Tornadoes · United States · Arkansas · 2008
EF1 tornado, Prattsville to East End, Arkansas, April 10, 2008
From Prattsville to East End, this EF1 tornado ran 15.1 miles across Grant and Saline counties on April 10, 2008, touching down at 10:56 AM CDT and reaching 175 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $30,000 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.
EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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
- EF1
- Date
- April 10, 2008
- Touchdown
- 10:56 AM CDT (15:56 UTC)
- Lifted
- 11:15 AM CDT (16:15 UTC)
- On the ground
- 19 minutes
- Path length
- 15.1 miles (24.2 km)
- Path width
- 175 yards (160 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $30,000
- Counties
- Grant and Saline counties
- Touchdown point
- 34.346, -92.506
- Lift-off point
- 34.507, -92.328
- Record number
- 0804100956-01
What the Weather Service recorded
Early on the 10th, there was widespread heavy rain in northern and western Arkansas. A weather system in Texas dragged a cold front toward the region, with a severe weather outbreak across Arkansas.
A tornado destroyed a barn, a shed, a cattle shed, and a covered pavilion at a cemetery. Four cows and a donkey were killed. Dozens of trees were snapped off or blown down. The tornado exited Grant County, north of Ico, and moved into Saline County, south of East End.
The tornado exited Grant County, north of Ico, and moved into Saline County, south of East End. Damage was limited to some trees being blown down on a timber company's land.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
30 minutes of warning. NWS LZK issued a tornado warning for this county at 15:26 UTC, 30 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 16:15 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 13:42 UTC and running to 19:37 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12:00 UTC | 04:58 UTC | Lake Wind Advisory | LZK |
| 13:42 UTC | 19:37 UTC | Tornado Watch | LZK |
| 14:44 UTC | 15:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK |
| 15:26 UTC | 16:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | LZK |
| 16:31 UTC | 19:00 UTC | Flash Flood Warning | LZK |
| 16:38 UTC | 17:18 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK |
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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 12:54 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.
Little Rock, AR (KLZK), 12:00Z
3.9 hours before the tornado, 230 km from the path. April 10, 2008.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 328 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -45 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 293 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 566 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 73 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 53 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 696 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 979 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 2.1
- Supercell composite
- 11.4
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.5 K/km
Little Rock, AR (KLZK), 00:00Z
8.1 hours after it, 230 km from the path. April 11, 2008.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -93384 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 2603 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 73 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 37 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 135 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 169 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.3
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.5 K/km
The radar
The Little Rock radar (KLZK), 48 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 15:57 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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17:05 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | Jacksonville | Pulaski, AR | SEVERAL ROADS IN JACKSONVILLE WERE REPORTED TO BE FLOODED. |
| 17:29 UTC | FLOOD | Gravel Ridge | Pulaski, AR | FLASH FLOODING REPORTED ON HIGHWAY 107. |
| 17:37 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | Jacksonville | Pulaski, AR | MADDOX ROAD IN JACKSONVILLE IS BECOMING IMPASSABLE DUE TO WATER OVER THE ROAD IN SEVERAL LOCATIONS. |
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 ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of April 10, 2008
32 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 10 | 1:35 AM CDT | EF1 | Brown, TX | 1.5 | 125 | $150,000 | ||
| April 10 | 3:03 AM CDT | EF1 | Somervell, TX | 7.6 | 75 | $200,000 | ||
| April 10 | 3:30 AM CDT | EF1 | Johnson, TX | 2.9 | 50 | $25 million | ||
| April 10 | 4:00 AM CDT | EF1 | Dallas, TX | 2.0 | 40 | $1.0 million | ||
| April 10 | 4:04 AM CDT | EF1 | Collin, TX | 7.2 | 175 | $12 million | ||
| April 10 | 4:05 AM CDT | EF0 | Bell, TX | 6.4 | 100 | $500,000 | ||
| April 10 | 4:29 AM CDT | EF1 | Sharp, AR | 1.0 | 200 | $10,000 | ||
| April 10 | 4:56 AM CDT | EF0 | Sequoyah, OK | 2.0 | 150 | |||
| April 10 | 5:15 AM CDT | EF2 | Adair, OK | 2.8 | 300 | $100,000 | ||
| April 10 | 5:26 AM CDT | EF2 | Adair, OK to AR | 9.0 | 400 | $125,000 | ||
| April 10 | 5:50 AM CDT | EF2 | Washington, AR | 3.0 | 600 | $125,000 | ||
| April 10 | 6:02 AM CDT | EF1 | Madison, AR | 0.8 | 200 | $10,000 | ||
| April 10 | 6:20 AM CDT | EF1 | Madison, AR | 10.7 | 900 | $100,000 | ||
| April 10 | 7:55 AM CDT | EF0 | Douglas, MO | 0.3 | 75 | $40,000 | ||
| April 10 | 8:12 AM CDT | EF2 | Bowie, TX | 5.5 | 200 | 1 | $1.0 million | |
| April 10 | 8:15 AM CDT | EF0 | Howell, MO | 3.3 | 150 | |||
| April 10 | 4:33 PM CDT | EF0 | Wayne, IA | 0.6 | 20 | |||
| April 10 | 4:49 PM CDT | EF0 | Wayne, IA | 0.4 | 20 | |||
| April 10 | 4:57 PM CDT | EF1 | Appanoose, IA | 2.0 | 30 | $75,000 | ||
| April 10 | 5:10 PM CDT | EF1 | Appanoose, IA | 2.9 | 50 | $75,000 | ||
| April 10 | 5:43 PM CDT | EF1 | Mahaska, IA | 3.0 | 50 | $100,000 | ||
| April 10 | 5:55 PM CDT | EF0 | Adams, IL | 9.1 | 50 | |||
| April 10 | 6:16 PM CDT | EF2 | Van Buren, IA | 1.8 | 220 | $150,000 | ||
| April 10 | 6:21 PM CDT | EF1 | Poweshiek, IA | 7.6 | 50 | $100,000 | ||
| April 10 | 6:25 PM CDT | EF1 | Van Buren, IA | 5.3 | 50 | $30,000 | ||
| April 10 | 6:30 PM CDT | EF1 | Hancock, IL | 1.6 | 150 | $100,000 | ||
| April 10 | 6:33 PM CDT | EF0 | Hancock, IL | 0.2 | 50 | $20,000 | ||
| April 10 | 6:35 PM CDT | EF0 | Hancock, IL | 0.8 | 75 | $30,000 | ||
| April 10 | 6:36 PM CDT | EF0 | Poweshiek, IA | 2.4 | 25 | $50,000 | ||
| April 10 | 7:03 PM CDT | EF0 | Keokuk, IA | 1.8 | 100 | $50,000 | ||
| April 10 | 7:05 PM CDT | EF0 | Keokuk, IA | 0.0 | 25 | |||
| April 10 | 8:30 PM CDT | EF0 | Buchanan, MO | 0.3 | 30 | $70,000 |
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.