EF1 tornado, Dalton to Naylor, Arkansas, February 5, 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

February 5, 2008

Touchdown

7:20 PM CST (01:20 UTC)

Lifted

7:48 PM CST (01:48 UTC)

On the ground

28 minutes

Path length

31.9 miles (51.4 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

4

Property damage

$280,000

Counties

Randolph and Ripley counties

Touchdown point

36.423, -91.175

Lift-off point

36.585, -90.638

Record number

0802051920-01

A strong low pressure system tracked from Northern Arkansas into Southern Missouri during the evening hours of February 5th, 2008. Supercells developed out ahead of the system during the late afternoon into the early evening. The storms produced tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds. As the supercells moved east during the evening, a cold front moved into Eastern Arkansas. A squall line developed along the front and produced another round of large hail and damaging winds. The front continued to push east into the overnight hours.

A deepening low pressure system moved northeast from Arkansas along a warm front that extended across southeast Missouri and southern Illinois. Surface dew points were in the upper 50's to lower 60's along and southeast of the warm front. A strong upper level trough over the western Plains produced a strong southwest flow of 60 to 80 knots at 500 mb. Winds at 850 mb were south to southwest around 40 knots.

The initial tornado touchdown occurred about one mile west northwest of Dalton, Arkansas around 720 pm CST. The tornado moved northeast for 11 miles on a non-continuous path with the last touchdown near Warm Springs, Arkansas before crossing into Missouri. The maximum width was around 200 yards. The tornado was determined to be an EF-1 with maximum wind speeds near 110 mph. There were 4 minor injuries. The first touchdown occurred one mile west northwest of Dalton and destroyed one home. Minor damage occurred to another house and a detached garage with living quarters above it. The tornado touched down again near the Blackwell Community about 3 miles northeast of Dalton. A manufactured home was moved off its foundation with an outbuilding totally destroyed. Another touchdown occurred 4 miles northeast of Dalton moving a cabin off its block foundation. A fourth touchdown was noted 5 miles northeast of Dalton. Three homes had moderate roof damage. In addition, a large metal building had severe damage. Tree damage was noted near Warm Springs indicating another touchdown. The tornado then tracked into Ripley County, Missouri.

The tornado crossed into Ripley County from Randolph County, Arkansas. There was sporadic tree damage with tops snapped off or uprooted. Several outbuildings (mostly pole barns) were destroyed. Four to five older unattended mobile homes were damaged or destroyed. The last damage noted was an old barn knocked over just southeast of Oxly. The width ranged from 100 to 200 yards. The damage path was broken. Peak winds were estimated near 109 mph.

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

25 minutes of warning. NWS MEG issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:55 UTC, 25 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 21:14 UTC and running to 03:08 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 00:48 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 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.

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 159 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:18 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

61 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 62 of them

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.