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EF1 tornado in Faulkner County, Arkansas

Tornado February 5, 2008 · Faulkner County, Arkansas

EF1

Rating

5.5 mi

Whole path

100 yd

Path width

$140K

Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 100 yards (0.06 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

Trees and power lines were blown down, a barn was destroyed, and part of an old chicken house collapsed. The tornado continued into White County, in the area southwest of El Paso.

The wider storm

Early on the 5th, a strong storm system approached from the Plains. Ahead of the system, breezy southerly winds provided well above normal temperatures and abundant moisture. Warmth and moisture destabilized the atmosphere and fueled developing thunderstorms. A cold front moved across the state causing numerous severe storms and several tornadoes. One of the tornadoes tracked from Yell County to Sharp County, staying on the ground for 121.84 miles. This track length set a record for the longest tornado path ever recorded in Arkansas. The continuous track was confirmed by two National Weather Service meteorologists who flew the track with the Civil Air Patrol. The final track was based on ground surveys, the Civil Air Patrol flight, and an aerial mapping flight performed for the Arkansas Forestry Commission.

Began near Funston (35.0712, -92.1407).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF4 Pope County 13 dead EF2 Baxter County 1 dead EF0 Yell County EF0 Monroe County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 82588. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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