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EF1 tornado in Saline County, Arkansas

Tornado September 13, 2008 · Saline County, Arkansas

EF1
Rating
8.6 mi
Whole path
175 yd
Path width
$100K
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Hot Spring County → Saline County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 175 yards (0.10 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

This tornado moved out of Hot Spring County, east-northeast of Glen Rose, and entered Saline County, northwest of Traskwood. Many trees were blown down, one of which fell on a house. The tornado moved through the Crossroads community, which had been hit by a tornado on April 3, 2008.

The wider storm

Tropical Storm Ike moved into Arkansas on the evening of the 13th. By mid evening of the 13th, Ike was located in western Arkansas. Ike weakened to a tropical depression during the wee hours of the 14th, when it was located about 105 miles west-northwest of Little Rock. Ike exited northern Arkansas before sunrise on the 14th. In the Little Rock County Warning Area, wind gusts of 35 to 45 mph were common, and some gusts in the northern part of the state exceeded 50 mph. The strongest gusts measured were 67 mph at the Izard County Fairgrounds in Melbourne and 61 mph at the Newport airport. The strongest sustained wind measured was 46 mph at the Newport airport. Power was knocked out to more than 200,000 electric customers. Wind damage was estimated at just over $30 million. There was one injury due to the winds. The greatest storm total rainfall was 4.60 inches at Big Fork. The lowest barometric pressure was 29.10 inches at Mountain Home. There were seven weak tornadoes, with damage estimated at just over $450,000.

Began near Traskwood (34.4733, -92.6903).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

6 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 124929. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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