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EF2 tornado in Clay County, Arkansas

Tornado September 1, 2012 · Clay County, Arkansas

EF2

Rating

1.0 mi

Whole path

75 yd

Path width

$5.0M

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Clay County → Clay 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 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 briefly touched down southwest of the Corning Municipal Airport and traveled northeast across the northern portion of the airport. Two hangars were extensively damaged with a few others receiving minor damage. Many of the aircraft that were housed inside the hangar were heavily damaged as well. Two homes near the airport had windows blown out and a shed had the roof blown off. The tornado continued northeast crossing Highway 67. Power poles along the highway were knocked down. A clear path was seen in the bean field north of Highway 67. The tornado lifted near County Road 135. Large amounts of debris were found nearly 1.5 miles away from the airfield with one 930 pound piece of equipment found nearly a quarter of mile away from the building which it was being stored.

The wider storm

Remnants of Hurricane Isaac moved northward into Eastern Arkansas on September 1st, 2012. Numerous showers and thunderstorms occurred across the area as a result. Some thunderstorms became severe producing damaging winds and a couple tornadoes.

Began near Corning Muni Arpt (36.4075, -90.6526).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 413984. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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