Tornadoes · United States · Arkansas · 1985

F2 tornado, Prairie and Monroe counties, Arkansas, April 23, 1985

This F2 tornado ran 10.0 miles across Prairie and Monroe counties on April 23, 1985, touching down at 3:11 PM CST and reaching 300 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 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 23, 1985
Touchdown
3:11 PM CST (21:11 UTC)
Path length
10.0 miles (16.1 km)
Path width
300 yards (274 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$50,000 to $500,000
Counties
Prairie and Monroe counties
Touchdown point
34.580, -91.550
Lift-off point
34.620, -91.380
Record number
137

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

9.2 hours before the tornado, 141 km from the path. April 23, 1985.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Little Rock, AR at 12:00Z on 1985-04-23Temperature 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 -57408, lifted condensation level 3598 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 1985-04-23The 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 205 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 41 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
-57408 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
3598 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
41 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
205 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
274 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

2.8 hours after it, 141 km from the path. April 24, 1985.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Little Rock, AR at 00:00Z on 1985-04-24Temperature 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 -88522, lifted condensation level 3610 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 1985-04-24The 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 142 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 51 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
-88522 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
3610 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
51 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
142 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
217 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 1985 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 23, 1985

12 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 2312:55 PM CSTF0Harrison, TX0.530
April 231:58 PM CSTF0Jefferson, AR0.110under $50
April 232:40 PM CSTF2Lonoke, AR1.5400$50,000 to $500,000
April 233:10 PM CSTF3Lafayette, LA to AR13.0200under $50
April 233:23 PM CSTF1Dunklin, MO1.850$50,000 to $500,000
April 233:40 PM CSTF1Caddo Parish, LA3.0200
April 233:45 PM CSTF0Dent, MO0.3100$500 to $5,000
April 233:50 PM CSTF1Webster Parish, LA4.0150
April 234:25 PM CSTF1Webster Parish, LA2.0150
April 234:30 PM CSTF2Claiborne Parish, LA5.0200
April 235:15 PM CSTF1Claiborne Parish, LA2.0150
April 236:05 PM CSTF2De Soto Parish, LA8.0200

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.