TornadoLookup

Home / Arkansas / Madison

EF1 tornado in Madison County, Arkansas

Tornado May 7, 2024 · Madison County, Arkansas

EF1
Rating
2.8 mi
Whole path
550 yd
Path width
$30K
Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

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 is the second segment of a two-segment tornado. The tornado moved into Madison County, then crossed the 5522 Road and Highway 295 before dissipating west of Highway 16. Numerous trees were snapped or uprooted by the tornado, some fell onto homes. 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.

The wider storm

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.

Began near Crosses (35.8450, -93.9510).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

6 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1184295. 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.