F3 tornado, Sunnydale to Cord, 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

4:38 PM CST (22:38 UTC)

Path length

19.0 miles (30.6 km)

Path width

700 yards (640 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

2

Counties

White and Independence counties

Touchdown point

35.430, -91.730

Lift-off point

35.630, -91.500

Record number

79

A strong tornado was spawned in northern White County. The tornado tracked just west of Sunnydale and destroyed a trailer at the intersection of Highways 124 and 157. As the tornado headed northeast, it damaging or destroyed several homes 2 miles north of Sunnydale in the Holly Springs community. A number of trees were knocked down in the area as well. About 4 miles northeast of Sunnydale, the tornado destroyed a newly constructed home which was built on top of a hill. Just before moving into Independence County, the tornado damaged more homes and farm buildings and downed trees along and near Highway 167 close to the White County/Independence County line.

A strong tornado moved out of northern White County into southern Independence County. The tornado tracked across Highway 167 about 2 miles south of Pleasant Plains...damaging or destroying several homes and farm buildings and knocking down trees. Northeast of Pleasant Plains, and near Highway 157...the tornado headed through a forested area. An aerial survey confirmed that in at least one area of the forest...only a few trees were left standing. The tornado began dissipating as it moved between Rosie and Oil Trough. About a mile farther southeast, yet another tornado was developing in southern Independence County.

A strong tornado was spawned in southern Independence County. The tornado formed as another tornado was dissipating about a mile northwest. This new tornado formed about 5 miles southwest of Oil Trough. As the tornado moved northeast, it destroyed a home and a shed along Highway 157 and damaged other homes nearby. Extensive tree damage was also found in the area. From there, the tornado tracked within a mile of Oil Trough...and caused some roof damage to a home just west of the intersection of Highways 14 and 157. In Oil Trough, a trailer was heavily damaged and a cable antenna on top of a water tower was bent. Farther northeast, a barn was damaged at the intersection of Highways 122 and 69. The tornado moved about a mile east of Newark and destroyed some transmission towers near a power plant. The tornado continued through eastern Independence County...causing mostly tree damage. The tornado finally dissipated just southeast of the town of Cord.

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

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), 22 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), 97 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:39 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.