F3 tornado in Hot Spring County, Arkansas

Tornado January 21, 1999 · Hot Spring County, Arkansas

Rating

11.0 mi

Whole path

500 yd

Path width

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Hot Spring County → Grant 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.

The wider storm

A strong tornado was spawned in eastern Hot Spring County. The tornado moved mostly through rural areas and caused extensive tree damage. In one forested area, there were not many trees left standing as observed during an aerial survey. As the tornado neared Highway 270 about 8 miles east of Malvern, the roof of a chicken house was damaged with a few homes narrowly missed. The tornado then moved northeast into western Grant County.

Began near Malvern (34.3000, -92.7200).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5685644. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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