EF2 tornado, Dierks to Center Pt, Arkansas, April 9, 2009

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

April 9, 2009

Touchdown

8:34 PM CDT (01:34 UTC)

Lifted

8:37 PM CDT (01:37 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

2.7 miles (4.4 km)

Path width

250 yards (229 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

1

Property damage

$500,000

County

Howard County

Touchdown point

34.010, -93.958

Lift-off point

34.047, -93.943

Record number

0904091934-01

A strong upper level storm system along with a surface dry line/front |over northeast Texas moved east during the evening hours of April 9th into the early morning hours of April 10th causing long lived supercell thunderstorms. These thunderstorms caused long track tornadoes to occur across southeast Oklahoma, southwest Arkansas, northeast Texas, and north Louisiana.

This tornado continued into Howard County from Sevier County Arkansas. The Dierks Lake area received significant damage near the Sevier, Howard County line. The Army Corps of Engineers office had significant roof damage to their office building with roofing material found in the trees adjacent to the building. The tornado was strongest in Howard County where the entire second story of a reinforced concrete building was decimated and strewn across the road. This was consistent with EF3 tornado damage with wind speeds of 140 mph. The tornado then moved into Pike County, Arkansas about 3.5 miles southwest of New Hope, Arkansas. The Arkansas governor declared Howard County a disaster area because of the tornado damage.

This tornado initially touched down near an open field, approximately 1.5 mile south of Centerpoint, along Coonridge Road. Travelling slightly east of due north, the tornado snapped and uprooted numerous pine and oak trees. The most significant damage occurred at a single-family residence 0.75 mile north of the touchdown, where the house suffered a considerable amount of damage. The garage, roof, and many supporting walls were removed from the foundation. All windows not completely blown out by the storm were still shattered. A barn adjacent to the house had a considerable loss of roofing material but, although shifted off its foundation, remained largely intact. Trees and powerlines were snapped or uprooted as the storm moved through the community of Centerpoint before lifting along Billings Road, about 0.25 mile east of SR-4. There was one injury at the residence but the injury was not life threatening. The Arkansas governor declared Howard County a disaster area because of the tornado damage in the county.

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

0 minutes of warning. NWS SHV issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:34 UTC, 0 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:44 UTC and running to 02:00 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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:55 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.

J Lynn Helms/De Queen (DEQ), 41 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 145 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:34 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 2009 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are

21 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.