Tornadoes · United States · Arkansas · 1999

F0 tornado, Hagarville, Arkansas, May 4, 1999

This F0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Johnson County on May 4, 1999, touching down at 5:15 PM CDT. It killed nobody.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. F040 to 72 mphthis tornado

    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 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.

The record

Rating
F0
Date
May 4, 1999
Touchdown
5:15 PM CDT (22:15 UTC)
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
0 yards (0 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Johnson County
Touchdown point
35.420, -93.170
Lift-off point
35.420, -93.170
Record number
376

What the Weather Service recorded

A weak tornado touched down briefly around 7 miles south of Hagarville in Johnson County. The tornado caused no damage.

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

The warnings

14 minutes of warning. NWS LZK issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:01 UTC, 14 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:50 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
22:01 UTC22:50 UTCTornado WarningLZK
22:51 UTC23:40 UTCTornado WarningLZK
23:53 UTC02:55 UTCFlash Flood WarningLZK
00:12 UTC00:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZK

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 forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a High Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:39 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 air that afternoon

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.

Springfield, MO (KSGF), 12:00Z

10.3 hours before the tornado, 174 km from the path. May 4, 1999.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 1999-05-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 145 joules per kilogram, CIN -410, lifted condensation level 1235 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 1999-05-04The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 7 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 42 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
145 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-410 J/kg
Surface CAPE
270 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1235 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
42 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
7 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
33 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Springfield, MO (KSGF), 00:00Z

1.7 hours after it, 174 km from the path. May 5, 1999.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 1999-05-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -74808, lifted condensation level 1240 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 1999-05-05The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 216 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 61 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-74808 J/kg
Surface CAPE
10 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1240 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
61 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
216 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
224 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Little Rock radar (KLZK), 105 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:14 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.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1999 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 4, 1999

42 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 41:59 AM CDTF0Muskogee, OK0.550
May 42:00 AM CDTF1Cherokee, OK3.0100$40,000
May 42:55 AM CDTF2Schleicher, TX23.0250$10,000
May 43:11 AM CDTF1Adair, OK0.550$1,000
May 47:00 AM CDTF0Cleveland, OK2.050$1,000
May 47:30 AM CDTF0Osage, OK0.550
May 410:50 AM CDTF1Pushmataha, OK1.050$1,000
May 411:30 AM CDTF1Latimer, OK14.0100$40,000
May 412:00 PM CDTF0Haskell, OK9.080$40,000
May 412:21 PM CDTF1LeFlore, OK0.50$110,000
May 412:34 PM CDTF1Sequoyah, OK2.080$90,000
May 412:45 PM CDTF2Red River, TX to OK14.61007$600,000
May 412:54 PM CDTF3Sequoyah, OK to AR38.20$100,000
May 41:49 PM CDTF3St. Clair, MO3.02001$50,000
May 42:02 PM CDTF1McPherson, KS8.00$1.1 million
May 42:04 PM CDTF3Franklin, TX to AR71.550122$125 million
May 42:08 PM CDTF0Saline, KS5.00
May 42:15 PM CDTF0Ellsworth, KS1.00
May 42:23 PM CDTF0McPherson, KS2.00
May 42:45 PM CDTF0Benton, MO0.150$10,000
May 42:45 PM CDTF0Lincoln, KS6.00
May 43:03 PM CDTF2Gregg, TX2.2117$6.0 million
May 43:06 PM CDTF2Gregg, TX9.702$19 million
May 43:40 PM CDTF0Harrison, TX2.20
May 43:50 PM CDTF1Harrison, TX4.650
May 44:35 PM CDTF1Marion, KS20.00$80,000
May 45:00 PM CDTF0Van Zandt, TX0.20
May 45:04 PM CDTF1Nevada, AR4.850$10,000
May 45:15 PM CDTF0Geary, KS0.550$1,000
May 45:20 PM CDTF0Henderson, TX0.210
May 45:28 PM CDTF2Bossier Parish, LA10.0250$300,000
May 45:30 PM CDTF1Morris, KS4.0100
May 45:54 PM CDTF0Geary, KS5.0100
May 46:13 PM CDTF0Clark, AR0.10
May 46:15 PM CDTF2Columbia, AR6.5100$150,000
May 46:30 PM CDTF0Wabaunsee, KS1.50
May 46:38 PM CDTF1Anderson, TX1.01504$300,000
May 46:43 PM CDTF3Columbia, AR9.0100$600,000
May 47:10 PM CDTF0Pottawatomie, KS0.20
May 47:14 PM CDTF0Anderson, TX0.210
May 47:37 PM CDTF0Jackson, KS0.230
May 47:52 PM CDTF2Cherokee, TX22.7200

What this means

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.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.