January 7-8, 2008 Tornado event

Severe thunderstorms erupted across Eastern Oklahoma and Northwest Arkansas on the afternoon of January 7th and lasted well into the early morning hours of January 8th. The thunderstorms developed well ahead of the dry line across Eastern Oklahoma in an area of low level convergence in the unseasonably warm and moist airmass that was in place across the region. These thunderstorms intially formed in a cellular fashion before developing into a broken line during the late evening hours. Additional strong to severe thunderstorms developed along the surface cold front and moved through Eastern Oklahoma and Northwest Arkansas late on January 7th and early on the 8th. Several tornadoes were reported during the evening hours of the 7th. However, the majority of the severe weather reports were due to straight line winds, large hail and flash flooding.