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EF1 tornado in Prairie County, Arkansas

Tornado May 2, 2008 · Prairie County, Arkansas

EF1

Rating

6.8 mi

Whole path

250 yd

Path width

$1.0M

Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 250 yards (0.14 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 exited Lonoke County, east-northeast of the Carlisle Airport, and moved into Prairie County, west-northwest of Hazen. Damage was limited to trees being knocked down.

The wider storm

A line of thunderstorms pushed into western Arkansas early on the morning of May 2nd. During the morning and afternoon hours, severe thunderstorms developed out ahead of the line and produced tornadoes.

Began near Screeton (34.8043, -91.6971).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF3 Van Buren County 5 dead EF2 Pulaski County 1 dead EF2 Dallas County EF1 Van Buren County EF1 Pike County EF0 Woodruff County EF0 Monroe County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 92443. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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