Tornado outbreak of October 17–19, 2007

October 2007 North America Tornado Outbreak

Duration	~48 hours
Tornadoes confirmed	14 reported
Fatalities	2
Damage	>$
Areas affected	Most of eastern and Central North America

The October 2007 North America Tornado Outbreak is a tornado outbreak currently underway across the eastern half of North America starting on October 17, 2007. The outbreak is also responsible for the death of two people in Missouri during the overnight hours and several injuries mostly in Tulsa, Oklahoma during the Oktoberfest festivites. As of 10:00 AM EDT, 14 tornadoes were reported across three states including Texas, Louisiana and Missouri with wind damage reported in Oklahoma, Kansas, Illinois, Iowa, Arkansas and Mississippi

Meteorological synopsis

A low pressure system moved across the Pacific Coast on October 15 and then crossed the Rockies during the following day and touched out some moist air from the Gulf of Mexico, major source for storm development and intensification. A dryline, which separates the drier air from the more moist and humid air formed ahead of the cold front across the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles. The high humidity levels, wind shear (thus winds coming from the southwest in the western side of the storm and winds from the southeast on the eastern side of the storm) and the presence of the dryline helped developed the instability to produced severe thunderstorms across the Midwest and Southern Plains on October 17. A moderate risk for severe weather was issued by the Storm Prediction Center two days prior to the event. The storm then moved across the most of the Midwest on October 18, where a moderate risk was in effect also for two days for most of Illinois, Indiana and parts of Michigan and Kentucky. The storm is also forecast to hit much of eastern North America from the Saguenay region of Quebec to the Florida Panhandle on October 19 where most of the area is under a slight risk of severe weather while the Canadian Maritimes will be affected on October 20 although the weather dynamics will be less significant. The main threats of the storms were damaging wind, hail and possible tornadoes

The event

The first severe thunderstorms developped during the early morning of October 17 across much of northern and eastern Texas and parts of Oklahoma and Kansas with only one reported tornado in east Texas. Several severe thunderstorms then later developped across eastern Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, western Mississippi, eastern Kansas, Missouri and parts of Nebraska, Iowa, Kentucky, Illinois and Tennessee. 12 additionnal tornadoes were reported in Missouri and Louisiana during the late afternoon and early evening with damage reported in Lawrence and Greene counties in Missouri. The storms persisted throughout the night and an additionnal tornado killed 2 people in Greene County, Missouri.

In addition to the tornadoes, a severe thunderstorm in Tulsa caused the collapse of a tent injuring several people attending the city's Oktoberfest.

Tornadoes confirmed

United States

Confirmed tornadoes by Enhanced Fujita rating

EFU	EF0	EF1	EF2	EF3	EF4	EF5	Total
0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Canada

Confirmed tornadoes by Fujita rating

FU	F0	F1	F2	F3	F4	F5	Total
0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

October 17 event

List of reported tornadoes - Wednesday October 17, 2007
F#	Location	County	Time (UTC)	Path length	Damage
Texas
EF?	SW of Buna	Jasper	1529
Missouri
EF?	W of Centerview	Johnson	2105
EF?	N of Verona	Lawrence	2250
EF?	Mount Vernon	Lawrence	2256
EF?	N of Verona	Lawrence	2300
EF?	SW of Chesapeake	Lawrence	2300
EF?	NNE of Ash Grove	Greene	2315
EF?	N of Halltown	Lawrence	2321
EF?	E of Cave Springs	Greene	2338
EF?	W of Willard	Greene	2344
EF?	S of Morrisville	Polk	2346
EF?	N of Paris	Monroe	0505
Louisiana
EF?	Franklinton	Washington	2245
EF?	NW of Franklinton	Washington	2300
Sources: Storm reports of October 17, 2007

See also

• Tornadoes of 2007