Tornadoes · United States · Arkansas · 1979

F2 tornado, Pulaski, Saline and Lonoke counties, Arkansas, April 11, 1979

This F2 tornado ran 40.3 miles across Pulaski, Saline and Lonoke counties on April 11, 1979, touching down at 3:00 PM CST and reaching 250 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $500,000 to $5 million 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
April 11, 1979
Touchdown
3:00 PM CST (21:00 UTC)
Path length
40.3 miles (64.8 km)
Path width
250 yards (229 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$500,000 to $5 million
Counties
Pulaski, Saline and Lonoke counties
Touchdown point
34.550, -92.330
Lift-off point
34.880, -91.750
Record number
156

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.

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), 12:00Z

9.0 hours before the tornado, 191 km from the path. April 11, 1979.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Little Rock, AR at 12:00Z on 1979-04-11Temperature 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 -71365, lifted condensation level 3597 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, Little Rock, AR at 12:00Z on 1979-04-11The 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 260 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
-71365 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
3597 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
50 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
260 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
357 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), 00:00Z

3.0 hours after it, 191 km from the path. April 12, 1979.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Little Rock, AR at 00:00Z on 1979-04-12Temperature 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 -78417, lifted condensation level 3604 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, Little Rock, AR at 00:00Z on 1979-04-12The 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 -102 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 87 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 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
-78417 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
3604 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
87 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-102 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-26 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1979 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 11, 1979

33 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 1112:01 AM CSTF1Pontotoc, OK3.050$5,000 to $50,000
April 111:05 AM CSTF2Marshall, OK0.110$5,000 to $50,000
April 112:06 AM CSTF1Grayson, TX0.110
April 114:00 AM CSTF0Muskogee, OK0.110
April 117:10 AM CSTF2Conway, AR5.4200$50,000 to $500,000
April 118:42 AM CSTF1Stone, AR8.7150$50,000 to $500,000
April 1110:02 AM CSTF2Washington, AR11.12004$50,000 to $500,000
April 1110:10 AM CSTF2Henderson, TX13.3150$5,000 to $50,000
April 1110:12 AM CSTF2Hopkins, TX8.3150$50,000 to $500,000
April 1111:02 AM CSTF1Wood, TX0.110
April 1111:15 AM CSTF2McCurtain, OK to AR42.044020$50,000 to $500,000
April 1111:30 AM CSTF0Stone, MO0.150
April 1112:00 PM PSTF0Idaho, ID1.017under $50
April 112:10 PM CSTF2Nevada, AR0.5200$50,000 to $500,000
April 112:15 PM CSTF2Faulkner, AR3.0440$50,000 to $500,000
April 113:00 PM CSTF3Douglas, MO35.44009$50 to $500
April 113:00 PM CSTF1Claiborne Parish, LA2.0100$50,000 to $500,000
April 113:00 PM CSTF1Thomas, KS0.133under $50
April 113:15 PM CSTF1Ozark, MO2.71002$50,000 to $500,000
April 113:45 PM CSTF1Fulton, AR0.5100$5,000 to $50,000
April 113:50 PM CSTF1White, AR6.5100$50 to $500
April 114:10 PM CSTF2Ashley, AR10.4200$500,000 to $5 million
April 114:35 PM CSTF2Lawrence, AR2.0200$50,000 to $500,000
April 115:00 PM CSTF1Shawnee, KS4.1301$50,000 to $500,000
April 115:15 PM CSTF2Desha, AR3.6100$50,000 to $500,000
April 115:30 PM CSTF1Saint Francois, MO8.5100$5,000 to $50,000
April 116:00 PM CSTF1Buffalo, NE0.510$500 to $5,000
April 116:05 PM CSTF1Coahoma, MS0.5100$5,000 to $50,000
April 117:00 PM CSTF2Clay, MO20.11009$50,000 to $500,000
April 117:50 PM CSTF2Crittenden, KY36.02005
April 118:00 PM CSTF2Vanderburgh, IN10.01012
April 1111:00 PM CSTF0Dickson, TN0.333$500 to $5,000
April 1111:30 PM CSTF1Lauderdale, AL0.5201

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.