Tornadoes · United States · Arkansas · 2008

EF1 tornado, Peter Pender, Arkansas, March 18, 2008

This EF1 tornado ran 7.0 miles across Franklin County on March 18, 2008, touching down at 11:55 AM CDT and reaching 600 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $75,000 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.

  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.

The record

Rating
EF1
Date
March 18, 2008
Touchdown
11:55 AM CDT (16:55 UTC)
Lifted
12:05 PM CDT (17:05 UTC)
On the ground
10 minutes
Path length
7.0 miles (11.3 km)
Path width
600 yards (549 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$75,000
County
Franklin County
Touchdown point
35.333, -93.979
Lift-off point
35.372, -93.864
Record number
0803181055-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Isolated severe thunderstorms and thunderstorms with heavy rain, which resulted in flash flooding, occurred on March 18. This event damaged many county roads and bridges across northwestern Arkansas and combined with previous damages, resulted in a Disaster Declaration for Benton, Carroll, Washington, Madison, Crawford, and Franklin Counties.

A tornado destroyed several large barns, damaged several homes, and blew down trees and power poles.

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

The warnings

0 minutes of warning. NWS TSA issued a tornado warning for this county at 16:55 UTC, 0 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 17:35 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 15:20 UTC and running to 21:05 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
00:00 UTC12:00 UTCFlood WatchTSA
00:00 UTC16:07 UTCFlash Flood WatchTSA
03:16 UTC11:00 UTCTornado WatchTSA
13:35 UTC19:30 UTCFlash Flood WarningTSA
15:20 UTC21:05 UTCTornado WatchTSA
16:17 UTC12:00 UTCFlood AdvisoryLZK
16:17 UTC12:00 UTCFlood AdvisoryLZK
16:17 UTC17:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSA
16:46 UTC17:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSA
16:55 UTC17:35 UTCTornado WarningTSA
19:14 UTC01:15 UTCFlash Flood WarningTSA
00:20 UTC22:01 UTCFlood 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 forecast that day

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 16:19 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.

Springfield, MO (KSGF), 12:00Z

4.9 hours before the tornado, 172 km from the path. March 18, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2008-03-18Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -54320, lifted condensation level 529 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 2008-03-18The 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 -191 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 67 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-54320 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
529 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
67 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-191 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-22 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Springfield, MO (KSGF), 00:00Z

7.1 hours after it, 172 km from the path. March 19, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 2008-03-19Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN 0, lifted condensation level 525 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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 2008-03-19The 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 91 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
0 J/kg
Surface CAPE
8 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
525 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
59 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
91 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
10 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 41 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 16:56 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)ReportWhereCountyRemark
16:33 UTCTSTM WND DMGHonScott, ARA HOME WAS DAMAGED AT HON. CHICKEN HOUSES AND BARNS WERE DAMAGED OR DESTROYED. TREES AND POWER LINES WERE DOWN. DAMAGE MAY BE DUE TO POSSIBLE TORNADO.
16:34 UTCFLASH FLOODVan BurenCrawford, ARPEVE HOUSE RD JUST OUTSIDE VAN BUREN CLOSED DUE TO HIGH WATER...HAMMER RD OFF HWY 162 SOUTH OF ALMA ALSO CLOSED.
16:40 UTCTSTM WND GST 65Ft ChaffeeFranklin, AR50 TO 65 MPH ESTIMATED WIND GUST AT FORT CHAFFEE AT HIGHWAY 22 AND EAST GATE.
16:47 UTCTSTM WND GST 65CharlestonFranklin, AR
16:52 UTCTSTM WND DMGBranchFranklin, ARTREE FELL ON HOUSE AT ROSS RD AND HWY 41 NEAR BRANCH. MULITPLE TREES DOWN ON HWY 41.
16:55 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 E BoonevilleLogan, ARTREES WERE REPORTED TO BE DOWN.
16:55 UTCTSTM WND GST 65Ft ChaffeeSebastian, AR50 TO 65 MPH ESTIMATED WIND GUST AT FORT CHAFFEE AT HIGHWAY 22 AND EAST GATE.
16:57 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 S CaulksvilleLogan, ARHOMES WERE REPORTED DAMAGED. TREES AND POWER LINES WERE REPORTED DOWN. DAMAGE MAY BE FROM A POSSIBLE TORNADO.
16:57 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Sw CaulksvilleLogan, ARDAMAGE TO PART OF METAL ROOF BLOWN OFF BARN. DAMAGE WAS NOTED FROM 2 SOUTHWEST OF CAULKSVILLE TO CAULKSVILLE.
16:57 UTCTSTM WND GST 65CharlestonFranklin, AR
17:00 UTCFLASH FLOODTurners BendFranklin, ARHWY 23 UNDER WATER DUE TO MULBERRY RIVER.
17:07 UTCFLASH FLOODGreenwoodSebastian, ARHIGH WATER AT HIGHWAY 71 AND HIDDEN VALLEY ROAD.
17:08 UTCFLASH FLOODAltusFranklin, AR
17:10 UTCTSTM WND DMGCoal HillJohnson, ARSHINGLES WERE BLOWN OFF A ROOF. ROAD SIGNS WERE BLOWN DOWN.
17:50 UTCTSTM WND DMG7 Ne ClarksvilleJohnson, ARSEVERAL OUT BUILDINGS WERE DAMAGED. ONE OUT BUILDING IS MISSING.
19:30 UTCFLASH FLOODClarksvilleJohnson, ARLOW WATER CROSSINGS WERE FLOODED IN MANY PARTS OF THE COUNTY.

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 March 18, 2008

3 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 182:40 PM CDTEF0Nueces, TX2.3100$50,000
March 183:30 PM CDTEF1Hopkins, TX2.770$250,000
March 188:36 PM CDTEF1Rusk, TX20.5300$3.5 million

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.