by Ted Keller
Super Tuesday Tornado Outbreak 2008
1:38 pm in Storm Summaries by Ted Keller
Super Tuesday Outbreak 2008
This supercell storm pictured below took on bow echo shape as it dropped a tornado right on top of Gassville, Arkansas. Bow echo tornadoes can be powerful and destructive. Unlike tornadoes emerging from the so-called “classic” supercell, bow echo tornadoes are often shorter-lived and their signature on radar can be less obvious.
Damage surveys put this tornado at EF2, on an EF0-EF5 scale.
This storm was moving to the northeast at around 60-65 mph!
Radar image at 5:06 pm on February 5th, 2008, a few mintues before a tornado strikes Gassville, AR
The Gassville storm was on the northwest edge of a widespread outbreak of tornadoes. Another supercell, this one with a classic radar configuration, raced northeast through central and northeastern Arkansas during the same evening. The first tornado report came out of Ola in Yell County, Arkansas. The supercell then continued northeast, spawning the longest tracked tornado in Arkansas history, killing a total of twelve people. See the complete report from the Little Rock, NWS office.
Long-track Tornado!
Please read more about this outbreak in the official National Weather Service assessment below. Among other things, the report found that many people didn’t think a tornado watch in February needed to be taken seriously and mobile homes are still the riskiest place to be during a tornado.
Another link details the Storm Prediction Center’s efforts to raise awareness of the threat of nighttime or off-season tornadoes.
NWS Service Assessment of the Outbreak
