRA
07:52 UTC6860.8200° 15 kt251000+TSRA
07:57 UTC60.857.2270° 18 kt301002.7
08:18 UTC55.451.8300° 20 kt301002
08:33 UTC53.651.8290° 12 kt181000.7-TSRA
08:38 UTC53.651.8290° 27 kt38.881000.7-SHRA
08:52 UTC53.651.8280° 9 kt161000.7SHRA
09:52 UTC55.448.2250° 11 kt1002

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

The radar

The Springfield radar (KSGF), 141 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 08:04 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.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1998 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of November 10, 1998

11 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
November 1012:35 AM CSTF1Sebastian, OK to AR5.0200$760,000
November 101:10 AM CSTF0Franklin, AR0.550$30,000
November 101:58 AM CSTF3Boone, MO2.07016$6.0 million
November 102:20 AM CSTF0Boone, AR0.5100
November 105:30 AM CSTF0Monroe, AR4.6100
November 107:55 AM CSTF1Fayette, TN5.51,000$250,000
November 108:05 AM CSTF0Gallatin, IL0.230$20,000
November 109:45 AM CSTF0Acadia Parish, LA0.230$50,000
November 1011:15 AM CSTF0Iberia Parish, LA1.030$20,000
November 1011:45 AM CSTF1Tangipahoa Parish, LA0.5501$50,000
November 101:52 PM ESTF0Muskegon, MI2.5700

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.