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Here are preliminary reports on this week's tornadoes
Published: 1/31/2013 5:17 PM
Last Modified: 1/31/2013 5:17 PM


Tommy Stouffer, right, looks at his overturned car with his son Jonathan, 11, after a tornado picked it up from the parking lot where he was working across the street and dumped it in the middle of the road, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013, in Adairsville, Ga. A fierce storm system that roared across Georgia has left at least one person dead after it demolished buildings and flipped vehicles on Interstate 75 northwest of Atlanta. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

We said earlier that it was an active and violent week for early spring-like storms in the South.

As the severe threat ends and the winter weather threat begins in the East, here is a recap of the storms and tornadoes, that started in the eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas area.

First was the Natural Dam tornado, rated an EF-2 with estimated peak winds between 110 and 120 mph, according to the preliminary report and subject to change.

The tornado started about 3.4 miles northeast of Short, Okla., in extreme northeastern Sequoyah County and was on the ground for 9 miles before it ended 3.9 miles north of Natural Dam, Ark. in western Crawford County. The damage to property was minimal. Here’s what National Weather Service Tulsa surveyors said:

    “It moved through rural areas of both counties snapping and uprooting many hardwood and softwood trees in the path. The most pronounced damage to trees occurred on Rainwater Road northwest of Uniontown in Crawford County where the tornado tore a path through the woods of more than one third of a mile wide. Power poles were snapped and a house had minor damage within the 9-mile long path."


The other tornado to affect our area was in western Arkansas’ Washington County. That EF-1 tornado started 3.5 miles west-northwest of Elkins, a town about 10 miles southwest of Fayetteville. It traveled to the northeast for 4.2 miles and had a damage path about 400 yards at its widest. Its winds were not as strong – between 95 and 105 mph – but it caused much more damage. Between 40 and 50 homes were damaged, the worst had parts of the roof blown off. Trees and power poles were blown down and chicken houses and outbuildings were destroyed.

There were about 30 tornado reports across eight states over two days. Two people were killed in the storms, ending a 220-day streak without a tornado fatality.

-- Jerry Wofford



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Almanac
View 2012
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
TemperaturePrecipitation
DateHigh TempLow TempTotalMonth to dateHistorical average
1 44° 16° 0 0.00 0.05
2 59° 24° 0 0.00 0.11
3 57° 33° 0 0.00 0.16
4 68° 37° Trace 0.00 0.21
5 69° 29° 0 0.00 0.26
6 66° 33° 0 0.00 0.32
7 59° 38° 0.05 0.05 0.38
8 51° 34° 0 0.05 0.44
9 44° 36° 0.01 0.06 0.51
10 62° 37° 0.07 0.13 0.57
11 54° 28° 0 0.13 0.64
12 44° 30° 0.25 0.38 0.70
13 55° 40° 0.01 0.39 0.76
14 ° ° 0.83
15 ° ° 0.89
16 ° ° 0.95
17 ° ° 1.02
18 ° ° 1.09
19 ° ° 1.16
20 ° ° 1.23
21 ° ° 1.31
22 ° ° 1.38
23 ° ° 1.46
24 ° ° 1.53
25 ° ° 1.61
26 ° ° 1.69
27 ° ° 1.77
28 ° ° 1.85

Weather World

Follow Jerry Wofford on Twitter for updates during severe weather conditions.

Tulsa weather milestones of 2013 (as of Feb. 12)

Highest temperature: 70 on Jan. 11 (Record: 115 on Aug. 15, 1936)
Lowest temperature: 15 on Jan. 16 (Record: Minus-16 on Jan. 22, 1930)
Hottest month (average): 40.5 degrees in January (Record: 91.7 degrees on July 1980)
Coldest month (average): 40. 5 degrees in January (Record: 21.7 in January 1918)
Most snowfall (day): 0.1 of an inch on Feb. 12(Record: 13.2 inches on Feb. 1, 2011)
Most snowfall (month): 0.1 of an inch in February(Record: 22.5 inches in February 2011)
Most rainfall (day): 0.91 of an inch on Jan. 29 (Record: 9.27 inches on May 26-27, 1984)
Most rainfall (month): 1.54 of an inch in January (Record: 18.18 inches on September 1971)
Highest wind speed: 30 mph on Jan. 30
Previous day with any rain: Feb. 12
Previous day with 1 inch or more of rain: Oct. 17, 2012
Previous day with any snow: Feb. 12
Previous day with freezing temperatures: Feb. 12
Read regular updates on Oklahoma's unpredictable weather and learn more about meteorology from the Tulsa office of the National Weather Service.

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>> Meet the forecasters

Contributors
Staff Writer Althea Peterson started writing for the Tulsa World in March 2007 after previous stops at the Norman Transcript in 2006 and the Oklahoma Gazette in 2005. She followed her older brother from rural Wisconsin (with a public school that never seemed to call snow days) to the University of Oklahoma, but did not follow his pursuit to study meteorology. However, she tries to find as many opportunities to report on the weather as possible.

Staff Writer Jerry Wofford came to the Tulsa World in 2010 from The Manhattan Mercury in Manhattan, Kan. Originally from western Arkansas and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma, Jerry has lived in Tornado Alley his entire life and is one of those people who goes outside when the sirens go off.

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