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EF1 tornado in Sebastian County, Arkansas

Tornado July 14, 2023 · Sebastian County, Arkansas

EF1

Rating

3.4 mi

Path length

550 yd

Path width

$100K

Damage as recorded

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The path drawn at its surveyed width of 550 yards (0.31 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 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 developed on the northwest side of Mansfield, where trees were damaged. It moved southeast across the west and south sides of town. Trees were uprooted, numerous large tree limbs were snapped throughout town, poles were blown down, and homes were damaged. Trees fell onto several homes, severely damaging them. South of Mansfield, the tornado moved south-southeast uprooting a number of trees along and east of Highway 378, before dissipating on the east side of Lake Spur. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in the tornado was 95 to 105 mph.

The wider storm

Several clusters of strong to severe thunderstorms moved southeast across portions of northwestern Arkansas during the early morning hours of the 14th. The strongest storms produced damaging wind, a brief tornado, and flash flooding in Sebastian County.

Additional thunderstorms intensified and became well-organized over Kansas during the day as they moved southeast across the state. These thunderstorms formed a nearly solid line of strong to severe thunderstorms that moved across northwestern Arkansas during the evening. The strongest storms produced damaging wind.

Began near Huntington (35.0640, -94.2590).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1118576. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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