EF1 tornado, Cabot to Essex, 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

10:42 PM CDT (03:42 UTC)

Lifted

11:01 PM CDT (04:01 UTC)

On the ground

19 minutes

Path length

13.2 miles (21.2 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$35,000

Counties

White and Lonoke counties

Touchdown point

35.045, -92.020

Lift-off point

35.167, -91.842

Record number

0804032142-01

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 southwest of Cabot and was most intense as it traveled through industrial and business areas on the west side of the railroad tracks in Cabot. Business structures destroyed included a self-storage warehouse and two storage buildings. A truck repair building was badly damaged, and two large warehouses also suffered damage. Several vehicles on a used-car lot were damaged when a large canopy fell. A canopy was damaged at a gas station, and there was roof damage to several businesses. To the east of the railroad tracks, numerous houses sustained roof damage, both in the middle of Cabot and on northeast through the Shiloh subdivision. A few houses and vehicles were damaged by falling trees.

Damage was limited to some trees being blown down. The tornado moved out of Lonoke County, north-northwest of Ward, and into White County, west of Beebe.

This tornado exited Lonoke County, north-northwest of Ward, and moved into White County, west of Beebe. Numerous trees were blown down. Roofs were damaged on several barns and outbuildings.

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

29 minutes of warning. NWS LZK issued a tornado warning for this county at 03:13 UTC, 29 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 04:00 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.

Searcy Municipal Airport (M07) (SRC), 21 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Little Rock radar (KLZK), 43 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:40 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.