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EF1 tornado in Van Buren County, Arkansas

Tornado April 15, 2012 · Van Buren County, Arkansas

EF1

Rating

2.3 mi

Path length

300 yd

Path width

$30K

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 300 yards (0.17 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

An EF1 tornado snapped off or uprooted dozens of trees, tore part of the porch roof off a mobile home, overturned a travel trailer, and caused minor damage to a house and a vacant mobile home.

The wider storm

Windy conditions prevailed ahead of an approaching cold front, with gusts of 30 to 40 mph common. As the front moved in, thunderstorms developed. Isolated severe weather, including one tornado, resulted.

Began near Fairbanks (35.4434, -92.2984).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 365556. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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