EF2 tornado in Nevada County, Arkansas

During the early morning hours on March 7th, a severe thunderstorm produced an EF2 tornado with estimated maximum winds of 125 mph just west of Willisville in Southern Nevada County, Arkansas. This storm also had a history of producing an earlier tornado in East Texas. The first sign of damage from the tornado was seen just south of the intersection of Highway 32 and County Road 9 near a large open field. The tornado brought down multiple large trees before heading northeast through the large open field. On the far northeast corner of the field is where tree damage picked up again, before tracking across Highway 32 just to the west of County Road 17. The more significant damage was found near County Road 122, County Road 17, and County Road 1702, where numerous structures sustained damage. A single wide mobile home was lifted off the rooted foundation and tossed around 100 feet before landing and being completely destroyed. There was one occupant in the residence who walked away from the incident with only minor injuries. It was at this location that the tornado was rated an EF2 with maximum winds of 125 mph. The tornado then went through another grove of trees before crossing County Road 17 just north of County Road 1702 where it destroyed a small garage/storage unit. Damage from this unit was scattered all throughout an open field all the way to County Road 124. It also brought down a number of very large trees as it crossed the road. As the tornado crossed over County Road 124, it appeared to have started to lift, as damage was more sporadic in a wide open field. The adjacent tree line at the end of the field along the path of the tornado had a few trees down, but there was no clear indication that the tornado remained on the ground beyond this point.

Strong to severe thunderstorms developed in advance of a cold front on the morning of March 7th from eastern Oklahoma into western Arkansas. Wind profiles were quite favorable for organized thunderstorms, with moderate deep-layer shear and effective storm-relative helicity near/above 250 m2/s2. Further analysis also indicated a modest increase in MLCAPE overnight into the early morning hours in the pre-frontal warm air regime, as rich low-level moisture was transported into the region from the southwest. This led to some intensification of convection prior to the arrival of the approaching cold front, with one thunderstorm producing a tornado near the Willisville community in southern Nevada County.