Home / Arkansas / Desha

EF0 tornado in Desha County, Arkansas

Tornado January 2, 2023 · Desha County, Arkansas

EF0

Rating

42.8 mi

Whole path

30 yd

Path width

$705K

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Ashley County → Chicot County → Desha County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 30 yards (0.02 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF0 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF0 is light damage: shingles and siding peeled, gutters torn, branches broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 65–85 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

This tornado crossed the Chicot/Desha County line around 744 PM CST, and did sparse damage along Arkansas Highway 35, knocking over a few telephone poles along the road, More conclusive evidence was noted in the cotton fields alongside the road, where swaths of convergent flow and damaged cotton were observed for around a half mile, between the county line and the town of Halley, with the tornado dissipating just before reaching Halley. This track is a continuation of a tornado that was ongoing, originating in Ashley County and moving through Chicot County. Peak wind speed was 80 mph.

The wider storm

A few strong to severe thunderstorms moved across Arkansas on the afternoon and evening of the 2nd. Damaging winds and a tornado occurred over portions of far southeast Arkansas. Over central and northern Arkansas, storms occurred but damage was highly localized. Another tornado moved through Jessieville causing damage.

Began near Halley (33.5262, -91.3273).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

1 more tornado the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF1 Garland County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1069158. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

Tornadoes near your address

See every tornado that passed near a place you know, measured to its path.