Home / Arkansas / Conway

EF0 tornado in Conway County, Arkansas

Tornado May 18, 2021 · Conway County, Arkansas

EF0

Rating

0.1 mi

Path length

25 yd

Path width

$25K

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

NOAA recorded where this tornado touched down but not where it lifted, so it appears as a point. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF0 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF0 is light damage: shingles and siding peeled, gutters torn, branches broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 65–85 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

This brief tornado occurred immediately east of Hwy 9 south-southeast of the town of Oppelo, AR on the evening of May 18, 2021. A small number of farm outbuildings were damaged and a hardwood tree was blown down. Also some tree limbs were snapped. The tornado dissipated very quickly.

The wider storm

Early on the 17th, over four inches of rain came down in a hurry across southern Perry and northwest Saline Counties. A couple of miles southwest of Houston (Perry County), water inundated Highway 216. It was the same story to start the next morning in western White and northern Lonoke Counties. This time, Highway 319 was flooded two miles northwest of Ward (Lonoke County). A few trees were knocked down on the 18th by severe thunderstorms. A brief EF-0 tornado occurred near the town of Oppelo.

Began near Oppelo (35.0900, -92.7700).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 960489. 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.