Tornadoes · United States · Arkansas · 2008

EF1 tornado, Geridge to Fairmount, Arkansas, May 10, 2008

Name: EF1 tornado, Geridge to Fairmount, Arkansas, May 10, 2008
Start: 2008-05-11T00:47:00.000Z
End: 2008-05-11T00:52:00.000Z
Location: Geridge to Fairmount, Arkansas

From Geridge to Fairmount, this EF1 tornado ran 2.7 miles across Lonoke and Prairie counties on May 10, 2008, touching down at 7:47 PM CDT and reaching 400 yards wide. It killed nobody.

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: May 10, 2008
Touchdown: 7:47 PM CDT (00:47 UTC)
Lifted: 7:52 PM CDT (00:52 UTC)
On the ground: 5 minutes
Path length: 2.7 miles (4.3 km)
Path width: 400 yards (366 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Counties: Lonoke and Prairie counties
Touchdown point: 34.499, -91.723
Lift-off point: 34.501, -91.676
Record number: 0805101847-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A cold front moved through Arkansas on the 9th, but the front then stalled and moved back to the north as a warm front on the 10th. Severe storms developed north of the front during the afternoon, with tornadoes developing closer to the front during the early evening hours.

Damage was limited to trees being blown down. Much of the tornado's path was over creek bottoms and a swampy area. The tornado exited Lonoke County, southeast of Humnoke, and entered Prairie County, in the swamp surrounding Bayou Meto south of U.S. Highway 165. A portion of the tornado's track was determined by an Arkansas Forestry Commission fly-over.

This tornado exited Lonoke County, southeast of Humnoke, and entered Prairie County, in the swampy area around Bayou Meto south of U.S. Highway 165. Damage was limited to some trees blown down in the swamp. This part of the tornado's track was determined by an Arkansas Forestry Commission fly-over.

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

The forecast that day

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 20:09 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.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Little Rock, AR wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at May 10, 4:08 PM CDT, 3 hours 39 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 10, 4:08 PM CDT, 3 hours 39 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
408 PM CDT SAT MAY 10 2008

.SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT
NEARLY STATIONARY BOUNDARY LOCATED ALONG INTERSTATE 40...THEN
EXTENDS NORTH-NORTHWESTWARD...NEAR AND TO THE WEST OF HIGHWAY 71.
LOCAL RADARS INDICATE CURRENT CONVECTION IS ELEVATED IN
NATURE...AND MOVING AT 270/50.

DRYLINE FEATURE...JUST EAST OF INTERSTATE 35...WILL ACCELERATE
EASTWARD BY EARLY EVENING...AND WILL LIKELY FOCUS SURFACE BASED
DEVELOPMENT. SURFACE BASED CAPE VALUES OF 3500 J/KG+.....AND
SIGNIFICANT LOW LEVEL SHEAR ALL INDICATE A SUBSTANTIAL POTENTIAL
FOR SUPERCELLS...WHICH WILL BE SUPPORTIVE OF TORNADIC
DEVELOPMENT...AT LEAST THROUGH EARLY EVENING.

THE FORMATION OF AN ORGANIZED CONVECTIVE COMPLEX IS STILL
POSSIBLE BEFORE ALL THE CONVECTION EXITS THE FORECAST AREA BY 11/10Z.

ANOTHER...LESS POTENT SYSTEM WILL AFFECT THE REGION LATE IN THIS PERIOD.

&&

.LONG TERM...WEDNESDAY THROUGH SATURDAY
MODELS STILL INDC THE NEXT WEATHER MAKER MOVG THRU THE REGION AT THE
START OF THE PD. THE QUESTION STILL RMNS IS IF THE FNTL BNDRY WL
STALL OUT JUST SE OF AR BY THU OR CONTG WORKING FURTHER SEWD. QUICK
LOOK AT THE 12Z ECMWF SEEMS TO BACK THIS TREND UP...ALONG WITH THE
GFS...WHICH WOULD RESULT IN LINGERING RAIN CHCS FOR PARTS OF THE
AREA INTO FRI. FOR NOW...OPTED TO STAY WITH CONSISTENCY AND CONT
WITH A PROGRESSIVE TREND...INDCG DRIER CONDS INTO NEXT WEEKEND.

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
BATESVILLE AR     53  68  45  75 /  60  20   0   0
CAMDEN AR         60  74  45  80 /  60  20   0   0
HARRISON AR       48  66  41  75 /  60   0   0   0
HOT SPRINGS AR    56  72  45  78 /  60  10   0   0
LITTLE ROCK   AR  57  72  47  77 /  60  20   0   0
MONTICELLO AR     61  75  50  79 /  60  30   0   0
MOUNT IDA AR      54  71  44  78 /  60  10   0   0
MOUNTAIN HOME AR  49  66  42  75 /  60  10   0   0
NEWPORT AR        55  70  47  75 /  60  20   0   0
PINE BLUFF AR     59  73  49  78 /  60  20   0   0
RUSSELLVILLE AR   53  69  44  77 /  60   0   0   0
SEARCY AR         55  71  47  76 /  60  20   0   0
STUTTGART AR      58  72  50  77 /  60  20   0   0
&&

.LZK WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE.
&&

SHORT TERM...55 / LONG TERM...44

Hazardous weather outlook, May 10, 11:39 AM CDT, 8 hours 8 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
1139 AM CDT SAT MAY 10 2008

ARZ003>007-012>016-021>025-030>034-037>047-052>057-062>069-111000-
ARKANSAS-BAXTER-BOONE-BRADLEY-CALHOUN-CLARK-CLEBURNE-CLEVELAND-
CONWAY-DALLAS-DESHA-DREW-FAULKNER-FULTON-GARLAND-GRANT-HOT SPRING-
INDEPENDENCE-IZARD-JACKSON-JEFFERSON-JOHNSON-LINCOLN-LOGAN-LONOKE-
MARION-MONROE-MONTGOMERY-NEWTON-OUACHITA-PERRY-PIKE-POLK-POPE-
PRAIRIE-PULASKI-SALINE-SCOTT-SEARCY-SHARP-STONE-VAN BUREN-WHITE-
WOODRUFF-YELL-
1139 AM CDT SAT MAY 10 2008

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR A LARGE PART OF ARKANSAS.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

RESIDENTS OF ARKANSAS ARE ADVISED TO MONITOR THE LATEST WEATHER
STATEMENTS...AND BE PREPARED TO IMPLEMENT PERSONAL SEVERE WEATHER
SAFETY ACTIONS.

MUCH OF ARKANSAS IS UNDER A MODERATE RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER TODAY.

THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO INCREASE IN COVERAGE THIS AFTERNOON
ACROSS MUCH OF THE STATE.  THROUGH EARLY AFTERNOON...LARGE HAIL WILL
BE THE PRIMARY THREAT WITH THESE STORMS.

BY THE MID AFTERNOON HOURS...INSTABILITY...BASED NEAR THE SURFACE...
IS EXPECTED TO RAPIDLY INCREASE ACROSS WESTERN ARKANSAS...AHEAD OF A
COLD FRONT APPROACHING WESTERN PORTIONS OF STATE. THUNDERSTORMS
FORMING IN THIS REGION WILL HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO REALIZE THIS
INSTABILITY. THIS INSTABILITY...COMBINED WITH FORECAST WIND PROFILES
SUGGEST SUPERCELL THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE LIKELY.  LARGE
HAIL...DAMAGING WIND GUSTS...AND TORNADOES WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH
THESE STORMS...AS THE RACE QUICKLY TO THE EAST.

CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A LARGE...LINEAR
SQUALL LINE TO DEVELOP AHEAD OF THE COLD FRONT DURING THE EVENING HOURS.
THIS WOULD PROMOTE THE POTENTIAL FOR WIDESPREAD...DAMAGING WIND
GUSTS.

BE PREPARED FOR THIS DANGEROUS SEVERE WEATHER SITUATION....MONITOR
THE LATEST WEATHER BULLETINS...AND REVIEW SEVERE WEATHER SAFETY
RULES.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY

THE AFOREMENTIONED COLD FRONT WILL MOVE OUT OF THE STATE SUNDAY. DRY
WEATHER WILL RETURN FOR THE EARLY PART OF NEXT WEEK...AS HIGH
PRESSURE MOVES INTO THE REGION. ANOTHER FRONT WILL MOVE INTO THE
AREA TUESDAY...BRINGING THE NEXT CHANCE OF RAINFALL FOR TUESDAY
THROUGH THURSDAY.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...
PARTICULARLY IN THE SOUTHERN TWO THIRDS OF THE STATE.

&&

VISIT NWS LITTLE ROCK ON THE WEB. GO TO WEATHER.GOV AND CLICK ON
CENTRAL ARKANSAS.

55

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 10, 6:51 PM CDT, 56 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
651 PM CDT SAT MAY 10 2008

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0650 PM     HAIL             AVILLA                  34.68N 92.58W
05/10/2008  E1.75 INCH       SALINE             AR   STORM CHASER

&&

55

Local storm report, May 10, 6:53 PM CDT, 54 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
653 PM CDT SAT MAY 10 2008

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0652 PM     HAIL             WOOSTER                 35.20N 92.45W
05/10/2008  E0.75 INCH       FAULKNER           AR   TRAINED SPOTTER

&&

55

Local storm report, May 10, 7:22 PM CDT, 25 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
722 PM CDT SAT MAY 10 2008

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0710 PM     HAIL             EAST END                34.55N 92.32W
05/10/2008  E1.75 INCH       SALINE             AR   TRAINED SPOTTER

0710 PM     HAIL             PANGBURN                35.43N 91.84W
05/10/2008  E0.88 INCH       WHITE              AR   LAW ENFORCEMENT

            HAIL AND WIND GUST ESTIMATED AT 60 MPH.

0715 PM     TSTM WND DMG     JOY                     35.28N 91.95W
05/10/2008                   WHITE              AR   TRAINED SPOTTER

            TREES WERE REPORTED DOWN ON HIGHWAY 36 EAST.

0715 PM     HAIL             1 W TOLTEC              34.65N 92.07W
05/10/2008  E1.25 INCH       LONOKE             AR   TRAINED SPOTTER

&&

222

Local storm report, May 10, 7:27 PM CDT, 20 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
727 PM CDT SAT MAY 10 2008

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0705 PM     HAIL             2 NW MABELVALE          34.67N 92.41W
05/10/2008  E1.25 INCH       PULASKI            AR   LAW ENFORCEMENT

            HALF DOLLAR SIZE HAIL REPORTED AT CRYSTAL VALLEY ROAD
            AREA.

0727 PM     HAIL             ENGLAND                 34.54N 91.97W
05/10/2008  E1.75 INCH       LONOKE             AR   LAW ENFORCEMENT

&&

222

Local storm report, May 10, 7:33 PM CDT, 14 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
733 PM CDT SAT MAY 10 2008

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0707 PM     HAIL             MABELVALE               34.65N 92.38W
05/10/2008  E1.75 INCH       PULASKI            AR   PUBLIC

            GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL WAS REPORTED AT THE INTERSECTION OF
            CHICO ROAD AND MABELVALE CUT OFF.

&&

222

Local storm report, May 10, 7:36 PM CDT, 11 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
736 PM CDT SAT MAY 10 2008

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0725 PM     TORNADO          EL PASO                 35.12N 92.08W
05/10/2008                   WHITE              AR   TRAINED SPOTTER

            BRIEF TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN AT 827 EL PASO ROAD.

&&

222

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), 00:00Z

0.8 hours before the tornado, 164 km from the path. May 11, 2008.

Skew-T log-p

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.

Hodograph

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: 2977 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -31 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 1880 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 589 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 67 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 25 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 247 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 426 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 9.1
Supercell composite: 41.7
0-3 km lapse rate: 5.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), 12:00Z

11.2 hours after it, 164 km from the path. May 11, 2008.

Skew-T log-p

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.

Hodograph

Mixed-layer CAPE: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -97359 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1070 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 88 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 50 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -114 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -4 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0
0-3 km lapse rate: 3.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Stuttgart (Awos) (SGT), 16 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)	Temp (°F)	Dew point (°F)	Wind	Gust (kt)	Pressure (mb)	Weather
00:00 UTC

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

The radar

The Little Rock radar (KLZK), 64 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:47 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.

This ground now

The live radar over the track Every 2008 tornado in Arkansas Every tornado in Arkansas since 1950 Warnings in force in Arkansas now The forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 10, 2008

36 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 10	1:28 PM CDT	EF0	Washington, AR	0.1	50
May 10	5:03 PM CDT	EF2	Pittsburg, OK	8.2	200			$500,000
May 10	5:15 PM CDT	EF0	Labette, KS	0.3	50
May 10	5:19 PM CDT	EF0	McIntosh, OK	0.1	50
May 10	5:19 PM CDT	EF0	Labette, KS	1.0	60
May 10	5:19 PM CDT	EF0	Cherokee, KS	2.0	150			$10,000
May 10	5:20 PM CDT	EF4	Picher–Neosho tornado, Oklahoma and Missouri	75.5	1,760	21	350	$61 million
May 10	5:21 PM CDT	EF0	Pittsburg, OK	0.1	50
May 10	5:25 PM CDT	EF0	Pittsburg, OK	0.5	75
May 10	5:25 PM CDT	EF0	Mayes, OK	0.1	50
May 10	5:34 PM CDT	EF0	Latimer, OK	5.5	100
May 10	5:42 PM CDT	EF2	Pittsburg, OK	19.0	580		4	$1.2 million
May 10	5:48 PM CDT	EF1	Ottawa, OK	2.3	200
May 10	6:05 PM CDT	EF2	Pushmataha, OK	3.5	100			$75,000
May 10	6:08 PM CDT	EF1	Jasper, MO	3.0	440	1	10	$1.0 million
May 10	6:30 PM CDT	EF1	Pushmataha, OK	1.5	200
May 10	6:35 PM CDT	EF1	Pushmataha, OK	0.5	100
May 10	6:35 PM CDT	EF1	Benton, AR	1.5	100			$100,000
May 10	6:58 PM CDT	EF0	Barry, MO	3.8	800
May 10	7:05 PM CDT	EF0	McCurtain, OK	0.4	50
May 10	7:14 PM CDT	EF1	White, AR	9.2	350			$25,000
May 10	7:42 PM CDT	EF0	White, AR	0.0	8
May 10	7:51 PM CDT	EF0	Franklin, AR	0.1	50
May 10	7:55 PM CDT	EF1	Sevier, AR	1.5	100			$250,000
May 10	7:57 PM CDT	EF1	Woodruff, AR	10.2	500			$90,000
May 10	7:57 PM CDT	EF3	Arkansas, AR	14.1	1,320		9	$75 million
May 10	8:26 PM CDT	EF1	Monroe, AR	4.4	700			$25,000
May 10	9:04 PM CDT	EF0	Hempstead, AR	1.0	50			$5,000
May 10	9:32 PM CDT	EF1	Nevada, AR	2.4	50
May 10	9:33 PM CDT	EF1	Quitman, MS	0.3	30			$25,000
May 10	10:15 PM CDT	EF1	Tallahatchie, MS	8.7	100		2	$185,000
May 10	11:00 PM CDT	EF1	Lauderdale, AL	1.6	250			$100,000
May 10	11:18 PM CDT	EF1	Marion, AL	25.5	400			$100,000
May 10	11:59 PM CDT	EF1	Lauderdale, AL	1.0	250			$5,000
May 10	12:27 AM CDT	EF1	Walker, AL	9.3	400			$20,000
May 10	12:37 AM CDT	EF2	Walker, AL	13.5	330			$155,000

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.