EF0 Tornado — Desha, Arkansas

2021-03-17 · near Mc Gehee Muni Arpt, Desha, Arkansas

Event narrative

A very brief, rope-like tornado occurred in a farm field about a mile southeast of McGehee. No visible structure damage was observed and the time was based on radar.

Wider weather episode

In Arkansas, the fireworks started early (during the predawn hours) on the 17th. Isolated storms unloaded large hail, including golf ball size hail just east of Scranton (Logan County), and quarter size hail at Atkins (Pope County) and Johnsville (Bradley County). After that, it turned into a bunch of heavy rain.

Two to more than three inches of rain dumped from Newport (Jackson County) to North Little Rock (Pulaski County). Vehicles stalled in high water, and people had to be rescued. Several roads were closed. Water was also over roads in North Little Rock and Sherwood (both in Pulaski County). At the latter location, a pond near a police station overflowed, and there was water everywhere.

At Searcy (White County), lightning struck a clinic and caused damage to electronic equipment. Power was knocked out to the facility temporarily.

In southeast Arkansas, rotation ramped up in one storm, and a Tornado Warning was disseminated at 430 pm CDT for eastern Drew and southern Desha Counties. At 437 pm CDT, a brief tornado (rated EF0) was witnessed in a farm field about a mile southeast of McGehee (Desha County). It was the first tornado of 2021 in the state.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.6201, -91.3797)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 948220. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.