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EF2 tornado in Conway County, Arkansas

Tornado April 30, 2010 · Conway County, Arkansas

EF2
Rating
11.8 mi
Whole path
200 yd
Path width
$1.9M
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Conway County → Van Buren County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 200 yards (0.11 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 Red Cross survey found the following damage from this EF2 tornado: 12 houses and 2 mobile homes destroyed, 8 houses with major damage, 5 houses and 2 mobile homes with minor damage, and 8 houses affected. Other damage included: roof damage to two churches, a silo thrown against one church, a number of barns and outbuildings damaged, and numerous trees and power lines blown down. The tornado exited Conway County east of Austin and entered Van Buren County north-northwest of Whipple.

The wider storm

Moisture from the Gulf of Mexico surged into Arkansas at the end of April, so conditions in the state became warm and humid. On the 30th, a strong area of low pressure aloft approached from the west, resulting in the development of thunderstorms. Wind shear, a change in wind direction and speed with height, was present. This created a favorable environment for the formation of tornadoes.

Began near Lick Mtn (35.3549, -92.6427).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

9 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 219255. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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