Tornadoes · United States · Arkansas · 1979

F2 tornado, Pulaski County, Arkansas, June 28, 1979

This F2 tornado ran 0.8 miles across Pulaski County on June 28, 1979, touching down at 9:45 PM CDT and reaching 77 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
June 28, 1979
Touchdown
9:45 PM CDT (02:45 UTC)
Path length
0.8 miles (1.3 km)
Path width
77 yards (70 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$500,000 to $5 million
County
Pulaski County
Touchdown point
34.820, -92.220
Record number
447

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), 00:00Z

2.8 hours before the tornado, 207 km from the path. June 29, 1979.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Little Rock, AR at 00:00Z on 1979-06-29Temperature 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 -65226, lifted condensation level 3578 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 1979-06-29The 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 73 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 37 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-65226 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
3578 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
37 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
10 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
73 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
216 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
6.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

9.2 hours after it, 207 km from the path. June 29, 1979.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Little Rock, AR at 12:00Z on 1979-06-29Temperature 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 -66606, lifted condensation level 3608 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 1979-06-29The 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 115 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 30 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-66606 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
3608 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
19 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
115 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
120 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.5 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 June 28, 1979

37 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 281:45 PM CDTF0Cass, ND0.110$500 to $5,000
June 282:25 PM CDTF1Richland, ND3.3100$50 to $500
June 283:00 PM CDTF1Wilkin, MN2.530$50,000 to $500,000
June 283:30 PM CDTF1Grant, MN5.410$50,000 to $500,000
June 284:00 PM CDTF0Swift, MN0.110
June 284:30 PM CDTF1Redwood, MN0.51001$5,000 to $50,000
June 284:55 PM CDTF1Cottonwood, MN9.2100$500,000 to $5 million
June 284:10 PM MDTF0Washington, CO0.327
June 285:15 PM CDTF1Kandiyohi, MN9.0567$50,000 to $500,000
June 285:30 PM CDTF1Kandiyohi, MN4.130$50,000 to $500,000
June 285:30 PM CDTF1Wright, MN0.230$50,000 to $500,000
June 286:00 PM CDTF1McLeod, MN0.3200$50,000 to $500,000
June 286:12 PM CDTF0Emmet, IA0.530
June 286:25 PM CDTF1Emmet, IA2.340$5,000 to $50,000
June 286:40 PM CDTF3Kossuth, IA15.9300234$5 million to $50 million
June 287:00 PM CDTF1Sibley, MN5.630$50,000 to $500,000
June 287:00 PM CDTF0Palo Alto, IA0.540$5,000 to $50,000
June 287:02 PM CDTF4Pocahontas, IA14.933326$500 to $5,000
June 287:10 PM CDTF1Waseca, MN2.360$50,000 to $500,000
June 287:15 PM CDTF1Hennepin, MN0.117$50,000 to $500,000
June 287:24 PM CDTF1Nicollet, MN5.620$50,000 to $500,000
June 287:37 PM CDTF1Kossuth, IA3.633$5,000 to $50,000
June 287:40 PM CDTF1Humboldt, IA20.3300$50,000 to $500,000
June 286:45 PM MDTF1Cheyenne, CO1.050$50 to $500
June 287:45 PM CDTF2Van Buren, AR11.050$50,000 to $500,000
June 287:00 PM MDTF1Goshen, WY2.0300$500,000 to $5 million
June 287:00 PM MDTF0Goshen, WY0.110
June 287:00 PM MDTF0Goshen, WY0.110
June 287:00 PM MDTF0Goshen, WY0.110
June 287:30 PM MDTF1Goshen, WY1.0200$5,000 to $50,000
June 288:40 PM CDTF1Ramsey, MN0.233$50,000 to $500,000
June 288:40 PM CDTF0Dakota, MN0.110$5,000 to $50,000
June 289:01 PM CDTF2Hamilton, IA7.235010$50,000 to $500,000
June 289:20 PM CDTF2Hamilton, IA1.0177$50,000 to $500,000
June 288:25 PM MDTF1Prowers, CO0.527
June 289:40 PM CDTF1Dallas, IA12.940$50,000 to $500,000
June 289:25 PM MDTF1Baca, CO0.527

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.