Thunderstorm Wind — Washington, Arkansas

2013-05-20 · near Springdale Muni Arpt, Washington, Arkansas

Event narrative

Strong thunderstorm wind damaged the sign of a business. The debris from the sign blew across Highway 412, struck a car in the driver side window, and killed the driver instantly.

Wider weather episode

Severe thunderstorms developed along a nearly stationary frontal boundary over central Oklahoma during the early afternoon hours of the 20th. Very unstable air combined with strong low-level and deep-layer shear resulted in long-lived supercells forming over central Oklahoma and moving eastward into eastern Oklahoma. The storms organized into bow echos and line segments over eastern Oklahoma, from which several other tornadoes developed during the early evening hours. One such tornado moved into northwestern Arkansas dissipating north of Cincinnati in Washington County. Two other tornadoes developed in Benton County. Damaging wind and large hail was also widespread across the region from these storms.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.1668, -94.1258)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 453503. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.