F4 tornado, Fox to Horseshoe Bend Arpt, Arkansas, April 14, 1996

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 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 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

F4

Date

April 14, 1996

Touchdown

7:10 PM CDT (00:10 UTC)

Path length

44.0 miles (70.8 km)

Path width

880 yards (805 m)

Deaths

7

Injuries

35

Property damage

$3.0 million

Counties

Stone and Izard counties

Touchdown point

35.820, -92.350

Lift-off point

36.200, -91.720

Record number

180

The tornado first touched down 4 miles northwest of Fox. It moved northeastward, passing south of Timbo, where some homes were damaged or destroyed and a number of trees were blown down. The tornado continued moving northeastward, causing some spotty damage through much of the county until the storm was 3.5 miles southwest of Allison. There, a house was completely destroyed and the first fatality occurred at approximately 730 pm CDT. The tornado then moved into Allison at around 738 pm CDT, damaging a resort area and destroying a bathhouse. The storm then struck a campground near the resort. As the tornado moved through the campground area, trees were downed on recreational vehicles, and several camping trailers were either overturned or tossed into a nearby creek. Four people were killed at the campground. The tornado exited Stone County at 739 pm CDT. Five people also sustained minor injuries.Damage along the track of the tornado was mostly F3. However, some structural damage was consistant with an F4 rating. Initial estimates place the amount of damage at around $2,500,000.

The Stone County tornado moved into Izard County at Sylamore at 739 pm CDT. The tornado destroyed several cabins. Luckily, the cabins were evacuated before the tornado arrived. Just east of the cabins, the tornado moved into a small subdivision where several homes were damaged and one destroyed. Two occupants in the destroyed home were thrown several hundred feet and killed. The storm continued to track northeastward along Highway 9, where isolated damage was noted. The tornado reached Melbourne around 800 pm CDT, damaging or destroying a number of homes and businesses. A Ford dealership was destroyed with a number of new cars totalled. A housing project and local community college were also damaged in Melbourne. The tornado continued northeast toward the town of Franklin and then lifted 3 miles southeast of Horseshoe Bend. Some downed trees were the only noted damage along the last few miles of the tornado's path. 30 people sustained minor injuries from the storm.Damage along the track of the tornado was mostly F3. However, some damage was consistant with an F4 rating. Initial estimates place the amount of damage at $5,000,000.

The deaths

7 direct deaths are recorded for this tornado, each with what Storm Data knows of it.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

10 minutes of warning. NWS LZK issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:00 UTC, 10 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:45 UTC.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Moderate Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 06:05 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

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.

The Little Rock radar (KLZK), 132 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:07 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

The live radar over the trackEvery 1996 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are

4 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

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