F3 tornado in Independence County, Arkansas

Tornado January 21, 1999 · Independence County, Arkansas

Rating

31.0 mi

Whole path

400 yd

Path width

$10K

Damage as recorded

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

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The path drawn at its surveyed width of 400 yards (0.23 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 eastern Independence County. The tornado tracked mostly through rural areas and caused extensive tree damage. The tree damage was mostly along the Black River east of Newark as seen from an aerial survey. The tornado moved into Jackson County about 7 miles northeast of Newark.

Began near Oil Trough (35.6500, -91.4300).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5685641. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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