Super Tuesday Tornado Outbreak (February 5th, 2008)

On February 5th, 2018, temperatures were chilly throughout the state. Temperatures ranged through the 40's, with lows dipping into the teens that evening. On Tuesday February 5th, 2008, temperatures were far from cold. In fact, some temperatures reached record highs (Little Rock - 78 degrees). This warm southerly breeze influenced the temperatures that day, but it also helped put forth a deadly combination for severe weather development. Winter tornadoes are not uncommon here in Arkansas, in fact we see severe weather nearly ever year during January and February. On February 5th, 2008, a deadly severe weather event unfolded across the southern US, and the Ohio Valley. A total of 57 people lost their lives with hundreds injured. This deadly outbreak has been coined as "The Super Tuesday Outbreak".

Tornado approaching Clinton (Van Buren County) during the evening hours of February 5th, 2008.
Photo Credt: Josh Smith

Breezy southerly winds ushered in an abundance of warm and moist air into Arkansas. With a deep trough over the desert southwest, and an interaction of the polar and sub-tropical jet, plenty of "lift" was present throughout the atmosphere. The environment became very unstable throughout the day, with higher helicity values (potential for rotating winds) and CAPE values above 1,000 J/kg (fuel needed for thunderstorm development).

As the afternoon progressed a cold front approached the state from the west. This cooler air helped aid in thunderstorm development along the front. Thunderstorms became more widespread, storms began to rotate and unfortunately spawn tornadoes. Two notable tornadoes touched down, with one tracking for a dreadful 122 miles which is the longest tornado track on record, breaking the record set in 1950. In total, the state experienced 12 tornadoes throughout this day. However, most of these were generally short lived and weak.

Radar velocity scan portraying strong rotation just east of Hector (Pope County).

The radar velocity scan above represents the strong rotation from the tornado (rated EF-4) that moved throughout Atkins, Clinton (pictured near the top of the blog), Mountain View, and Highland. This tornado was the cause of death for 13 Arkansans. Five of those deaths occurred in the Pope County town of Atkins.

Tornado track (122 miles) from Yell County - stretching northeast to Sharp County.

The starting point of this deadly tornado was 5.6 miles east-southeast of Centerville. Eventually, this tornado finally dissipated just northeast of Highland in Sharp County. The rating for the tornado was initially at least an EF-3. According to the National Weather Service in Little Rock: "a member of a Quick Response Team (QRT) visited Arkansas on the 8th to look at some of the worst damage along the track. In the end, the rating was upgraded to EF4."

Tornado track through Baxter and Marion County

Lest we forget the other deadly tornado that occurred on this day. Remember, there were TWO deadly tornadoes that tracked throughout Arkansas on this day. The tornado (rated EF-2), with a much smaller track, moved across portions of Baxter and Marion Counties. Sadly, one citizen lost their life in this tornado near the Gassvile area. 

The cold front responsible for these strong storms eventually moving east

We've all heard the saying: "Things must always come to an end". Thankfully, this applies to weather events as well. After a horrific day of weather, the cold front responsible for these tornadic super-cells made it's way through the state. As the cold front pushed through, storm development gradually came to a halt. Much cooler air followed behind, with some areas near the northern Arkansas border seeing some very light snow the following morning.

We want to give a HUGE thank you to the National Weather Service in Little Rock for providing such valuable information regarding this weather event. We love creating these historic weather blogs, but could not do it without them. We hope you enjoyed this blog, and learned a little something while reading it. 

-AW Team

References and information credits: https://www.weather.gov/ (NWS Little Rock)


We have also included the local storm reports from this day from the National Weather Service posted below. After looking at this report, one can agree that this was certainly one long day of severe weather.

000 NWUS54 KLZK 060413 LSRLZK PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...SUMMARY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR REPORTS FOR FEBRUARY 05 2008 ..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON... ..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE.... ..REMARKS.. 0215 PM HAIL CLARKSVILLE 35.46N 93.47W 02/05/2008 E1.00 INCH JOHNSON AR LAW ENFORCEMENT 0220 PM HAIL LUDWIG 35.35N 93.43W 02/05/2008 E1.00 INCH LOGAN AR TRAINED SPOTTER 0240 PM HAIL TILLY 35.72N 92.83W 02/05/2008 E0.75 INCH POPE AR LAW ENFORCEMENT 0300 PM HAIL PINDALL 36.06N 92.87W 02/05/2008 E0.75 INCH SEARCY AR LAW ENFORCEMENT WIND ESTIMATED AT 60 MPH. 0415 PM HAIL HON 34.93N 94.18W 02/05/2008 E1.75 INCH SCOTT AR LAW ENFORCEMENT 0500 PM TORNADO N OLA 35.03N 93.22W 02/05/2008 YELL AR TRAINED SPOTTER TORNADO ON THE NORTH SIDE OF OLA. TREE LIMBS DOWN AND A BARN DAMAGED. 0502 PM TORNADO ATKINS 35.24N 92.95W 02/05/2008 POPE AR AMATEUR RADIO *** 3 FATAL *** UPDATE TO PREVIOUS REPORT. 0502 PM HAIL ATKINS 35.24N 92.95W 02/05/2008 E0.75 INCH POPE AR AMATEUR RADIO HWY 105 AND I-40 0502 PM TORNADO ATKINS 35.24N 92.95W 02/05/2008 POPE AR AMATEUR RADIO HWY 105 AND I-40 0510 PM TSTM WND DMG CARDEN BOTTOMS 35.15N 93.01W 02/05/2008 YELL AR AMATEUR RADIO TREES DOWN IN CARDEN BOTTOMS. DAMAGE TO TWO STRUCTURES. 0515 PM TORNADO GASSVILLE 36.28N 92.49W 02/05/2008 BAXTER AR BROADCAST MEDIA MOBILE HOME PARK DAMAGED. POWER POLES BLOCKING ROAD THROUGH TOWN. 0516 PM TORNADO CLEVELAND 35.42N 92.71W 02/05/2008 CONWAY AR AMATEUR RADIO DEBRIS IN AIR 0516 PM TORNADO GASSVILLE 36.28N 92.49W 02/05/2008 BAXTER AR TRAINED SPOTTER SPOTTERS REPORTED A TORNADO MOVING AWAY FROM GASSVILLE TOWARD MOUNTAIN HOME. 0516 PM TORNADO 1 N WONDERVIEW 35.33N 92.73W 02/05/2008 CONWAY AR TRAINED SPOTTER A TORNADO WAS REPORTED ON THE GROUND NORTH OF WONDERVIEW. 0521 PM TORNADO CLEVELAND 35.42N 92.71W 02/05/2008 CONWAY AR AMATEUR RADIO TORNADO ON HWY 124 E OF CLEVELAND. 0521 PM HAIL CLEVELAND 35.42N 92.71W 02/05/2008 E0.75 INCH CONWAY AR AMATEUR RADIO 0541 PM TORNADO CLINTON 35.58N 92.45W 02/05/2008 VAN BUREN AR AMATEUR RADIO TORNADO ON THE GROUND NEAR WAL-MART. 0542 PM TORNADO CLINTON 35.58N 92.45W 02/05/2008 VAN BUREN AR TRAINED SPOTTER SPOTTER WATCHING TORNADO IN TOWN OF CLINTON 0620 PM TORNADO MOUNTAIN VIEW 35.87N 92.11W 02/05/2008 STONE AR AMATEUR RADIO HOSPITAL HIT BY TORNADO. EMERGENCY ROOM CLOSED. 0624 PM HAIL 3 S SLOVAK 34.61N 91.58W 02/05/2008 E1.75 INCH PRAIRIE AR AMATEUR RADIO GOLF BALL HAIL AT STUTTGART AIRPORT. 0625 PM HAIL 5 NE SHERIDAN 34.36N 92.34W 02/05/2008 E1.75 INCH GRANT AR EMERGENCY MNGR GOLF BALL HAIL BETWEEN SHERIDAN AND REDFIELD. 0630 PM TORNADO S MYRON 36.18N 91.71W 02/05/2008 IZARD AR TRAINED SPOTTER TREES BLOCKING COUNTY ROAD 69. 1/2 MILE WIDE DAMAGE PATH. 0650 PM HAIL SPARKMAN 33.92N 92.85W 02/05/2008 E0.75 INCH DALLAS AR AMATEUR RADIO 0655 PM TORNADO E ASH FLAT 36.23N 91.61W 02/05/2008 SHARP AR LAW ENFORCEMENT TORNADO ON HWY 354 EAST OF ASH FLAT. HOMES DAMAGED. 0700 PM TSTM WND DMG 5 SW DOWNTOWN LITTLE RO 34.68N 92.30W 02/05/2008 PULASKI AR BROADCAST MEDIA NUMEROUS TREES AND POWERLINES DOWN IN LITTLE ROCK. ROOF DAMAGED TO A NUMBER OF HOMES BY FALLEN TREES. 0700 PM TORNADO HIGHLAND 36.26N 91.52W 02/05/2008 SHARP AR LAW ENFORCEMENT HIGHLAND FIRE DEPT. DESTROYED 0700 PM TORNADO S ASH FLAT 36.23N 91.61W 02/05/2008 SHARP AR TRAINED SPOTTER 167 S OF ASH FLAT CLOSED. TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN ACROSS THE COUNTY. 0713 PM TSTM WND GST LITTLE ROCK NATIONAL AI 34.73N 92.22W 02/05/2008 M67.00 MPH PULASKI AR ASOS 0717 PM TSTM WND GST LITTLE ROCK AIR FORCE B 34.92N 92.15W 02/05/2008 M59.00 MPH PULASKI AR OFFICIAL NWS OBS 0720 PM TSTM WND DMG FLORAL 35.59N 91.76W 02/05/2008 INDEPENDENCE AR PUBLIC CHICKEN HOUSE DESTROYED. 0730 PM TSTM WND DMG CABOT 34.97N 92.02W 02/05/2008 LONOKE AR COUNTY OFFICIAL TREES DOWN AND POWER OUT IN CABOT. 0843 PM HAIL S DE WITT 34.29N 91.34W 02/05/2008 E0.75 INCH ARKANSAS AR LAW ENFORCEMENT POSSIBLE TORNADO JUST SOUTH OF DE WITT.