F1 tornado, Jacksonport to Grubbs, Arkansas, January 17, 1999

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.

Rating

F1

Date

January 17, 1999

Touchdown

3:06 PM CST (21:06 UTC)

Path length

2.0 miles (3.2 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Jackson County

Touchdown point

35.630, -91.320

Lift-off point

35.630, -91.270

Record number

122

A strong tornado in southeast Independence County moved into western Jackson County. The tornado caused mostly tree and power line damage and blew down some highway signs before it dissipated about 2 miles west-southwest of Jacksonport.

A weak tornado was spawned in western Jackson County between Jacksonport and Diaz. The tornado caused mostly tree damage before it dissipated near Diaz.

A weak tornado was spawned in western Jackson County at Diaz. The tornado was on the ground briefly and caused little if any damage.

A weak tornado was spawned in northern Jackson County about 2.7 miles south-southwest of Tuckerman. As the tornado tracked northeast, it damaged a couple of houses in a subdivision south of Tuckerman. Bass boats, lawn tractors and a number of yard items were blown around. At the Tuckerman Sewer Plant, a building was damaged and a fence was blown down. Another home just northeast of Tuckerman suffered considerable damage...with one person injured. Several trees were downed or snapped as well. The tornado finally dissipated about 3.5 miles southeast of Swifton.

A weak tornado was spawned in northern Jackson County about 4 miles northeast of Tuckerman. The tornado was on the ground briefly and caused only tree damage before it dissipated.

A weak tornado was spawned in eastern Jackson County about 3 miles southwest of Grubbs. The tornado tracked northeast toward Grubbs and damaged about a dozen houses in and near town. A mobile home was overturned and destroyed, with debris from the mobile home damaging the house next door. A few barns were also damaged with trees and fences blown down. The tornado dissipated about 3 miles northeast of town.

A weak tornado was spawned in eastern Jackson County about 3.5 miles north of Grubbs. The tornado was on the ground briefly and caused only tree damage before it dissipated.

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

11 minutes of warning. NWS LZK issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:55 UTC, 11 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:45 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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 10:48 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.

Batesville (Awos) (BVX), 34 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Little Rock radar (KLZK), 124 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:06 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 1999 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are

21 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.