Thunderstorm Wind in Lincoln County, Arkansas

Several large limbs were blown down at Cane Creek State Park near Star City.

A powerful storm system developed and moved across the central Plains into the Mid-Mississippi Valley on Friday into Friday night. This storm complex brought a cold front through the state. Ahead of the cold front, in the open warm sector, near record warm temperatures, upper 70s/lower 80s, and elevated dew points, mid 60s to 70, were observed across Arkansas. This provided a warm and unstable environment and with favorable clockwise turning of winds with height, strong storms were expected to develop. Showers and thunderstorms did develop over portions of central Arkansas and trekked northeast into the evening. Storms organized over the aforementioned area, which went on to produce multiple tornadoes across northeast parts of Arkansas. This tornado activity continued into extreme northeast Arkansas, Missouri Bootheel, northwestern Tennessee, and Kentucky. Strong damaging winds and marginally severe hail also accompanied the storms over the state.