EF1 tornado in Washington County, Arkansas

This is the first segment of a two-segment tornado. This tornado developed west of Highway 123, where trees were snapped and uprooted. The tornado moved east across Highway 123, and into Madison County. A tornadic debris signature was detected by the KSRX WSR-88D with this tornado. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in this segment of the tornado was 100 to 110 mph.

Severe thunderstorms developed over western Oklahoma during the afternoon of the 6th, as a dry line sharpened over the area. These storms developed eastward across central and eastern Oklahoma during the late afternoon through evening hours, and evolved into a squall line before moving through northwestern Arkansas during the early morning hours of the 7th. The combination of strong instability ahead of the line of thunderstorms, and very strong deep-layer and low-level wind shear resulted in several tornadoes developing as the thunderstorm line moved through the area. One of the tornadoes became strong as it moved across portions of Washington County. Damaging wind gusts and large hail to quarter size also occurred with the squall line.