EF3 Tornado — Howard, Arkansas

2009-04-09 · near Dierks, Howard, Arkansas

Event narrative

This tornado continued into Howard County from Sevier County Arkansas. The Dierks Lake area received significant damage near the Sevier, Howard County line. The Army Corps of Engineers office had significant roof damage to their office building with roofing material found in the trees adjacent to the building. The tornado was strongest in Howard County where the entire second story of a reinforced concrete building was decimated and strewn across the road. This was consistent with EF3 tornado damage with wind speeds of 140 mph. The tornado then moved into Pike County, Arkansas about 3.5 miles southwest of New Hope, Arkansas. The Arkansas governor declared Howard County a disaster area because of the tornado damage.

Wider weather episode

A strong upper level storm system along with a surface dry line/front

over northeast Texas moved east during the evening hours of April 9th into the early morning hours of April 10th causing long lived supercell thunderstorms. These thunderstorms caused long track tornadoes to occur across southeast Oklahoma, southwest Arkansas, northeast Texas, and north Louisiana.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (34.1441, -94.0979)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 154451. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.