F1 tornado, El Paso to Romance, 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 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 21, 1999

Touchdown

5:38 PM CST (23:38 UTC)

Path length

1.0 miles (1.6 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

White County

Touchdown point

35.200, -92.050

Lift-off point

35.220, -92.020

Record number

93

A weak tornado moved out of northwest Lonoke County into southwest White County. The tornado caused minimal damage...with some trees down along its track. The tornado dissipated about 5 miles southeast of El Paso.

A weak tornado was spawned in western White County. The tornado caused minimal damage, with mostly tree damage noted. The tornado caused some roof damage to homes about 2 miles southeast of Romance on Highway 31. The tornado dissipated just after it crossed Highway 31.

A strong tornado was spawned in northwest White County. The tornado caused extensive tree damage, and also some property damage...mainly in the town of Joy. In Joy, a shed was destroyed behind an antique store. The volunteer fire department was also heavily damaged. A recreational vehicle was thrown into some trees. The tornado dissipated just north of Highway 310 between Sidon and Pickens.

A weak tornado was spawned in western White County. The tornado caused minimal damage, with mostly tree damage noted. The tornado caused some roof damage to homes about 1 mile southeast of Romance on Highway 31. The tornado dissipated just after it crossed Highway 31.

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

23 minutes of warning. NWS LZK issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:15 UTC, 23 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:05 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.

Little Rock Afb (LRF), 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), 46 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:39 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.