F3 Tornado — Desha, Arkansas

2001-02-24 · near Reed, Desha, Arkansas

Event narrative

A strong tornado was spawned in western Desha County about 1 mile south-southwest of Reed. The tornado moved quickly northeast, and destroyed a mobile home. Roofs were damaged at several homes. In addition, the tornado rolled a 500 gallon butane tank, damaged or destroyed metal barns and sheds and knocked hundreds of trees down near the Arkansas River levee southeast of Yancopin. Perhaps the most damage was found just west of Kelso. There, a large metal farm shop was destroyed with parts of the shop found more than 6 miles away. Near the shop, there were grain carts thrown at least a third of a mile. A large combine and several truck tractors were destroyed. One tractor trailer was overturned. Also near the shop, a pickup track was mangled with several large farm implements thrown, overturned or destroyed. The tornado travelled about 42 miles before dissipating 5 miles northeast of Snow Lake.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.6833, -91.4333)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5233460. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.