Tornadoes · United States · Arkansas · 1998

F1 tornado, Cove to Nunley, Arkansas, June 4, 1998

From Cove to Nunley, this F1 tornado ran 15.5 miles across Polk County on June 4, 1998, touching down at 10:15 PM CDT and reaching 250 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $100,000 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 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
10:15 PM CDT (03:15 UTC)
Path length
15.5 miles (24.9 km)
Path width
250 yards (229 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$100,000
County
Polk County
Touchdown point
34.420, -94.430
Lift-off point
34.570, -94.250
Record number
482

What the Weather Service recorded

A WEAK TORNADO WAS SPAWNED ABOUT 2 MILES SOUTHWEST OF COVE. THE TORNADO CAUSED MOSTLY TREE, POWER LINE AND POWER POLE DAMAGE AS IT MOVED NORTHEAST. A FEW BUILDINGS SUSTAINED ROOF AND STRUCTURAL DAMAGE AS THEY WERE STRUCK BY FALLING LARGE TREE LIMBS AND DEBRIS. AS THE TORNADO APPROACHED MENA, IT REMOVED MOST OF A ROOF FROM A BOWLING ALLEY. WITH THE ROOF MOSTLY GONE, HEAVY RAIN CAUSED WATER DAMAGE INSIDE THE BUILDING. THE TORNADO DISSIPATED 1 MILE SOUTHWEST OF MENA.

A WEAK TORNADO WAS SPAWNED TO THE SOUTHWEST OF VANDERVOORT AND MOVED NORTHEAST THROUGH THE OUACHITA NATIONAL FOREST. THE TORNADO CAUSED MOSTLY TREE AND POWER LINE DAMAGE, WITH A FEW HOMES AND BUSINESSES SUSTAINING DAMAGE FROM FALLEN TREE DEBRIS. THE TORNADO EVENTUALLY DISSIPATED JUST TO THE SOUTHWEST OF NUNLEY.

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

The warnings

8 minutes of warning. NWS LZK issued a tornado warning for this county at 03:07 UTC, 8 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:55 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
03:00 UTC04:05 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZK
03:07 UTC03:55 UTCTornado 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 Slight 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.

Shreveport, LA (KSHV), 00:00Z

3.3 hours before the tornado, 231 km from the path. June 5, 1998.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Shreveport, LA 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 2429 joules per kilogram, CIN -77, lifted condensation level 1497 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, Shreveport, LA 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 2 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 18 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
2429 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-77 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3440 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1497 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
2 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
91 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.2
Supercell composite
3.2
0-3 km lapse rate
6.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Shreveport, LA (KSHV), 12:00Z

8.7 hours after it, 231 km from the path. June 5, 1998.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Shreveport, LA 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 1882 joules per kilogram, CIN -196, lifted condensation level 661 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, Shreveport, LA 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 295 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 45 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
1882 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-196 J/kg
Surface CAPE
499 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
661 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
45 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
295 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
259 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
7.4
0-3 km lapse rate
3.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Fort Smith Municipal (FSM), 94 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
01:53 UTC7470130° 3 kt1003.7
02:04 UTC73.471.6 3 kt1004.4+RA BR
02:11 UTC73.471.6310° 5 kt1004.7+TSRA
02:17 UTC73.471.6190° 4 kt1005.1-TSRA
02:53 UTC7573250° 4 kt1005.4-TSRA
03:04 UTC73.473.4140° 9 kt1004.1-TSRA
03:27 UTC73.473.4120° 6 kt1002-TSRA
03:43 UTC73.473.4340° 14 kt261003TS
03:53 UTC7873320° 13 kt331003.4TS
03:56 UTC7773.4320° 14 kt261003.7TS
04:35 UTC73.471.6330° 13 kt1005.8
04:53 UTC7269280° 15 kt1006.1BR
04:57 UTC71.668300° 11 kt1005.4BR

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

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, AR21.0250
June 412:32 AM CDTF1Pulaski, AR5.2100
June 412:32 AM CDTF1Lonoke, AR5.0250
June 412:36 AM CDTF1Lonoke, AR3.5250

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.