F3 tornado, Newhope to Arkadelphia, Arkansas, March 5, 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

March 5, 1999

Touchdown

7:16 PM CST (01:16 UTC)

Path length

13.0 miles (20.9 km)

Path width

400 yards (366 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$2.0 million

Counties

Pike and Clark counties

Touchdown point

34.230, -93.650

Lift-off point

34.220, -93.300

Record number

203

A strong tornado was spawned in eastern Pike County. The tornado moved through mostly rural areas, so property damage was minimal. However, numerous trees were downed. The tornado was on the ground for around 10 miles before moving into western Clark County.

A strong tornado produced in eastern Pike County moved into western Clark County. The tornado hit the town of Alpine and caused extensive tree and property damage. More than two dozen homes and almost a dozen mobile homes were heavily damaged or destroyed. In nearby Amity, a high school basketball game was cancelled when a Tornado Warning was issued. The tornado continued east of Alpine into a forested area and downed numerous trees. Just south of the tornado, yet another tornado was spawned with both tornadoes causing over 2 million dollars in tree damage across Clark County. The second tornado tracked across much of eastern Clark County. The first tornado was on the ground for about 13 miles before dissipating.

A strong tornado was spawned in western Clark County just south of yet another tornado that orginated in eastern Pike County. The former tornado moved through mostly forested areas and caused extensive tree damage. Some property damage also occurred as the tornado tracked near DeGray Lake. Close to the lake, metal roofs were peeled from several docks and boats were thrown. The tornado was on the ground for 20 miles before moving into western Hot Spring County.

A strong tornado moved out of Howard County (Shreveport County Warning Area) into western Pike County. The tornado was weakening, but still heavily damaged a trailer and knocked down a few trees. The tornado tracked only half a mile into Pike County before dissipating.

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

31 minutes of warning. NWS LZK issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:45 UTC, 31 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:50 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 Moderate Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 00:43 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.

The Little Rock radar (KLZK), 130 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:14 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

11 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.