EF1 tornado, Levy to Toneyville, Arkansas, April 3, 2008

1. EF065 to 85 mph

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

2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

   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

EF1

Date

April 3, 2008

Touchdown

10:23 PM CDT (03:23 UTC)

Lifted

10:26 PM CDT (03:26 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

2.1 miles (3.4 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$25,000

County

Pulaski County

Touchdown point

34.904, -92.113

Lift-off point

34.919, -92.080

Record number

0804032123-01

The event began with a warm front moving north from the Gulf Coast region on the 3rd. The front was followed by above normal temperatures and abundant moisture. There was plenty of fuel for developing thunderstorms. A large area of showers and thunderstorms developed near the stalled front in northern and western Arkansas during the evening of the 3rd. |During the early morning hours of the 4th, it became a heavy rain event.

A tornado began in North Little Rock, south of St. Joseph's Orphanage, near the intersection of Camp Robinson Rd. and Donovan Briley Blvd. It passed through the southeast corner of Camp Joseph T. Robinson, moved across the North Little Rock Airport, continued through parts of Sherwood and Sylvan Hills, and ended on the north side of Gravel Ridge. At the North Little Rock Airport, a number of the hangars suffered substantial damage. Virtually all of the small planes that had been tied down on the parking apron were overturned. A DC3 aircraft rolled about 1/4 mile from the parking apron, across a runway, and into a ditch. A small plane was trapped beneath the DC3 as it rolled along. At the National Weather Service, located at the airport, the staff took shelter for a few minutes in the office's concrete-reinforced safe room. Damage at the weather office was limited to a flagpole, birdhouse, and TV antenna being blown down. At Sylvan Hills High School, a considerable amount of roof damage occurred. The Sherwood Sports Complex, adjacent to the school, suffered substantial damage. Nearby, a tornado siren was blown down. The greatest amount of residential damage occurred in the Hidden Creek subdivision, and on to the northeast on Loop Rd., Kellogg Acres Rd., and Oakdale Rd.

A small tornado occurred off to the east of a larger tornado that tracked from North Little Rock to just north of Gravel Ridge. This smaller tornado blew down a number of trees, with one of the trees falling on a house and another on a mobile home.

A tornado formed in a remote area on the east side of Little Rock Air Force Base. It tracked north of the equestrian area on the base, and continued on to U.S. Highway 67/167. Most of the damage was limited to trees being blown down, but a large billboard on the highway was also knocked down.

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

10 minutes of warning. NWS LZK issued a tornado warning for this county at 03:13 UTC, 10 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:34 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 01:22 UTC and running to 07:50 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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 01:18 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 Little Rock radar (KLZK), 17 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:23 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 ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are

11 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.