EF2 Tornado — Cleburne, Arkansas

2020-09-01 · near Hopewell, Cleburne, Arkansas

Event narrative

This tornado formed near Candlestick Road east of Hwy 5, damaging several trees and an outbuilding. The tornado continued northeast damaging more trees and outbuildings along Blakey Circle and Blakey Road. The tornado then continued northeast crossing the Little Red River along Wildflower Road, snapping many healthy trees. This is where the strongest winds were noted. The tornado lifted shortly after this location.

Wider weather episode

On the 1st, several inches of rain dumped from Mena (Polk County) and Waldron (Scott County) to Russellville (Pope County), and Mountain View (Stone County).

The ground was already saturated in parts of the west after more than a foot of precipitation in August. Water had nowhere to go, and flooding became life threatening. At Waldron (Scott County), numerous roads were under water (including Highways 28 and 71), and this was spilling into homes and businesses. Local residents had to be rescued. Major flooding occurred along the Petit Jean River at Danville (Yell County), with a Top 10 highest crest by the 2nd.

County roads were flooded near the Petit Jean River at Booneville (Logan County). More county roads were inundated with water at Dardanelle (Yell County), and parts of Highways 27 and 28 were affected. An overflowing creek closed Highway 28 around Bluffton (Yell County). County roads were washed out near Hanover (Stone County). Highway 115 was flooded and shut down near Jessup (Lawrence County).

One storm produced three tornadoes from central into northeast sections of the state (Conway, Faulkner, and Cleburne Counties). The strongest of the tornadoes (rated EF2) cut a 5.3 mile swath through areas just south and southeast of Heber Springs (Cleburne County) between 300 pm and 330 pm CDT on the 1st. Tree damage was extensive, with numerous trees snapped four to five miles southeast of town. Some trees were on a home, and a few outbuildings were damaged.

The other two tornadoes (rated EF0/EF1) tracked just north of Plumerville and Menifee (both in Conway County), and northwest of Wooster and Greenbrier (both in Faulkner County). More trees were uprooted, and there was some minor structural damage.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.4311, -92.0367)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 920114. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.