Thunderstorm Wind — Columbia, Arkansas

2024-07-08 · near Philadelphia, Columbia, Arkansas

Event narrative

A NWS Survey concluded that a large south to north swath of straight line wind damage occurred just west of the Macedonia and Philadelphia communities along County Road 82 W, County Road 12, County Road 84, County Road 15, and County Road 211. Numerous trees were uprooted with some snapped, with most falling to the northwest. Fortunately, no structural damage occurred.

Wider weather episode

Tropical Storm Beryl briefly strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane with 80 mph winds as it made landfall along the Southeast Texas coast near Matagorda Bay during the early morning hours of July 8th, and tracked north-northeast across East Texas and into Southwest Arkansas during the afternoon and evening hours. While Beryl weakened into a tropical storm over portions of Deep East Texas by mid-afternoon, very strong wind shear and helicity existed near and east of the center, contributing to the largest tornado outbreak in NWS Shreveport history, as well as with any landfalling tropical system. A total of 43 tornadoes were confirmed through NWS surveys across East Texas, North Louisiana, and Southwest Arkansas, before Beryl weakened into a depression by late afternoon over East Texas. As a part of this outbreak, six tornadoes touched down across portions of Southwest Arkansas.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.2020, -93.3162)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1195806. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.