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F3 tornado in Nevada County, Arkansas

Tornado March 1, 1997 · Nevada County, Arkansas

Rating

18.0 mi

Whole path

880 yd

Path width

Injuries

$3.0M

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Hempstead County → Nevada County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

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The path drawn at its surveyed width of 880 yards (0.50 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F3 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F3 meant severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned; the scale paired it with winds of 158–206 mph, figures later judged too high, especially toward the top of the scale, and revised downward in the Enhanced Fujita scale. Ratings then, as now, came from the damage.

The wider storm

Damage path began 1.8 miles north of Hope, AR moved northeast along hwy 174, crossed I-30 at exit 36 (Emmet, AR. exit) continued northeast on the west side of I-30 past Emmit then northeast 1/2 to 2 miles west of I-30 and Prescott, AR then crossed the Little Missouri River at the Nevada-Clark county line and continued northeast. Total path length about 18 miles with width average 25 yds to 1/2 mile. Numerous homes, buildings, mobile homes, and vehicles were destroyed or heavily damaged.

Began near Hope (33.7700, -93.4800).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5589716. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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