F1 tornado, Mt Vernon to Sidon, Arkansas, December 18, 2002

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

December 18, 2002

Touchdown

3:50 PM CST (21:50 UTC)

Path length

9.1 miles (14.6 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Faulkner and White counties

Touchdown point

35.200, -92.150

Lift-off point

35.280, -92.030

Record number

457

A weak tornado was spawned about 2.1 miles southwest of Mount Vernon. The tornado moved to the northeast and caused damage to several mobile homes to the west and north of Mount Vernon. A number of trees were also blown down. The tornado traveled about 3.1 miles before heading into White County.

A weak tornado moved from eastern Faulkner County into western White County about 3.5 miles west of Romance. The tornado traveled to the northeast for 6 miles before lifting. Damage along the path of the tornado consisted of a small trailer and camping trailer being overturned. Some shingles and other minor damage occurred to the roofs of several homes. Numerous trees were also blown down.

A weak tornado was spawned over northern White County about 0.7 of a mile east of Sidon. The only damage noted along the track of the tornado consisted of some trees being snapped off. The tornado traveled to the northeast for about 2.5 miles before heading into Cleburne County.

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

20 minutes of warning. NWS LZK issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:30 UTC, 20 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:00 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, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 19:29 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 live radar over the trackEvery 2002 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are

38 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.