F2 tornado, Denning to Swain, Arkansas, November 23, 2001

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 mphthis tornado

   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

F2

Date

November 23, 2001

Touchdown

7:36 PM CST (01:36 UTC)

Path length

31.5 miles (50.7 km)

Path width

500 yards (457 m)

Deaths

1

Injuries

4

Property damage

$2.0 million

Counties

Franklin, Johnson and Newton counties

Touchdown point

35.450, -93.780

Lift-off point

35.750, -93.400

Record number

558

An F1 tornado touched down 8 miles southwest of Denning and lifted just southwest of Denning. Along its path it damaged several barns and one house. The house was near Etna and it suffered roof damage and structural damage. The tornado briefly exited Franklin County as it crossed a corner of Logan County (see NWS Little Rock's report) and then returned into Franklin County after crossing the Arkansas River.

An F1 tornado touched down 1 mile west of Altus and crossed the Johnson County border 6 miles northeast of Altus. The tornado first began doing damage just southwest of Highway 64. The strongest intensity began just south of Interstate 40, just east of Wiederkerh Village and continued across Interstate 40 into Philpott Valley where most of the property damage occurred. The tornado resulted in F1 damage to several houses. Several mobile homes, numerous barns, outbuildings, and other weaker structures were destroyed, including two long turkey houses.

A weak tornado that was spawned over Franklin County, moved into Johnson County 3 miles southwest of Hunt. This tornado damaged several barns, but produced the worst damage to a home near Etna. This home sustained roof damage as well as structural damage to the walls. The tornado lifted about a half mile north of Edna.

An F2 tornado that developed over Franklin County, moved into Johnson County about 3 miles west-southwest of Hunt, on Highway 352. The tornado moved northeastward, passing just northwest of Hunt. The tornado continued on across a portion of Horsehead Lake, tracked several miles east of Catalpa and then crossed into Newton County about one mile west of Salus. The tornado killed a woman in a mobile home on County Road 272, about 1.5 miles northwest of Hunt. Two other people inside the mobile home sustained minor injuries. Two additional injuries occurred on County Road 29, about 1.5 miles north of Hunt, when two people were inside a chicken house when it was destroyed. Six chicken houses were destroyed at this location. Three of the chicken houses contained about 120 thousand chickens, many of which were killed. Other damage in Johnson County included more than a dozen barns destroyed, several mobile homes destroyed, several homes with major damage and a number of homes with lesser damage. A number of vehicles were destroyed and many others were damaged. Many outbuildings were destroyed and thousands of trees were blown down.

The F2 tornado over Johnson County crossed into Newton County about 4.5 miles southeast of Fallsville. The tornado continued to track to the northeast for 1.8 miles, before lifting 4.5 miles east-southeast of Fallsville. Since the tornado tracked across a national forest, damage along the path of the tornado consisted of numerous downed trees.

A strong tornado touched down in Newton County, tracking from 3.2 miles south-southwest of Swain to 4.5 miles east-southeast of Jasper. The thunderstorm that produced this tornado was the same storm that dropped a tornado over Johnson and southern Newton Counties a little earlier that evening. Significant damage occurred to an Inn and restaurant on Highway 7 in the Gum Springs community, or about 5 miles south-southeast of Jasper. The restaurant on the upper floor of the structure was destroyed. The roof was blown to the northwest, ending up across the highway from the building. The rear wall of the building went in the opposite direction, landing on a slope below the building. The tornado also damaged several houses and destroyed a number of outbuildings. Hundreds of trees were also blown down the entire path of the tornado.

The deaths

1 direct deaths are recorded for this tornado, each with what Storm Data knows of it.

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

23 minutes of warning. NWS TSA issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:13 UTC, 23 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:00 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 01:06 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.

NWS Tulsa, OK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Nov 23, 12:00 PM CST, 7 hours 36 minutes earlier.

EASTERN OKLAHOMA/NORTHWEST ARKANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
1200 PM CST FRI NOV 23 2001

A BUSY AFTN/EVE BEGINNING TAKING SHAPE...SO WL ISSUE AFD EARLY.

EXPECT SCT TSRA TO DEVELOP LATE THIS AFTERNOON ALONG AND EAST OF THE
HWY 75 CORRIDOR. GIVEN THE MAGNITUDE OF SHEAR AND INSTABILITY
AVAIL...SUPERCELLS ARE A LIKELYHOOD...AND HAVE CONTINUED SVR WORDING
IN THE ZNS. GOOD THERMODYNAMICS AND EXCELLENT KINEMATICS SUGGEST THE
POTENTIAL FOR LARGE TORNADOES LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING.
BROKEN LINE OF STORMS SHOULD PUSH EAST OF MUCH OF THE CWFA BY
MIDNIGHT OR SHORTLY THEREAFTER. WL CARRY LOWEST POPS IN IN THE
WEST...WITH HIGHEST POPS IN WC/NW AR. WL LET WIND ADVISORY GO WITH
THE AFTERNOON PACKAGE.

AFTER TONIGHT...TOMORROW PROMISES TO BE A STELLAR DAY ACROSS MUCH OF
THE CWFA...WITH THE EXCEPTION OF NRN ZNS...WHERE WRAP AROUND CAA
CLOUDINESS WL KEEP THINGS RATHER CLOUDY FOR MOST OF THE DAY.
AVN/ECMWF/ETA ARE ALL IN EXCELLENT AGREEMENT.

WINDS WL QUICKLY RETURN TO THE S...ALLOWING SOME LIMITED MOISTURE TO
ONCE AGAIN RETURN. ANOTHER STRONG SHORTWAVE PUSHES OUT INTO THE
PLAINS ON MONDAY. ATTM...LOOKS LIKE THE THREAT IS FAIRLY LOW AS MUCH
OF THE FORCING WL BE TO THE N OF THE CWFA...AND WL LEAVE THE POPS
OUT FOR NOW.

MEDIUM RANGE MODELS HAVE FINALLY COME INTO GOOD AGREEMENT THROUGH
THE REMAINDER OF THE FCST. STRONG CDFNT PUSHES THROUGH THE CWFA ON
MONDAY...BRINGING ANOTHER AIRMASS CHANGE. DON/T FEEL THAT THIS ONE
WL BE PARTICULARLY COLD AT THE ONSET AS IT IS PAC IN NATURE. A SMALL
PIECE OF POLAR AIR TRIES TO BREAK OFF AND ROCKET DOWN THE PLAINS ON
WED/THU COOLING TEMPS OFF BUT BRINGING LITTLE IN THE WAY OF ANY
PCPN. THU/FRI SHOULD BE FAIRLY COOL WITH THE POLAR AIR IN PLACE. WL
KEEP LOW POPS ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT...AS THERE ARE HINTS OF LGT
OVERRUNNING PCPN MAINLY ACROSS SRN AND ERN ZNS. OTRW...QUIET WX FOR
THE REMAINDER OF THE XTND.

FORECAST PACKAGE WL BE RELEASED AROUND 400 PM.

MANNING
FCSTID = 24

...PRELIMINARY NUMBERS...
TUL   50  62  38  62 /  40   0   0   0
FSM   54  64  38  65 /  70  10   0   0
MLC   53  64  39  66 /  50  10   0   0
BVO   47  58  36  61 /  40   0   0   0
FYV   49  60  36  60 /  70  10   0   0
BYV   50  59  35  59 /  70  10   0   0
MIO   48  59  36  60 /  60  10   0   0
MKO   52  63  38  64 /  50  10   0   0
F10   52  63  38  64 /  40  10   0   0
HHW   53  65  39  67 /  50  10   0   0

.TSA...
AR...WIND ADVISORY THIS AFTERNOON FOR ZONES
ARZ001>002...ARZ010>011...ARZ019>020...ARZ029.

OK...WIND ADVISORY THIS AFTERNOON FOR ZONES
OKZ049...OKZ053>064...OKZ066>076.

In the hours before

ARZ001-002-010-011-019-020-029-OKZ049-053>076-241200-

EASTERN OKLAHOMA/NORTHWEST ARKANSAS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
535 PM CST FRI NOV 23 2001

...UPDATE...

AN OUTBREAK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IS STILL EXPECTED ACROSS FAR
EASTERN OKLAHOMA AND NORTHWEST ARKANSAS THIS EVENING AND TONIGHT.

A POWERFUL STORM SYSTEM WAS MOVING SLOWLY ACROSS THE CENTRAL
PLAINS.  THIS SYSTEM SLOWED ITS PROGRESS TODAY AS IT CONTINUED TO
STRENGTHEN.  HOWEVER IT WILL ACCELERATE EAST TONIGHT AS STRONG
JET STREAM WINDS PUNCH INTO THE CENTRAL U.S.

SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP IN EASTERN OKLAHOMA AND
EXTREME WESTERN ARKANSAS BETWEEN 6PM AND 8PM AND QUICKLY BECOME
SEVERE. THE STORMS WILL FORM A LINE AND RACE ACROSS NORTHWEST
ARKANSAS...WITH THE THREAT DIMINISHING AFTER 2AM AS THE LINE EXITS
THE AREA.

VERY STRONG WIND FIELDS AND INCREASING INSTABILITY WILL PROMOTE STORM
ROTATION AND SUPERCELLS. THERE WILL BE A THREAT FOR TORNADOES AND
VERY LARGE HAIL FOR THE FIRST SEVERAL HOURS OF THE EVENT...WITH THE
THREAT TRANSITIONING TO DAMAGING WINDS AS THE STORMS FORM INTO A
LINE.

GIVEN THE FAST WINDS ALOFT THERE IS THE POTENTIAL FOR
STRUCTURAL DAMAGE IN THE MOST SEVERE STORMS.  PERSONS IN EASTERN
OKLAHOMA AND NORTHWEST ARKANSAS SHOULD PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE
WEATHER TONIGHT AND BE READY TO ACT.

STAY TUNED TO THIS STATION FOR FURTHER INFORMATION FROM THE NATIONAL
WEATHER SERVICE.

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
652 PM CST FRI NOV 23 2001

TIME(CST)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0629 PM    MANSFIELD                 AR   0.75 INCH HAIL
11/23/01   SEBASTIAN                      SPOTTER RPT

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.

Russellville Municipal Airport (RUE), 59 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 78 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:36 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 2001 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are

7 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.