F3 tornado, Oil Trough to Newark, Arkansas, January 21, 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 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 mphthis tornado

   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

F3

Date

January 21, 1999

Touchdown

6:05 PM CST (00:05 UTC)

Path length

31.0 miles (49.9 km)

Path width

0 yards (0 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$10,000

Counties

Independence, Jackson and Lawrence counties

Touchdown point

35.650, -91.430

Lift-off point

35.970, -91.120

Record number

95

A strong tornado was spawned in eastern Independence County. The tornado tracked mostly through rural areas and caused extensive tree damage. The tree damage was mostly along the Black River east of Newark as seen from an aerial survey. The tornado moved into Jackson County about 7 miles northeast of Newark.

A strong tornado moved from eastern Independence County into northwest Jackson County. The tornado headed mostly through rural areas and caused extensive tree damage as it tracked along the Black River. In some forested areas, there were hardly any trees left standing as seen from an aerial survey. The tornado continued northeast into southern Lawrence County (Memphis County Warning Area).

A strong tornado moved from northern White County into southern Independence County...and affected the town of Pleasant Plains. Just south of town, a trailer was flipped over behind a hardware store and a barn was heavily damaged. In the area around Pleasant Plains...at least 25 homes, a couple of businesses and a church sustained at least some damage from this tornado and from a tornado about an hour and a half earlier. Extensive tree damage was also found. The tornado headed northeast and dissipated about 5 miles northeast of town not long after it crossed Highway 157.

A strong tornado was spawned in eastern Independence County. The tornado developed near the White River about 5 miles southwest of Newark and moved toward town. In Newark, extensive tree damage was found...with numerous trees either downed or snapped. At least 100 homes, three businesses and a church sustained some damage...with mostly roof damage noted. Off of 5th Street, a few trailers were heavily damaged or destroyed. Damage was most extensive along Morgan Street and Hill Street. The tornado continued tracking northeast and dissipated about 2 miles northeast of town.

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

36 minutes of warning. NWS LZK issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:29 UTC, 36 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:20 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 High Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 10:55 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), 35 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 137 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:05 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

85 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 86 of them

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.