EF1 Tornado — Hempstead, Arkansas

2025-03-14 · near Center Pt, Hempstead, Arkansas

Event narrative

An EF1 tornado with estimated maximum winds near 100 mph touched down late in the evening on March 14th, 2025, along County Road 5 near the intersection of County Road 160 and County Road 161 West. Large branches on trees were snapped, along with a few uprooted trees in this area. The tornado then moved slightly northeast, passing just north of County Road 161 West before then crossing Highway 29 South where the tornado continued to produce tree damage along with structural damage to several residences, mainly damage to roofing. As the tornado continued east, it damaged more structures, with a home experiencing roof damage, along with a camper and cattle trailer thrown approximately 100 yards from their original positions. Extensive tree damage was visible to the east from the backyard of the residence, indicating that the tornado continued in this direction, heading toward County Road 150. Off of County Road 150, a mobile home was completely destroyed, injuring the two residents inside. The roof and walls of the mobile home were separated from the undercarriage and moved from the original position. The tornado continued its path to the east northeast, crossing Little Bodcaw Creek before damaging the roof of another residence off of County Road 57. The tornado would persist for another several miles, mainly uprooting trees and snapping branches as it passed near the intersection of County Road 8 and County Road 3, then County Road 134 and County Road 52. The tornado then finally lifted as it approached Highway 32.

Wider weather episode

Robust thunderstorm development began late in the evening on March 14th along a dryline from the Hot Springs region southward toward Texarkana. Upper air analysis suggested that low to mid-level winds were not quite as strong as compared to areas in Northern Arkansas. However, a strengthening low-level jet sampled by the KLZK (North Little Rock, Arkansas) and KSHV (Shreveport, Louisiana) radars both supported 0-1 km storm relative helicity (SRH) on the order of 200-300 m2/s2. Increasing low-level surface moisture and mixed layer CAPE were supportive of a more tornadic environment downstream of the developing convection. Discrete to semi-discrete supercells migrated into this air mass with damaging wind gusts and tornadoes eventually being reported across parts of Southwest Arkansas late into the evening hours.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.5242, -93.6464)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1249683. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.