Thunderstorm Wind — Columbia, Arkansas

2024-07-17 · near Taylor, Columbia, Arkansas

Event narrative

Video and photos confirm the development of a gustnado shortly after a strong gust front/outflow boundary moved across the town of Taylor, Arkansas. This feature moved a little more than a quarter of a mile across the town uprooting several large trees and snapping numerous large branches.

Wider weather episode

Scattered thunderstorms developed and quickly intensified in the afternoon on July 17th across Northeast Texas into Southwest Arkansas, in the vicinity of a surface boundary and to the south of a mesoscale convective vortex (MCV) shifting slowly southeastward across Central Oklahoma. Strong heating of a richly moist airmass resulted in MLCAPE increasing to 1500-3000 J/kg. Low/mid-level flow was weak across the region, but large precipitable water values and steepening low-level lapse rates were supportive of some potential for localized downbursts. A lone severe thunderstorm produced very localized wind damage in Columbia County Arkansas.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.1000, -93.4600)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1205001. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.