Tornadoes · United States · Arkansas · 2003

F1 tornado, Carthage to Sulphur Spgs, Arkansas, May 7, 2003

From Carthage to Sulphur Spgs, this F1 tornado ran 27.2 miles across Dallas, Grant and Jefferson counties on May 7, 2003, touching down at 2:46 PM CDT and reaching 150 yards wide. 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 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.

The record

Rating
F1
Date
May 7, 2003
Touchdown
2:46 PM CDT (19:46 UTC)
Path length
27.2 miles (43.8 km)
Path width
150 yards (137 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Counties
Dallas, Grant and Jefferson counties
Touchdown point
34.120, -92.520
Lift-off point
34.150, -92.050
Record number
326

What the Weather Service recorded

A weak tornado touched down in northeast Dallas County near the Cooney community. The only damage noted were a number of trees that were twisted and blown down. The tornado moved eastward into Grant County.

A weak tornado in northeast Dallas County moved into Grant County about 7.8 miles southwest of Cross Roads. The tornado tracked eastward across the southern part of Grant County, downing numerous trees. The tornado began moving northeastward as it tracked into Jefferson County.

A weak tornado moved from southern Grant County into southwest Jefferson County about 6.2 miles west-southwest of Sulphur Springs. The tornado tracked to the northeast until it dissipated 4.5 miles south-southwest of Pine Bluff. The only damage noted along the path of the tornado was numerous trees that were blown down.

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

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
08:29 UTC09:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZK
08:30 UTC09:15 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:36 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.

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), 12:00Z

7.8 hours before the tornado, 228 km from the path. May 7, 2003.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Little Rock, AR at 12:00Z on 2003-05-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 196 joules per kilogram, CIN -170, lifted condensation level 956 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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, Little Rock, AR at 12:00Z on 2003-05-07The 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 90 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 54 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
196 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-170 J/kg
Surface CAPE
77 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
956 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
54 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
90 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
19 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), 00:00Z

4.2 hours after it, 228 km from the path. May 8, 2003.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Little Rock, AR at 00:00Z on 2003-05-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2190 joules per kilogram, CIN -41, lifted condensation level 953 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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, Little Rock, AR at 00:00Z on 2003-05-08The 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 147 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 60 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
2190 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-41 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3608 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
953 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
60 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
147 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
180 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
2.7
Supercell composite
13.1
0-3 km lapse rate
6.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Pine Bluff/Grider (PBF), 33 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
17:53 UTC80720° 0 kt1011.5
18:18 UTC78.871.6190° 5 kt1011.5
18:53 UTC8173230° 6 kt1011.2
19:53 UTC8374240° 4 kt1010.8
20:29 UTC82.473.4 5 kt1010.2
20:53 UTC8375180° 6 kt1010.2
21:02 UTC82.473.40° 0 kt1010.2

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

The radar

The Little Rock radar (KLZK), 78 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:44 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 2003 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 7, 2003

28 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 72:03 AM CDTF1Hot Spring, AR4.0300
May 72:10 AM CDTF0Marion, TX to LA13.025
May 75:16 AM CDTF1Arkansas, AR2.9350
May 75:43 AM CDTF1Lincoln Parish, LA5.3100
May 79:25 AM CDTF2Chickasaw, MS27.54406$3.0 million
May 711:11 AM CDTF1Lamar, AL0.525$10,000
May 712:11 PM CDTF1Walker, AL2.440$20,000
May 72:10 PM CDTF1St. Clair, AL4.550$90,000
May 72:40 PM CDTF1Talladega, AL4.650$10,000
May 72:45 PM CDTF1Shelby, AL1.350$170,000
May 73:20 PM CDTF0Scott, MS0.330$10,000
May 73:21 PM CDTF0St. Clair, AL0.225$10,000
May 72:30 PM MDTF0Adams, CO0.150
May 73:41 PM CDTF0Clay, AL1.270$1,000
May 73:45 PM CDTF0Newton, MS0.530$30,000
May 73:57 PM CDTF0Clay, AL1.150$2,000
May 74:08 PM CDTF0Clay, AL1.220$3,000
May 75:25 PM EDTF1Fauquier, VA5.075$10,000
May 74:40 PM CDTF1Randolph, AL12.9500$90,000
May 76:15 PM EDTF0Heard, GA0.150$80,000
May 76:20 PM EDTF0Heard, GA0.250$3,000
May 75:31 PM CDTF0Marengo, AL0.140$1,000
May 76:32 PM EDTF0Coweta, GA0.125$1,000
May 77:23 PM EDTF0Saint Mary's, MD0.575$30,000
May 77:30 PM EDTF0Saint Mary's, MD2.0100$30,000
May 77:50 PM CDTF1Callahan, TX3.0500
May 78:00 PM CDTF0Eastland, TX0.350
May 710:18 PM CDTF0Wilbarger, TX0.220

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.