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EF1 tornado in Woodruff County, Arkansas

Tornado May 1, 2010 · Woodruff County, Arkansas

EF1
Rating
8.7 mi
Whole path
75 yd
Path width
$400K
Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 75 yards (0.04 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 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 hangar at a flying service had part of its roof taken off and one wall caved in. A house had part of its roof and parts of two walls blown off. Trees, power poles, and power lines were blown down. This tornado exited Woodruff County north-northeast of Penrose and moved into Cross County south-southwest of Fair Oaks, in the Memphis County Warning Area.

The wider storm

Warm and humid conditions prevailed in Arkansas on the 1st. The approach of a cold front triggered the development of thunderstorms. Wind shear, a change in wind speed and direction with height, was not as favorable for the development of tornadoes as it was on April 30th. As a result, the tornadoes that managed to form were weaker and did not stay on the ground as long as they did the day before.

Began near Bemis (35.1853, -91.0762).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 219257. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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