EF1 Tornado — Madison, Arkansas

2024-05-07 · near Crosses, Madison, Arkansas

Event narrative

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.

Wider weather episode

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.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.8450, -93.9510)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1184295. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.