EF2 Tornado — Cross, Arkansas

2025-04-05 · near Wilkins, Cross, Arkansas

Event narrative

The tornado moved from St. Francis County into Cross County and caused additional damage just west of Highway 1 in Wilkins. A large outbuilding was shifted off its foundation with a couple of walls collapsed. The tornado caused damage to a chemical plant, flipped a semi, and damaged numerous homes near the Fitzgerald Crossing area. The most significant damage in this area was to a 2400 square foot metal outbuilding that was completely destroyed and a couple of manufactured homes that were destroyed on County Road 741. The tornado then continued its track past Fitzgerald Crossing, damaging numerous solar panels in a large solar farm between Highway 1 and Cathy Lake. The tornado then moved onto Crowley's Ridge where significant damage occurred at a country club and an entire storage building was lofted 100 yards northeast of its original location. The Levesque area was then impacted with multiple uprooted trees and a few small outbuildings destroyed. The tornado lifted just east of Highway 163. Peak winds were estimated around 125 mph.

Wider weather episode

The front eventually sagged south back into the Mid-South during the early morning hours of April 5th. Strong low-level moisture transport into the frontal zone resulted in heavy rain and training storms across northern sections of the Mid-South, mainly north of I-40. A bow echo developed along and just south of the slowly advancing front. This feature crossed the entire forecast area producing 13 tornadoes, including an EF-2, and wind damage. Heavy rain continued through the morning hours with flash flooding increasing across the Mid-South.

The final round of severe weather occurred during the afternoon and evening of April 5th. The slow-moving cold front combined with an increasingly unstable airmass, strong upper-level divergence, and 0-6 km bulk shear values of 50-60 knots provided the ingredients for more severe storms. A QLCS with a bookend vortex pushed into east Arkansas and West TN with a good deal of wind damage. The southern end of the line became more supercellular during the afternoon and evening and produced seven tornadoes, including an EF-2. The combination of continued abundant moisture with precipitable water values greater than 1.75 inches and strong low-level moisture transport into the frontal zone resulted in very heavy rainfall and considerable flash flooding across much of the Mid-South.

The severe weather threat finally wound down by late evening on April 5th with the flash flood threat ending a few hours later. Total rainfall amounts of 10-15 inches occurred across parts of east Arkansas, the Missouri Bootheel, West Tennessee, and extreme northwest Mississippi during this event. This resulted in widespread river flooding for several days following the event.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.1480, -90.8250)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1256990. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.