EF2 tornado, Ashton to Lake Vlg, Arkansas, May 2, 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 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

May 2, 2008

Touchdown

6:52 PM CDT (23:52 UTC)

Lifted

7:10 PM CDT (00:10 UTC)

On the ground

18 minutes

Path length

10.5 miles (16.9 km)

Path width

400 yards (366 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$1.5 million

Crop damage

$200,000

County

Chicot County

Touchdown point

33.360, -91.400

Lift-off point

33.475, -91.280

Record number

0805021752-01

A large and powerful storm system brought several rounds of severe weather to a large section of the Central United States. The Central Plains were hit hard on Thursday, May 1st, while the Mid-South and Lower Mississippi River Valley were impacted on Friday, May 2nd into the early morning hours of May 3rd. As this severe weather episode evolved over the National Weather Service Jackson, MS service area, several tornadoes occurred, along with large hail and damaging winds.

This tornado touched down near Highway 293 and tracked northeast for 10 miles where is dissipated shortly after crossing Highway 65. Along the path, hundreds of hardwood and softwood trees were snapped and uprooted. A mobile home was flipped over and destroyed. Several sheds, barns, outbuildings and unattached carports were damaged and destroyed along with several fences damaged. A 50 foot antenna was knocked down. A single family home had minor shingle damage, damage to siding, and window damage while 2 boats were damaged. The roll-up door for a tractor shed was damaged and a trampoline was blown around 75 yards and damaged. Lastly, 15 wooden power poles were also snapped near Highway 65. Maximum winds were around 115 mph.

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

32 minutes of warning. NWS JAN issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:20 UTC, 32 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:54 UTC and running to 00:51 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 19:50 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 Jackson/Brandon,MS radar (KDGX), 179 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:52 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

39 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.