Home / Arkansas / Saline

F3 tornado in Saline County, Arkansas

Tornado January 21, 1999 · Saline County, Arkansas

Rating

22.0 mi

Whole path

400 yd

Path width

Deaths

Injuries

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

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 Saline County. Where the tornado first touched down, a trailer was damaged and a tree fell on a car about 4 miles south of Vimy Ridge along Styles Road. About 2 miles southeast of Vimy Ridge on Sardis Road, extensive tree damage was found. A mobile home was heavily damaged in the same area with several other homes sustaining roof damage. The tornado strengthened as it moved northeast into Pulaski County.

Began near Vimy Ridge (34.5500, -92.4200).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5685649. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

Tornadoes near your address

See every tornado that passed near a place you know, measured to its path.