F0 tornado, Chester, Arkansas, May 6, 1998

1. F040 to 72 mphthis tornado

   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 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.

Rating

F0

Date

May 6, 1998

Touchdown

7:39 PM CDT (00:39 UTC)

Path length

0.5 miles (0.8 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Crawford County

Touchdown point

35.680, -94.080

Lift-off point

35.680, -94.080

Record number

277

Summary of events for May 6 1998:Numerous severe thunderstorms developed during the late afternoon and evening over eastern Oklahoma and then moved into westcentral and northwest Arkansas between 700 and 930 PM CDT. Many of these thunderstorms developed rotation with one storm ultimately producing a tornado.The storm that produced a tornado was the first to move into Arkansas. It first developed over Sequoyah County in Oklahoma and then moved into northern Crawford County around 715 PM CDT. From there, it developed very rapidly and began rotating, finally producing a tornado touchdown near Lake Fort Smith. Besides a tornado, this storm also produced hail to the size of golfballs. Another cluster of severe thunderstorms, with a history of brief tornado touchdowns and funnel clouds in Oklahoma, moved across northern Crawford County between 830 and 900 PM CDT. Finally, a severe thunderstorm with a long history of rotation and tornadoes moved across southern Sebastian County between 900 and 930 PM CDT. Thankfully, there were no known tornadoes in Sebastian County, but the storm produced hail as large as golfballs. The severe thunderstorms formed as a weak cold front shifted south over the area and a wave of low pressure approached from the west and southwest. An upper level disturbance helped to break a cap of warm air in the mid-levels which had held firm for most of the day.

A tornado was reported over Lake Fort Smith. Amateur video captured this wide-funnelled storm as it moved across the hilly terrain of northern Crawford County. Path length and width are estimated.

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

5 minutes of warning. NWS TSA issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:34 UTC, 5 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:30 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 Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 11:01 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.

Fayetteville/Drake (FYV), 37 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 50 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:40 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 1998 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are

7 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.