Tornadoes · United States · Arkansas · 1960

F2 tornado, Nevada County, Arkansas, May 6, 1960

This F2 tornado ran 2.6 miles across Nevada County on May 6, 1960, touching down at 3:15 AM GMT-5 and reaching 320 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 2, and did $50,000 to $500,000 of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. F040 to 72 mph

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. F173 to 112 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. F2113 to 157 mphthis tornado

    Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

  4. F3158 to 206 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. F4207 to 260 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. F5261 to 318 mph

    Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

  7. Unrated

    The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

The record

Rating
F2
Date
May 6, 1960
Touchdown
3:15 AM GMT-5 (08:15 UTC)
Path length
2.6 miles (4.2 km)
Path width
320 yards (293 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
2
Property damage
$50,000 to $500,000
County
Nevada County
Touchdown point
33.800, -93.450
Record number
201

The air that afternoon

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Shreveport, LA (KSHV), 00:00Z

8.3 hours before the tornado, 149 km from the path. May 6, 1960.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Shreveport, LA at 00:00Z on 1960-05-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 3540 joules per kilogram, CIN -14, lifted condensation level 1298 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Shreveport, LA at 00:00Z on 1960-05-06The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 45 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 47 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
3540 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-14 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3713 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1298 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
47 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
8 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
45 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
96 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.3
Supercell composite
6.5
0-3 km lapse rate
7.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Shreveport, LA (KSHV), 12:00Z

3.7 hours after it, 149 km from the path. May 6, 1960.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Shreveport, LA at 12:00Z on 1960-05-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -6704, lifted condensation level 1935 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Shreveport, LA at 12:00Z on 1960-05-06The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -29 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 50 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-6704 J/kg
Surface CAPE
26 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1935 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
50 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
7 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-29 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
21 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1960 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 6, 1960

14 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 61:30 AM GMT-5F1Camden, MO0.213$500 to $5,000
May 61:45 AM GMT-5F2Douglas, MO5.750$50,000 to $500,000
May 62:00 AM GMT-5F3Conway, AR26.7300130$500,000 to $5 million
May 62:30 AM GMT-5F2Van Buren, AR8.23334$500 to $5,000
May 62:35 AM GMT-5F1Pulaski, AR3.3500$5,000 to $50,000
May 63:00 AM GMT-5F2Pulaski, AR10.3200$5,000 to $50,000
May 64:15 AM GMT-5F2Cleveland, AR19.310$5,000 to $50,000
May 69:30 AM GMT-5F1Clay, IL1.0100$5,000 to $50,000
May 610:40 AM GMT-5F1Macon, IL0.3100$500 to $5,000
May 62:05 PM GMT-5F1Greene, IL43.550$50,000 to $500,000
May 62:30 PM GMT-5F1Walthall, MS12.3102$50,000 to $500,000
May 63:00 PM GMT-5F2White, AR14.65003$500,000 to $5 million
May 65:00 PM GMT-5F1Mississippi, AR14.0100$5,000 to $50,000
May 65:30 PM GMT-5F2Coles, IL20.9130$5,000 to $50,000

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.