Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 2008

EF2 tornado, Bunch to Stillwell Arpt, Oklahoma, April 10, 2008

From Bunch to Stillwell Arpt, this EF2 tornado ran 2.8 miles across Adair County on April 10, 2008, touching down at 5:15 AM CDT and reaching 300 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $100,000 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 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.

The record

Rating
EF2
Date
April 10, 2008
Touchdown
5:15 AM CDT (10:15 UTC)
Lifted
5:17 AM CDT (10:17 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
2.8 miles (4.4 km)
Path width
300 yards (274 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$100,000
County
Adair County
Touchdown point
35.754, -94.808
Lift-off point
35.781, -94.770
Record number
0804100415-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Severe thunderstorms occurred across eastern Oklahoma from the evening of the 9th into the morning of the 10th.

An NWS storm survey determined that a strong tornado destroyed several mobile homes, caused extensive tree damage, destroyed barns and other outbuildings, and snapped power poles.

An NWS storm survey determined that a strong tornado destroyed a mobile home, caused extensive tree damage, and snapped power poles. This tornado continued into Washington County Arkansas, lifting about 4 miles southwest of Lincoln.

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.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 08:56 UTC and running to 11:37 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
18:00 UTC17:45 UTCFlash Flood WatchTSA
22:38 UTC04:00 UTCTornado WatchTSA
01:03 UTC01:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSA
01:24 UTC05:30 UTCFlash Flood WarningTSA
05:52 UTC11:45 UTCFlash Flood WarningTSA
08:56 UTC11:37 UTCTornado WatchTSA
09:32 UTC11:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSA
13:37 UTC14:04 UTCFlood WarningTSA
19:34 UTC03:00 UTCWind AdvisoryTSA

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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 06:01 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

10.3 hours before the tornado, 154 km from the path. April 10, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 2008-04-10Temperature 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 -101652, lifted condensation level 615 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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 2008-04-10The 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 315 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 62 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
-101652 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
615 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
62 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
315 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
393 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Springfield, MO (KSGF), 12:00Z

1.7 hours after it, 154 km from the path. April 10, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2008-04-10Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 8 joules per kilogram, CIN -187, lifted condensation level 466 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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 2008-04-10The 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 30 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 62 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
8 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-187 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
466 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
62 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
4 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
30 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
205 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 66 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 10:14 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
09:49 UTCTSTM WND GST 68MuskogeeMuskogee, OK
09:55 UTCTSTM WND DMGVianSequoyah, OKSEVERAL TREES BLOWN OVER.
09:56 UTCTSTM WND DMG11 S TahlequahCherokee, OK80 FOOT TALL TREE DOWN ON INDIAN ROAD
10:05 UTCTSTM WND DMGCowlingtonLe Flore, OKTREES UPROOTED AND HOMES DAMAGED IN COWLINGTON.
10:30 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 W StilwellAdair, OK3 MOBILE HOMES DAMAGED AND TREES DOWNED ON HIGHWAY 100

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 OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 10, 2008

32 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 101:35 AM CDTEF1Brown, TX1.5125$150,000
April 103:03 AM CDTEF1Somervell, TX7.675$200,000
April 103:30 AM CDTEF1Johnson, TX2.950$25 million
April 104:00 AM CDTEF1Dallas, TX2.040$1.0 million
April 104:04 AM CDTEF1Collin, TX7.2175$12 million
April 104:05 AM CDTEF0Bell, TX6.4100$500,000
April 104:29 AM CDTEF1Sharp, AR1.0200$10,000
April 104:56 AM CDTEF0Sequoyah, OK2.0150
April 105:26 AM CDTEF2Adair, OK to AR9.0400$125,000
April 105:50 AM CDTEF2Washington, AR3.0600$125,000
April 106:02 AM CDTEF1Madison, AR0.8200$10,000
April 106:20 AM CDTEF1Madison, AR10.7900$100,000
April 107:55 AM CDTEF0Douglas, MO0.375$40,000
April 108:12 AM CDTEF2Bowie, TX5.52001$1.0 million
April 108:15 AM CDTEF0Howell, MO3.3150
April 1010:56 AM CDTEF1Grant, AR15.1175$30,000
April 104:33 PM CDTEF0Wayne, IA0.620
April 104:49 PM CDTEF0Wayne, IA0.420
April 104:57 PM CDTEF1Appanoose, IA2.030$75,000
April 105:10 PM CDTEF1Appanoose, IA2.950$75,000
April 105:43 PM CDTEF1Mahaska, IA3.050$100,000
April 105:55 PM CDTEF0Adams, IL9.150
April 106:16 PM CDTEF2Van Buren, IA1.8220$150,000
April 106:21 PM CDTEF1Poweshiek, IA7.650$100,000
April 106:25 PM CDTEF1Van Buren, IA5.350$30,000
April 106:30 PM CDTEF1Hancock, IL1.6150$100,000
April 106:33 PM CDTEF0Hancock, IL0.250$20,000
April 106:35 PM CDTEF0Hancock, IL0.875$30,000
April 106:36 PM CDTEF0Poweshiek, IA2.425$50,000
April 107:03 PM CDTEF0Keokuk, IA1.8100$50,000
April 107:05 PM CDTEF0Keokuk, IA0.025
April 108:30 PM CDTEF0Buchanan, MO0.330$70,000

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.