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F3 tornado in White County, Arkansas

Tornado January 21, 1999 · White County, Arkansas

F3
Rating
19.0 mi
Whole path
800 yd
Path width
2
Injuries

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 800 yards (0.45 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

A strong tornado was spawned in northern White County. The tornado tracked just west of Sunnydale and destroyed a trailer at the intersection of Highways 124 and 157. As the tornado headed northeast, it damaging or destroyed several homes 2 miles north of Sunnydale in the Holly Springs community. A number of trees were knocked down in the area as well. About 4 miles northeast of Sunnydale, the tornado destroyed a newly constructed home which was built on top of a hill. Just before moving into Independence County, the tornado damaged more homes and farm buildings and downed trees along and near Highway 167 close to the White County/Independence County line.

Began near Sunnydale (35.4300, -91.7300).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5684584. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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