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EF2 tornado in Phillips County, Arkansas

Tornado July 30, 2009 · Phillips County, Arkansas

EF2

Rating

33.4 mi

Whole path

600 yd

Path width

$5.1M

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Arkansas County → Phillips County → Coahoma County, Mississippi → Phillips County → Coahoma County, Mississippi → Phillips County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 600 yards (0.34 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

A tornado crossed over from Burke Landing in Coahoma County Mississippi continuing to weaken and lifted shortly thereafter. A few trees were knocked down.

The wider storm

A cold front approached the Mid-South during the afternoon hours of July 30th, 2009. A low pressure center developed along the front as the front moved into the area. The low pressure helped to spawn several tornadoes across the Mid-South. In addition, other storms produced damaging winds, large hail and flash flooding into the evening hours.

Began near Modoc (34.2804, -90.7728).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

1 more tornado the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF0 Poinsett County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 190641. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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