EF1 tornado in Benton County, Arkansas

This tornado developed along and north of River Valley Road and south of Gary Turner Road. It moved northeast crossing Highway 412 west of Fairmount Road, and then dissipated south of Water Tower Road. Numerous trees were uprooted, a few trees were snapped, outbuildings were destroyed, a few homes were damaged, and power poles were snapped in its path. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in the tornado was 100 to 105 mph.

Strong to severe thunderstorms developed into and across northwestern Arkansas during the afternoon of the 4th, in an unseasonably moist and unstable air mass ahead of an approaching cold front. The atmosphere became very unstable ahead of the thunderstorms. The deep-layer and low-level wind shear strengthened during the afternoon, in response to a strong storm system translating into the Southern Plains from the Southern Rockies. The combination of very unstable air and very strong wind shear resulted in the development of some supercell thunderstorms, which produced several tornadoes across Benton and Washington Counties. Locally heavy rainfall resulted in flash flooding across portions of Benton, Madison, and Franklin Counties.