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.
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 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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
- 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) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18:00 UTC | 17:45 UTC | Flash Flood Watch | TSA |
| 22:38 UTC | 04:00 UTC | Tornado Watch | TSA |
| 01:03 UTC | 01:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TSA |
| 01:24 UTC | 05:30 UTC | Flash Flood Warning | TSA |
| 05:52 UTC | 11:45 UTC | Flash Flood Warning | TSA |
| 08:56 UTC | 11:37 UTC | Tornado Watch | TSA |
| 09:32 UTC | 11:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TSA |
| 13:37 UTC | 14:04 UTC | Flood Warning | TSA |
| 19:34 UTC | 03:00 UTC | Wind Advisory | TSA |
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.
- 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
Springfield, MO (KSGF), 12:00Z
1.7 hours after it, 154 km from the path. April 10, 2008.
- 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
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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 09:49 UTC | TSTM WND GST 68 | Muskogee | Muskogee, OK | |
| 09:55 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Vian | Sequoyah, OK | SEVERAL TREES BLOWN OVER. |
| 09:56 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 11 S Tahlequah | Cherokee, OK | 80 FOOT TALL TREE DOWN ON INDIAN ROAD |
| 10:05 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Cowlington | Le Flore, OK | TREES UPROOTED AND HOMES DAMAGED IN COWLINGTON. |
| 10:30 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 5 W Stilwell | Adair, OK | 3 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.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 10 | 1:35 AM CDT | EF1 | Brown, TX | 1.5 | 125 | $150,000 | ||
| April 10 | 3:03 AM CDT | EF1 | Somervell, TX | 7.6 | 75 | $200,000 | ||
| April 10 | 3:30 AM CDT | EF1 | Johnson, TX | 2.9 | 50 | $25 million | ||
| April 10 | 4:00 AM CDT | EF1 | Dallas, TX | 2.0 | 40 | $1.0 million | ||
| April 10 | 4:04 AM CDT | EF1 | Collin, TX | 7.2 | 175 | $12 million | ||
| April 10 | 4:05 AM CDT | EF0 | Bell, TX | 6.4 | 100 | $500,000 | ||
| April 10 | 4:29 AM CDT | EF1 | Sharp, AR | 1.0 | 200 | $10,000 | ||
| April 10 | 4:56 AM CDT | EF0 | Sequoyah, OK | 2.0 | 150 | |||
| April 10 | 5:26 AM CDT | EF2 | Adair, OK to AR | 9.0 | 400 | $125,000 | ||
| April 10 | 5:50 AM CDT | EF2 | Washington, AR | 3.0 | 600 | $125,000 | ||
| April 10 | 6:02 AM CDT | EF1 | Madison, AR | 0.8 | 200 | $10,000 | ||
| April 10 | 6:20 AM CDT | EF1 | Madison, AR | 10.7 | 900 | $100,000 | ||
| April 10 | 7:55 AM CDT | EF0 | Douglas, MO | 0.3 | 75 | $40,000 | ||
| April 10 | 8:12 AM CDT | EF2 | Bowie, TX | 5.5 | 200 | 1 | $1.0 million | |
| April 10 | 8:15 AM CDT | EF0 | Howell, MO | 3.3 | 150 | |||
| April 10 | 10:56 AM CDT | EF1 | Grant, AR | 15.1 | 175 | $30,000 | ||
| April 10 | 4:33 PM CDT | EF0 | Wayne, IA | 0.6 | 20 | |||
| April 10 | 4:49 PM CDT | EF0 | Wayne, IA | 0.4 | 20 | |||
| April 10 | 4:57 PM CDT | EF1 | Appanoose, IA | 2.0 | 30 | $75,000 | ||
| April 10 | 5:10 PM CDT | EF1 | Appanoose, IA | 2.9 | 50 | $75,000 | ||
| April 10 | 5:43 PM CDT | EF1 | Mahaska, IA | 3.0 | 50 | $100,000 | ||
| April 10 | 5:55 PM CDT | EF0 | Adams, IL | 9.1 | 50 | |||
| April 10 | 6:16 PM CDT | EF2 | Van Buren, IA | 1.8 | 220 | $150,000 | ||
| April 10 | 6:21 PM CDT | EF1 | Poweshiek, IA | 7.6 | 50 | $100,000 | ||
| April 10 | 6:25 PM CDT | EF1 | Van Buren, IA | 5.3 | 50 | $30,000 | ||
| April 10 | 6:30 PM CDT | EF1 | Hancock, IL | 1.6 | 150 | $100,000 | ||
| April 10 | 6:33 PM CDT | EF0 | Hancock, IL | 0.2 | 50 | $20,000 | ||
| April 10 | 6:35 PM CDT | EF0 | Hancock, IL | 0.8 | 75 | $30,000 | ||
| April 10 | 6:36 PM CDT | EF0 | Poweshiek, IA | 2.4 | 25 | $50,000 | ||
| April 10 | 7:03 PM CDT | EF0 | Keokuk, IA | 1.8 | 100 | $50,000 | ||
| April 10 | 7:05 PM CDT | EF0 | Keokuk, IA | 0.0 | 25 | |||
| April 10 | 8:30 PM CDT | EF0 | Buchanan, MO | 0.3 | 30 | $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.