Tornadoes · United States · Oklahoma · 2009
EF2 tornado, Mountain Fork to Ink, Oklahoma, April 9, 2009
From Mountain Fork to Ink, this EF2 tornado ran 10.7 miles across Polk and LeFlore counties on April 9, 2009, touching down at 7:26 PM CDT and reaching 800 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 4, and did $350,000 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 9, 2009
- Touchdown
- 7:26 PM CDT (00:26 UTC)
- Lifted
- 7:41 PM CDT (00:41 UTC)
- On the ground
- 15 minutes
- Path length
- 10.7 miles (17.2 km)
- Path width
- 800 yards (732 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 4
- Property damage
- $350,000
- Counties
- Polk and LeFlore counties
- Touchdown point
- 34.619, -94.562
- Lift-off point
- 34.654, -94.384
- Record number
- 0904091826-01
What the Weather Service recorded
Low pressure aloft approached from the west and collided with moisture and instability. Thunderstorms developed in eastern Oklahoma during the afternoon, then became more numerous as they entered western Arkansas during the evening. The storms brought a few tornadoes and numerous hailstorms to Arkansas during the evening hours.
A tornado moved out of Le Flore County, Oklahoma, and entered Polk County, Arkansas, just north of where Oklahoma Highway 63 becomes Arkansas Highway 8 at the state line. A vacation home was destroyed and a 5th-wheel camping trailer was overturned. Hundreds of trees were knocked down in the Ouachita National Forest. Much of the track of the tornado through the forest was inaccessible by road, so aerial imagery from a flyover by the USDA Forest Service was used to determine this portion of the track.
A tornado began to the west-southwest of Mena, then tracked through the northwest side of Mena. According to the Polk County Judge, 165 houses were destroyed, 701 houses had major damage, and more than 11,000 trees were blown down. The Polk County Courthouse, county jail, Mena City Hall, and the police and fire departments were damaged in downtown Mena, as were several businesses. Mena Middle School, also located downtown, was structurally damaged beyond repair. A nursing home was also damaged. Most of the city lost electricity. The tornado then tracked to the northeast, badly damaging several industrial buildings. There was considerable roof damage at Rich Mountain Community College, and lesser damage to the hospital. As the tornado continued to the northeast, a tractor dealership was destroyed. A number of rural residences and farms were damaged as the tornado moved out into rural Polk County. North of Ink, damage was noted along Polk 74 and Polk 71; these same areas had been damaged by a tornado on October 6, 2008. Three fatalities occurred on the northwest side of Mena. One was a woman at a Masonic Lodge, and the others were a man and woman at separate residences.
The deaths
3 direct deaths are recorded for this tornado, each with what Storm Data knows of it.
| Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61 | M | Permanent Home | Direct |
| 67 | F | Permanent Home | Direct |
| 84 | F | Permanent Structure | Direct |
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Little Rock, AR wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Apr 9, 6:21 PM CDT, 1 hour 5 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Apr 9, 6:21 PM CDT, 1 hour 5 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 621 PM CDT THU APR 9 2009 .AVIATION... THUNDERSTORMS ASSOCIATED WITH DRY LINE AND COLD FRONT WILL MOVE INTO THE WEST SHORTLY. HAVE TRIED TO TIME CONVECTION AT THE TERMINALS...WITH MVFR TO IFR CONDITIONS AND GUSTY WINDS. BEHIND THE FRONT...WINDS WILL SWITCH TO THE WEST/NORTHWEST. UPPER LOW WILL MOVE OVER NORTHERN ARKANSAS DURING THE MORNING ON FRIDAY...WITH RAIN CHANCES CONTINUING. MVFR CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE MORNING...BUT WILL BEGIN BREAKING UP OVER THE FOUR SOUTHERN SITES BY MID DAY. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 224 PM CDT THU APR 9 2009/ DISCUSSION... MAIN CONCERNS THIS FORECAST CYCLE ARE CHANCES OF CONVECTION...AND SEVERE POTENTIAL...IN FIRST TO SECOND PERIOD...AS THE STORM MOVES THROUGH. THEN NEXT CHANCE OF CONVECTION...POSSIBLE SEVERE...LATE IN THE WEEKEND. WINDS WILL STAY UP WITH A LAKE WIND ADVISORY AT LEAST THROUGH TONIGHT. LIGHT CONVECTION HAS BEEN MOVING ACROSS MUCH OF WEST AND NORTHERN AR THIS MORNING INTO THE AFTERNOON. RAIN AMOUNTS HAVE BEEN JUST A FEW TENTHS. NOT SEEN MUCH PAST I30 TO 167 AND TO THE EAST. WARM FRONT WAS LIFTED A BIT MORE NORTH TO NEAR THE AR AND MO STATE LINE...WITH IMPROVING MOISTURE FLUX OVER THE STATE. EARLY THIS AFTERNOON TO EVENING...BETTER FOCUS OF SEVERE STORMS WILL BE OUT WEST...UNTIL THE UPPER DYNAMICS MOVE ACROSS AR LATER THIS EVENING TO MIDNIGHT. LOW LEVEL MOISTURE INFLUX AND JET FOCUS OVER EASTERN OK AND NORTHWEST AR AT THIS TIME...AND EXPECT THIS TO GRADUALLY SHIFT EAST. SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT WILL START WITH HIGH POPS AND SEVERE MENTION IN FORECAST WITH EXPECTED TRENDS. QUITE A HOT AND DRY ATMOSPHERE BEHIND THE DRY LINE OVER NORTHEAST TEXAS...AND AREAS TO EAST WHERE MOISTURE FLUX AND DYNAMICS CAN MERGE WILL HAVE A GOOD CHANCE OF SEVERE STORMS. WIND PROFILES WILL BE MORE FAVORABLE A BIT FARTHER NORTH OVER EASTERN OK INITIALLY...THEN PROGRESSING INTO AR THIS EVENING. ALL SEVERE HAZARDS WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH WIND...HAIL AND ISOLATED TORNADOES. MODELS ARE CLOSE WITH TIMING OF THE LOW ACROSS NW AR TO SOUTHERN MO AROUND 04Z TO 12Z...WITH THE COLD FRONT OVER WESTERN AR AT 06Z...THEN OVER EASTERN AR AT 12Z. FRIDAY MORNING THE LOW WILL BE MOVING NORTHEAST...WITH LINGERING CLOUDS AND PRECIP OVER NORTH TO PARTS OF CENTRAL AR...THEN ENDING IN THE AFTERNOON. DRY AND COOL FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY...WITH A BIT COOLER THAN NORMAL VALUES. THEN LATE SATURDAY AND ON SUNDAY...THE NEXT STORM SYSTEM AFFECTS AR WITH THE CONTINUING ACTIVE SOUTHERN STREAM. ISOLATED STRONG TO SEVERE STORMS MAY ALSO BE POSSIBLE. MODELS ARE COMING IN WITH ELEVATED QPF...EVEN WITH THE SPEED EXPECTED. THE TIMING OF THIS SYSTEM WILL CHANGE SOME WITH LATER MODELS. LONG TERM...MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY THE UPPER LOW WILL BE CONTINUING ACROSS NORTH ARKANSAS TO BEGIN THE PERIOD. THIS LOW WILL MOVE THROUGH THE GREAT LAKES TUESDAY AS AN UPPER RIDGE MOVES INTO THE PLAINS. THE UPPER RIDGE WILL MOVE TO THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER WEDNESDAY AS A TROUGH DIGS INTO THE NORTHWEST U.S. A CLOSED LOW WILL MOVE EAST ACROSS THE NORTHERN GREAT LAKES THURSDAY. THE ASSOCIATED SURFACE LOW WILL MOVE NORTH OF ARKANSAS MONDAY. WILL KEEP LIKELY POPS IN FOR MONDAY MORNING WITH THE UPPER LOW. PRECIPITATION SHOULD DISSIPATE SOUTH TO NORTH AS THE LOW PULLS AWAY. HIGH PRESSURE AND DRIER AIR MOVE IN FOR TUESDAY. THERE WILL BE INCREASING MOISTURE OVER THE AREA WEDNESDAY AS LOW PRESSURE APPROACHES FROM THE WEST AGAIN. PRECIPITATION CHANCES WILL INCREASE WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND DECREASE THURSDAY. NEAR NORMAL TEMPERATURES CAN BE EXPECTED THROUGH THE PERIOD. && .LZK WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... LAKE WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 1 AM CDT FRIDAY FOR ARKANSAS-BAXTER- BOONE-BRADLEY-CALHOUN-CLARK-CLEBURNE-CLEVELAND-CONWAY-DALLAS- DESHA-DREW-FAULKNER-FULTON-GARLAND-GRANT-HOT SPRING-INDEPENDENCE- IZARD-JACKSON-JEFFERSON-JOHNSON-LINCOLN-LOGAN-LONOKE-MARION- MONROE-MONTGOMERY-NEWTON-OUACHITA-PERRY-PIKE-POLK-POPE-PRAIRIE- PULASKI-SALINE-SCOTT-SEARCY-SHARP-STONE-VAN BUREN-WHITE-WOODRUFF- YELL. && AVIATION...58
Hazardous weather outlook, Apr 9, 4:05 PM CDT, 3 hours 21 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 405 PM CDT THU APR 9 2009 ARZ003>007-012>016-021>025-030>034-037>047-052>057-062>069-101000- ARKANSAS-BAXTER-BOONE-BRADLEY-CALHOUN-CLARK-CLEBURNE-CLEVELAND- CONWAY-DALLAS-DESHA-DREW-FAULKNER-FULTON-GARLAND-GRANT-HOT SPRING- INDEPENDENCE-IZARD-JACKSON-JEFFERSON-JOHNSON-LINCOLN-LOGAN-LONOKE- MARION-MONROE-MONTGOMERY-NEWTON-OUACHITA-PERRY-PIKE-POLK-POPE- PRAIRIE-PULASKI-SALINE-SCOTT-SEARCY-SHARP-STONE-VAN BUREN-WHITE- WOODRUFF-YELL- 405 PM CDT THU APR 9 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR A LARGE PART OF ARKANSAS. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT AN APPROACHING STORM SYSTEM WILL BRING SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TO THE STATE THIS AFTERNOON INTO THE OVERNIGHT HOURS...WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. A COLD FRONT ACROSS CENTRAL OKLAHOMA THIS AFTERNOON WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE EAST DURING THE EVENING HOURS. THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP ALONG AND AHEAD OF THIS FRONT. DUE TO THE ENERGY WITH THE SYSTEM...LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS AND ISOLATED TORNADOES WILL BE POSSIBLE. THE BEST CHANCE OF SEVERE WEATHER WILL BE ACROSS THE WESTERN HALF OF THE STATE...AS MUCH OF THE INSTABILITY WILL BE LOST WITH SUNSET APPROACHING. HOWEVER...EVEN ACROSS EASTERN ARKANSAS...LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS REMAIN CONCERNS THROUGH THE LATE EVENING AND OVERNIGHT HOURS. DUE TO THE STRONG WINDS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS FRONT...A LAKE WIND ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT THROUGH THE EVENING HOURS...WITH WIND SPEEDS OF 15 TO 25 MPH COMMON...WITH GUSTS TO 30 MPH. THE FRONT WILL MOVE THROUGH THE STATE AND BE EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER JUST AFTER SUNRISE FRIDAY. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY RAINFALL WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE NORTH OF FRIDAY...AS THE UPPER LOW ASSOCIATED WITH THE SYSTEM MOVES ACROSS THE STATE. THE NEXT STORM SYSTEM WILL ARRIVE FROM THE SOUTHERN PLAINS EASTER SUNDAY...AND CONTINUE INTO MONDAY. THERE ARE MANY FACTORS THAT NEED TO COMBINE TO PRODUCE SEVERE WEATHER...AND THE SEVERE WEATHER POTENTIAL WILL CONTINUE TO BE MONITORED AS NEW DATA BECOMES AVAILABLE. HEAVY RAIN WILL ALSO BE A POSSIBILITY WITH THIS SYSTEM. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING. && VISIT NWS LITTLE ROCK ON THE WEB. GO TO HTTP://WEATHER.GOV AND CLICK ON CENTRAL ARKANSAS. 58
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.
Shreveport, LA (KSHV), 00:00Z
0.4 hours before the tornado, 249 km from the path. April 10, 2009.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 938 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -186 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 1584 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 814 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 52 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 28 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 370 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 290 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.2
- Supercell composite
- 4.5
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.8 K/km
Shreveport, LA (KSHV), 12:00Z
11.6 hours after it, 249 km from the path. April 10, 2009.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 698 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -122 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 1327 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 737 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 73 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 26 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 128 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 213 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.4
- Supercell composite
- 4.2
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.9 K/km
The surface observations
Mena Intermountain Municipal (MEZ), 27 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:00 UTC |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 73 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:26 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.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2009 tornado in OklahomaEvery tornado in Oklahoma since 1950Warnings in force in Oklahoma nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of April 9, 2009
21 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 9 | 6:03 PM CDT | EF0 | Craig, OK | 2.4 | 100 | $25,000 | ||
| April 9 | 6:18 PM CDT | EF0 | Latimer, OK | 4.3 | 150 | $100,000 | ||
| April 9 | 6:42 PM CDT | EF1 | Pushmataha, OK | 7.7 | 200 | |||
| April 9 | 6:55 PM CDT | EF1 | LeFlore, OK | 7.5 | 400 | $20,000 | ||
| April 9 | 7:52 PM CDT | EF1 | Morris, TX | 5.8 | 150 | $20,000 | ||
| April 9 | 8:01 PM CDT | EF3 | Sevier, OK to AR | 37.2 | 850 | 7 | $5.1 million | |
| April 9 | 8:02 PM CDT | EF3 | Polk, AR | 14.8 | 1,075 | 3 | 30 | $130 million |
| April 9 | 8:05 PM CDT | EF2 | Cass, TX | 16.8 | 190 | $750,000 | ||
| April 9 | 8:20 PM CDT | EF0 | Christian, MO | 1.6 | 150 | $100,000 | ||
| April 9 | 8:34 PM CDT | EF2 | Howard, AR | 2.7 | 250 | 1 | $500,000 | |
| April 9 | 8:41 PM CDT | EF0 | Cass, TX | 3.8 | 75 | $50,000 | ||
| April 9 | 8:51 PM CDT | EF3 | Miller, AR | 9.9 | 850 | $1.0 million | ||
| April 9 | 8:53 PM CDT | EF1 | Pike, AR | 3.0 | 350 | $25,000 | ||
| April 9 | 9:13 PM CDT | EF1 | Harrison, TX | 2.6 | 200 | $1.0 million | ||
| April 9 | 9:48 PM CDT | EF2 | Harrison, TX to LA | 37.2 | 500 | 2 | $13 million | |
| April 9 | 10:02 PM CDT | EF0 | Bossier Parish, LA | 0.8 | 75 | $5,000 | ||
| April 9 | 11:04 PM CDT | EF0 | Webster Parish, LA | 2.3 | 100 | $100,000 | ||
| April 9 | 11:21 PM CDT | EF1 | Union Parish, LA | 5.5 | 150 | |||
| April 9 | 11:27 PM CDT | EF2 | Ashley, AR | 13.6 | 600 | $600,000 | ||
| April 9 | 11:33 PM CDT | EF1 | Lincoln Parish, LA | 4.4 | 150 | $300,000 | ||
| April 9 | 12:05 AM CDT | EF2 | Jackson Parish, LA | 12.6 | 300 | $1.0 million |
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.