EF1 tornado in Sevier County, Arkansas

Early on the morning of March 11th, a line of severe thunderstorms moved into Sevier County, Arkansas. The line of thunderstorms produced a brief EF1 tornado with estimated maximum winds near 95 mph just east of U.S. Highway 71 southeast of Gillham. As the tornado touched down east of the highway, it damaged several large barns before it then snapped several hardwood trees in a downstream field. The tornado then crossed Kind Road where multiple trees were snapped and uprooted. As the tornado moved east of Kind Road, it damaged several more trees before quickly lifting.

Scattered strong to severe thunderstorms extended from Southeast Oklahoma down across Central Texas late in the evening on March 10th and into the early morning on March 11th, with the most organized threat area over Northeast Texas into Southeast Oklahoma and Southwest Arkansas. Effective storm-relative helicity ahead of the prominent line of thunderstorms was quite favorable for low-level rotation, and instability was rather strong as well. The VAD wind profile from the Shreveport Doppler Radar indicated a very favorable hodograph for rotating storms with 0-1 km storm-relative helicity over 250 m2/s2. As a result, severe thunderstorms produced an isolated tornado and some damaging wind gusts in parts of Southwest Arkansas during the early morning hours on March 11th.