Tornadoes · United States · Arkansas · 1974

F1 tornado, Searcy, Stone and Izard counties, Arkansas, May 14, 1974

This F1 tornado ran 62.0 miles across Searcy, Stone and Izard counties on May 14, 1974, touching down at 1:30 PM CDT and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody, 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 mphthis tornado

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

  3. F2113 to 157 mph

    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
F1
Date
May 14, 1974
Touchdown
1:30 PM CDT (18:30 UTC)
Path length
62.0 miles (99.8 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$50,000 to $500,000
Counties
Searcy, Stone and Izard counties
Touchdown point
35.800, -92.870
Lift-off point
36.120, -91.870
Record number
416

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.

Springfield, MO (KUMN), 12:00Z

6.5 hours before the tornado, 165 km from the path. May 14, 1974.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 1974-05-14Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 978 joules per kilogram, CIN -59, lifted condensation level 891 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, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 1974-05-14The 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 144 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 48 knots.193958Sfc1 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
978 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-59 J/kg
Surface CAPE
579 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
891 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
48 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
144 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
207 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.1
Supercell composite
9.1
0-3 km lapse rate
6.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Springfield, MO (KUMN), 00:00Z

5.5 hours after it, 165 km from the path. May 15, 1974.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 1974-05-15Temperature 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 -9326, lifted condensation level 959 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, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 1974-05-15The 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 58 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 59 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
-9326 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
959 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
59 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
17 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
58 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
262 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
3.1
0-3 km lapse rate
3.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1974 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 14, 1974

6 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 143:30 PM CDTF1McCurtain, OK1.0100$5,000 to $50,000
May 144:00 PM CDTF2LeFlore, OK1.077$5,000 to $50,000
May 144:30 PM CDTF2Perry, MO1.0177$5,000 to $50,000
May 147:10 PM CDTF3Grayson, TX2.033
May 147:40 PM CDTF2Tarrant, TX0.3100$50 to $500
May 148:30 PM CDTF1McCurtain, OK1.050under $50

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.