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On This Day in 2008: Super Tuesday Outbreak
February 21, 2021 at 08:16 AM EST
By WeatherBug's Christopher Smith
On this day in 2008, politics met Mother Nature as a tornado outbreak snarled many primary elections across the South. Due to the primaries being held, the tornado outbreak was nicknamed the “Super Tuesday Outbreak”.
There was a classic setup for tornadoes to occur on February 5, 2008, a day many primaries were being held ahead of the 2008 presidential election. A potent cold front was located just west of the Mid-South from the Lower Mississippi to Tennessee valleys. Ahead of the front, warm, moist air streamed northward from the Gulf of Mexico, providing fuel for the severe storms to fire.
The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) issued the most extreme category for severe storms, with a ‘High Risk’ located across eastern Arkansas into western Tennessee and southwestern Kentucky, including the Memphis, Tenn., metro area.
Around late afternoon on February 5, the tornado outbreak began and it lasted into the early morning on February 6. In total, 87 confirmed tornadoes were recorded across nine states, making it the second largest tornado outbreak for February since records began in 1950.
By the time the outbreak ended, 5 tornadoes were considered ‘violent’, ranking as an EF-4 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale with winds between 166 and 200 mph. 57 lives were lost as a result of the outbreak, with 22 of those due to an EF-3 tornado that touched down just northeast of Nashville, Tenn. Damage estimates from the tornadoes added up to nearly $645 million in today’s currency.
Though the Super Tuesday Outbreak was extreme, the South is no stranger to severe weather in February. During February, warmer air begins to invade the area once again after the long winter months, but potent cold fronts still push far south, providing a ripe environment for storm development.
Source: weather.gov
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Story Image: Damage in Lawrence County, Ala., from a tornado that struck early on February 6, 2008, killing 3 people (Wikimedia Commons).
There was a classic setup for tornadoes to occur on February 5, 2008, a day many primaries were being held ahead of the 2008 presidential election. A potent cold front was located just west of the Mid-South from the Lower Mississippi to Tennessee valleys. Ahead of the front, warm, moist air streamed northward from the Gulf of Mexico, providing fuel for the severe storms to fire.
The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) issued the most extreme category for severe storms, with a ‘High Risk’ located across eastern Arkansas into western Tennessee and southwestern Kentucky, including the Memphis, Tenn., metro area.
Around late afternoon on February 5, the tornado outbreak began and it lasted into the early morning on February 6. In total, 87 confirmed tornadoes were recorded across nine states, making it the second largest tornado outbreak for February since records began in 1950.
By the time the outbreak ended, 5 tornadoes were considered ‘violent’, ranking as an EF-4 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale with winds between 166 and 200 mph. 57 lives were lost as a result of the outbreak, with 22 of those due to an EF-3 tornado that touched down just northeast of Nashville, Tenn. Damage estimates from the tornadoes added up to nearly $645 million in today’s currency.
Though the Super Tuesday Outbreak was extreme, the South is no stranger to severe weather in February. During February, warmer air begins to invade the area once again after the long winter months, but potent cold fronts still push far south, providing a ripe environment for storm development.
Source: weather.gov
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Story Image: Damage in Lawrence County, Ala., from a tornado that struck early on February 6, 2008, killing 3 people (Wikimedia Commons).