F3 tornado, Saltillo to El Paso, Arkansas, May 4, 2003

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

May 4, 2003

Touchdown

7:52 PM CDT (00:52 UTC)

Path length

34.9 miles (56.2 km)

Path width

500 yards (457 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

5

Counties

Faulkner, Lonoke and White counties

Touchdown point

35.000, -92.370

Lift-off point

35.180, -91.780

Record number

315

A strong tornado touched down in the southern part of Faulkner County, about 3 miles southwest of Saltillo. The tornado caused quite a bit of tree and power pole damage. Several homes and other buildings sustained some damage The tornado tracked to the northeast into Lonoke County.

The tornado moved from Faulkner County into the extreme northwest corner of Lonoke County, about 7.2 miles northwest of Cabot. The tornado moved across Highway 5 where a number of trees and power poles were blown down. Several homes also sustained some minor roof damage due to fallen trees. The tornado continued moving northeast into White County.

A strong tornado moved from Lonoke County into White County about 4 miles southeast of El Paso. The tornado moved across Highway 64 where several homes and businesses were destroyed with a number of other buildings suffering significant damage. Two tractor-trailers traveling along Highway 64 were hit by the tornado and overturned. The drivers of both vehicles suffered minor injuries. As the tornado continued moving to the northeast, numerous other homes and other buildings were either damaged or destroyed. A number of vehicles were also damaged or destroyed. Widespread trees and power poles were blown down along the track of the tornado. Some of the downed trees were 3 to 4 feet in diameter.

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

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 20:19 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 Little Rock, AR wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at May 4, 3:45 PM CDT, 4 hours 7 minutes earlier.

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
345 PM CDT SUN MAY 4 2003

SEVERE WEATHER LOOKS TO BE A GOOD POSSIBILITY IN THE FORECAST AREA
OVERNIGHT. A COLD FRONT WILL MOVE INTO THE WEST THIS EVENING AND
SHOULD STALL MAINLY OVER THE CENTRAL SECTIONS ON MONDAY. EXPECT
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS LIKELY OVERNIGHT...WITH BEST THREAT FOR
SEVERE WEATHER OVER THE WEST CENTRAL AND NORTHWESTERN SECTIONS. WILL
CONTINUE CHANCES OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ON MONDAY...BUT BEST
CHANCES OVER THE CENTRAL...EASTERN...AND SOUTHERN SECTIONS WHICH
WILL BE ALONG AND AHEAD OF THE FRONT. THE FRONT WILL MEANDER IN THE
STATE THROUGH MUCH OF THE WEEK...SO WILL KEEP CHANCE POPS IN THROUGH
THURSDAY...THEN SLIGHT CHANCE FRIDAY. SATURDAY LOOKS GENERALLY
RAIN-FREE...BUT NEW FRONT WILL APPROACH WITH A CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS AGAIN ON SUNDAY.

HRO   62  80  57  76 /  60  20  30  40
LIT   65  82  61  80 /  60  30  40  50
HOT   65  82  61  80 /  60  30  40  50
PBF   68  83  65  82 /  60  50  40  50

.LZK...NONE.

22

ARZ003>007-012>016-021>025-030>034-037>047-052>057-062>069-051000-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
151 PM CDT SUN MAY 4 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR A LARGE PART OF ARKANSAS.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

A WARM FRONT ACROSS CENTRAL ARKANSAS CONTINUED TO MOVE NORTH THIS
AFTERNOON. BEHIND THE FRONT...WARM...MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIR WAS
NOTED ACROSS THE REGION. MEANWHILE...A STRONG STORM SYSTEM WAS IN
NORTH KANSAS WITH A TRAILING COLD FRONT INTO THE TEXAS PANHANDLE. AS
THE FRONT APPROACHES LATER TODAY...IT WILL MOVE INTO THE UNSTABLE
ATMOSPHERE WITH THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING.

SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS WILL BEGIN FORMING IN WESTERN
ARKANSAS THIS AFTERNOON AND WILL PUSH ACROSS THE STATE THROUGH THE
OVERNIGHT HOURS. IT APPEARS THAT SEVERE WEATHER WILL BE LIKELY.

LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS WILL BE THE MAIN SEVERE WEATHER
THREATS THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. HOWEVER...THE WINDS WILL BE
CHANGING WITH HEIGHT...WITH A SOUTH TO SOUTHEAST WIND NEAR THE
GROUND AND A WEST TO SOUTHWEST WIND ALOFT. THIS WILL CREATE A
TURNING MOTION IN THE ATMOSPHERE...WITH TORNADOES POSSIBLE IN SOME
STORMS.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY

THE COLD FRONT IN THE PLAINS WILL BE SLOW TO MOVE ACROSS ARKANSAS.
BY MONDAY AFTERNOON...THE FRONT WILL EXTEND FROM AROUND MOUNTAIN
HOME TO TEXARKANA. AFTER SOME LEFTOVER MORNING PRECIPITATION...
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL REDEVELOP DURING THE AFTERNOON ACROSS
MAINLY THE SOUTHEAST HALF OF THE STATE. SEVERE WEATHER IS AGAIN
POSSIBLE.

THE FRONT WILL STALL ACROSS THE REGION THROUGH MUCH OF THE UPCOMING
WEEK. SEVERAL SYSTEMS FROM THE PLAINS WILL INTERACT WITH THE FRONT
TO TRIGGER A FEW ROUNDS OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH AT
LEAST THURSDAY.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS LIKELY ACROSS MUCH OF ARKANSAS TODAY...
ESPECIALLY DURING THE AFTERNOON AND OVERNIGHT HOURS.

51

In the hours before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
653 PM CDT SUN MAY 4 2003

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

0620 PM    3 SE PERRYVILLE           AR   1.75 INCH HAIL
05/04/03   PERRY                          OCCURRED AT HARRIS BRAKE.
                                          REPORTED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT

0620 PM    LONDON                    AR   1.75 INCH HAIL
05/04/03   POPE                           WINDSHIELD BROKEN BY HAIL.
                                          REPORTED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT

28

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
726 PM CDT SUN MAY 4 2003

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

0650 PM    BEE BRANCH                AR   .88 INCH HAIL
05/04/03   VAN BUREN                      REPORTED BY PUBLIC

28

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), 20 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), 33 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:51 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 2003 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are

80 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 81 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.