EF2 Tornado — White, Arkansas

2014-04-27 · near Joy, White, Arkansas

Event narrative

An EF2 tornado struck the area around Center Hill. This was the second of five tornadoes produced by the same supercell thunderstorm. According to the American Red Cross, 4 houses and 11 mobile homes were destroyed, 4 mobile homes suffered major damage, 5 houses and 3 mobile homes had minor damage, and 2 houses and 3 mobile homes were affected. Numerous trees were blown down, and vehicles and outbuildings were destroyed. One person was injured.

Wider weather episode

A round of showers and thunderstorms occurred during the morning of the 27th. Some of the storms produced hail in central Arkansas. New storms during the afternoon dropped hail in the northern and western parts of the state. The cool outflow from the morning storms left a boundary draped across the middle of the state. This boundary separated cool air to the north and much warmer air to the south. During the evening, as a strong area of low pressure approached, a supercell erupted rapidly along the boundary. Altogether, the supercell produced five separate tornadoes, the first of which was rated EF4 and killed 16 people. It was the deadliest single tornado in Arkansas since 1968. Nearly 200 people were treated at hospitals.

Large amounts of rain fell over the northeastern quarter of the state. For the 24-hour period ending at 7 AM on the 28th, some of the larger totals included 7.60 inches at Batesville Lock and Dam (Independence Co.), 6.10 inches at Calamine (Sharp Co.), 5.34 inches at Evening Shade (Sharp Co.), 5.05 inches at Melbourne (Izard Co.), 4.46 inches at Hardy (Sharp Co.), 4.18 inches at Blanchard Springs (Stone Co.), 3.96 inches at Armstead Mountain (Pope Co.), 3.95 inches at Saddle (Fulton Co.), 3.92 inches at Poughkeepsie (Sharp Co.), 3.91 inches at Greers Ferry Dam (Cleburne Co.), and 3.72 inches at Mountain View (Stone Co.).

President Barack Obama declared a disaster in the following counties: Faulkner, Pulaski, White, Cleburne, Independence, Jackson, Izard, Sharp, and Fulton.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.2491, -91.9215)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 504764. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.