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F3 tornado in Monroe County, Arkansas

Tornado January 21, 1999 · Monroe County, Arkansas

Rating

36.0 mi

Whole path

500 yd

Path width

Injuries

$500K

Damage as recorded

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

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The path drawn at its surveyed width of 500 yards (0.28 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.

What the National Weather Service wrote

A strong tornado was spawned in southern Monroe County. The tornado flipped over a tractor 8 miles south of Brinkley. About 3 miles southeast of Brinkley, the tornado destroyed a home with nothing left but the foundation. As the tornado moved northeast, the tornado damaged some transmission towers. The tornado tracked through much of eastern Monroe County and weakened some before moving into St. Francis County (Memphis County Warning Area) and the Wheatley area.

Began near Clarendon (34.6700, -91.2700).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5684592. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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