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EF2 tornado in Johnson County, Arkansas

Tornado May 24, 2011 · Johnson County, Arkansas

EF2
Rating
45.7 mi
Whole path
1,615 yd
Path width
4
Deaths
27
Injuries
$9.1M
Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 1,615 yards (0.92 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

This is the sixth and final segment of a six-segment tornado. (The first, third, and fifth segments occurred in Franklin County in the Tulsa County Warning Area.) The tornado moved out of Franklin County north of Alix and entered Johnson County northwest of Coal Hill. In Johnson County, the tornado first moved through the Centerpoint community, knocking down trees in the cemetery and badly damaging several residences. The tornado next moved on to the Bethlehem community, where several mobile homes were destroyed and some additional residences were damaged. A 31 year-old woman in one of the mobile homes was killed and approximately 11 other people were injured. The tornado next moved on to Harmony, damaging additional residences, barns, chicken houses, and outbuildings, before continuing into the Ozark National Forest. Damage also occurred near Ozone before the tornado lifted farther to the northeast in the forest. Altogether, at least 65 residences were damaged or destroyed in Johnson County.

The wider storm

Thunderstorms developed ahead of a cold front to the west of Arkansas on the evening of the 24th, entered western Arkansas during the late evening hours, and continued into the wee hours of the 25th. Severe weather, including two killer tornadoes, occurred in western Arkansas. After a lull in activity during the morning of the 25th, some severe weather redeveloped farther to the east in the state during the afternoon.

Began near Coal Hill (35.4560, -93.7074).

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 308462. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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