Tornadoes · United States · Arkansas · 1998

F1 tornado, Furlow to Cabot, Arkansas, June 4, 1998

From Furlow to Cabot, this F1 tornado ran 3.5 miles across Lonoke County on June 4, 1998, touching down at 12:36 AM CDT and reaching 250 yards wide. It killed nobody.

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
June 4, 1998
Touchdown
12:36 AM CDT (05:36 UTC)
Path length
3.5 miles (5.6 km)
Path width
250 yards (229 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Lonoke County
Touchdown point
34.770, -91.930
Lift-off point
34.780, -91.870
Record number
487

What the Weather Service recorded

A WEAK TORNADO WAS SPAWNED TO THE SOUTHWEST OF THE SOUTH BEND COMMUNITY, AND MOVED NORTHEAST. EXTENSIVE TREE, POWER LINE AND POWER POLE DAMAGE WAS NOTED IN SOUTH BEND. TREES AND LARGE TREE LIMBS FELL ON A FEW HOUSES, CAUSING MOSTLY ROOF DAMAGE. SOME STRUCTURAL DAMAGE WAS ALSO NOTED. ONE MOBILE HOME WAS DESTROYED IN SOUTH BEND. A TRAMPOLINE WAS THROWN INTO A TREE. A FEW TREES WERE DOWNED NORTH AND EAST OF SOUTH BEND BEFORE THE TORNADO DISSIPATED JUST NORTH OF FURLOW.

A WEAK TORNADO WAS SPAWNED TO THE SOUTHWEST OF LONOKE, AND MOVED THROUGH TOWN. EXTENSIVE TREE, POWER LINE AND POWER POLE DAMAGE WAS NOTED. SEVERAL TREES AND LARGE TREE LIMBS FELL ON HOUSES, CAUSING MOSTLY ROOF DAMAGE. SOME STRUCTURAL DAMAGE WAS ALSO NOTED. EAST OF TOWN, THE TORNADO DAMAGED A FENCE AROUND A BASEBALL FIELD. SOME ROOF DAMAGE WAS ALSO NOTED AT THE NATIONAL ARMORY NEXT TO THE PARK. THE TORNADO KNOCKED OUT A FEW TREE TOPS AND TREE LIMBS FARTHER EAST BEFORE DISSIPATING.

THE WEAK TORNADO THAT MOVED THROUGH THE LITTLE ROCK AIR FORCE BASE AND THE NORTH SIDE OF JACKSONVILLE EVENTUALLY HEADED INTO EXTREME WESTERN LONOKE COUNTY. THE TORNADO DID NOT LAST LONG, DISSIPATING LESS THAN A HALF MILE INTO THE COUNTY. ONLY A FEW LARGE TREE LIMBS WERE DOWNED WITH NO STRUCTURAL DAMAGE NOTED FROM THIS TORNADO.

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

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
05:38 UTC06:40 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZK

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 forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Moderate Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 11:02 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 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

5.6 hours before the tornado, 178 km from the path. June 5, 1998.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Little Rock, AR at 00:00Z on 1998-06-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2737 joules per kilogram, CIN -6, lifted condensation level 1197 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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 1998-06-05The 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 25 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 30 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
2737 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-6 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3873 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1197 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
5 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
25 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
98 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.5
Supercell composite
4.4
0-3 km lapse rate
6.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

6.4 hours after it, 178 km from the path. June 5, 1998.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Little Rock, AR at 12:00Z on 1998-06-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 298 joules per kilogram, CIN -344, lifted condensation level 1234 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, Little Rock, AR at 12:00Z on 1998-06-05The 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 21 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 46 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
298 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-344 J/kg
Surface CAPE
224 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1234 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
46 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
21 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
8 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Little Rock Afb (LRF), 27 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
03:56 UTC87.875.2200° 4 kt1005.4HZ
04:55 UTC87.875.2150° 5 kt1005.4HZ
05:22 UTC87.877130° 4 kt1005.1-TSRA HZ
05:48 UTC82.469.8290° 9 kt261008.5TSRA HZ
05:58 UTC73.469.8290° 9 kt261007.5TSRA HZ
07:15 UTC73.469.870° 2 kt1007.1-SHRA HZ

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The radar

The Little Rock radar (KLZK), 34 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 05:38 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.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1998 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 4, 1998

7 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 45:00 AM MDTF0Davis, UT0.130$30,000
June 43:43 PM EDTF0Edgefield, SC0.250
June 46:30 PM EDTF0Chester, SC0.150
June 410:15 PM CDTF1Polk, AR15.5250$100,000
June 410:15 PM CDTF1Polk, AR21.0250
June 412:32 AM CDTF1Pulaski, AR5.2100
June 412:32 AM CDTF1Lonoke, AR5.0250

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.