EF2 Tornado — Garland, Arkansas

2024-05-07 · near Pettyview, Garland, Arkansas

Event narrative

The Lake Hamilton Tornado began near the intersection of Amity and Orbit

Roads several miles west of Lake Hamilton, just to the north of

the Garland and Hot Spring County line. Near and just south of

Amity road, the tornado moved east-northeast producing primarily

tree damage with sporadic damage to outbuildings through Thunder

Road. Near Thunder Road, the tornado damaged several mobile homes,

overturning one, and pushing several off of their blocks. As the

tornado continued its east-northeast track, it began to damage

more buildings, some commercial, industrial, and residential as it

moved towards Central Ave in the Lake Hamilton area. Most of the

damage to buildings was done to siding, doors, windows, and roofs.

The tornado moved over the lake, damaging some of the floating

docks and continued on alternatively over water and hitting

structures on the many peninsulas that jut out into the lake. A

couple of large condos on the lakefront sustained the most severe

damage, removing large portions of the roofing structure amongst

other damage. Many houses were severely damaged by large trees

falling onto the homes. Many roofs were damaged by tornado winds

directly. On the east side of the lake, another community was

damaged by the tornado until the tornado moved east, crossing

Shady Grove Road, where no more damage was found. This tornado

was rated an EF2 with maximum estimated winds up to 120 mph.

Wider weather episode

An active weather pattern continued into the 8th, much like the 3rd-7th, with rounds of showers and thunderstorms moving into Arkansas from the west and northwest. One noteworthy storm, a supercell thunderstorm, developed and produced a tornado just south of Hot Springs early on the morning on the 8th. This tornado impacted some locations on and near Lake Hamilton. Later in time, this supercell went on to produce large hail for locations further east.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (34.3930, -93.1980)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1181993. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.