F3 tornado in Little River County, Arkansas

Tornado May 4, 1999 · Little River County, Arkansas

Rating

50.2 mi

Whole path

75 yd

Path width

Injuries

$125.0M

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Red River County, Texas → Bowie County, Texas → Little River County → Sevier County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

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The path drawn at its surveyed width of 75 yards (0.04 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

Damage path consisted of numerous snapped and fallen small trees. The damage path was in a wooded region away from any population. This tornado moved into Little River county from Bowie county, TX then continued into Sevier county, AR.

Began near Wallace (33.6000, -94.4700).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5696339. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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