Tornadoes · United States · Arkansas · 2010

EF1 tornado, Savoy, Arkansas, May 13, 2010

This EF1 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Washington County on May 13, 2010, touching down at 6:24 AM CDT and reaching 75 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.

  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
May 13, 2010
Touchdown
6:24 AM CDT (11:24 UTC)
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
75 yards (69 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Washington County
Touchdown point
36.120, -94.355
Lift-off point
36.120, -94.355
Record number
1005130524-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A line of severe thunderstorms moved into northwestern Arkansas during the early morning hours on May 13. These storms produced damaging wind and a tornado. Severe thunderstorms redeveloped that afternoon with several damaging wind events resulting from those storms.

A KNWA meteorologist reported that a tornado uprooted trees and snapped large limbs. The maximum wind speed in the tornado based on this damage was about 90 mph.

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

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 11:00 UTC and running to 13:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
10:52 UTC12:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSA
11:00 UTC13:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchTSA
11:41 UTC12:06 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSA
18:46 UTC19:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSA
19:09 UTC19:50 UTCTornado WarningTSA
19:45 UTC20:18 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSA

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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 05:23 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), 00:00Z

11.4 hours before the tornado, 100 km from the path. May 13, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 2010-05-13Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1283 joules per kilogram, CIN -126, lifted condensation level 1221 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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 2010-05-13The 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 179 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 33 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
1283 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-126 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2755 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1221 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
33 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
179 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
306 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.4
Supercell composite
9.5
0-3 km lapse rate
5.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Springfield, MO (KSGF), 12:00Z

0.6 hours after it, 100 km from the path. May 13, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2010-05-13Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 139 joules per kilogram, CIN -135, lifted condensation level 570 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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 2010-05-13The 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 259 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 70 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
139 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-135 J/kg
Surface CAPE
35 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
570 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
70 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
41 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
259 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
313 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
10.4
0-3 km lapse rate
5.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 92 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 11:22 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
11:30 UTCTSTM WND DMGBentonvilleBenton, ARMAPLE TREE SNAPPED IN HALF AND BRANCHES RIPPED OFF ITS TRUNK.
11:33 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Ssw Elm SpringsWashington, ARSEVERAL POWER POLES DOWNED
11:37 UTCTSTM WND DMGSpringdaleWashington, ARSWATH OF TREE DAMAGE FROM SW TO NE 100 YARDS WIDE
11:42 UTCTSTM WND GST 601 Wsw Pea RidgeBenton, AR
11:48 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Wnw BestBenton, ARMANY LARGE TREE LIMBS BROKEN AND BLOWN ACROSS ROADS. SEVERAL LARGE TREES BLOWN DOWN IN FIELDS. NEAR WAR EAGLE ALONG HIGHWAY 303 WEST AND SOUTH OF HIGHWAY 303 AND 12 JCT.
11:50 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 Se GarfieldBenton, ARNUMEROUS LARGE TREE LIMBS BROKEN AND BLOWN DOWN NEAR LOST BRIDGE
12:00 UTCTSTM WND DMG10 S Eureka SpringsMadison, ARTWO LARGE TREES BLOWN DOWN. NUMEROUS LARGE TREE LIMBS BROKEN AND DOWN.
12:00 UTCTSTM WND DMG7 S Eureka SpringsMadison, ARLARGE TREE BLOWN ACROSS ROAD. LOCATION APPROXIMATE

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2010 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 13, 2010

15 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 134:19 AM CDTEF1Creek, OK20.01,000$75,000
May 134:43 AM CDTEF2Tulsa, OK22.7500$750,000
May 134:45 AM CDTEF1Tulsa, OK14.1500$125,000
May 134:52 AM CDTEF2Okmulgee, OK6.0300$200,000
May 135:04 AM CDTEF2Wagoner, OK5.15502$400,000
May 135:05 AM CDTEF2Rogers, OK6.0450$750,000
May 135:09 AM CDTEF0Rogers, OK3.1700$10,000
May 135:17 AM CDTEF2Rogers, OK8.71,0002$350,000
May 135:37 AM CDTEF1Cherokee, OK4.0200$10,000
May 135:51 AM CDTEF1Cherokee, OK4.0200
May 136:05 AM CDTEF1Ottawa, OK8.0500$25,000
May 137:00 AM CDTEF1Barry, MO2.2200$500,000
May 137:42 AM CDTEF0Stone, MO0.350$10,000
May 138:00 AM CDTEF0Christian, MO4.3200$50,000
May 131:47 AM EDTEF1Van Wert, OH2.1150

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.