F1 tornado, Langley to Amity, Arkansas, April 9, 2004

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

April 9, 2004

Touchdown

9:24 PM CDT (02:24 UTC)

Path length

10.8 miles (17.4 km)

Path width

40 yards (37 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Pike and Clark counties

Touchdown point

34.250, -93.520

Lift-off point

34.220, -93.330

Record number

43

A weak tornado was spawned in northern Pike County about 2 miles northwest of the Lodi community. The tornado snapped some trees and blew a few trees down. The tornado was on the ground about 2.5 miles before dissipating just northeast of Lodi.

A weak tornado was spawned in northeast Pike County about 5 miles south-southeast of Glenwood. The tornado initially was very weak, with tree limbs downed and tree tops removed. The tornado strengthened as it headed into western Clark County.

A weak tornado moved from northeast Pike County into western Clark County. The tornado intensified as it moved southeast, and reached its maximum strength just north of Alpine. Winds there were likely around 80 mph, with several dozen trees pushed over. The tornado then weakened and dissipated about 3 miles east of Alpine.

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

9 minutes of warning. NWS LZK issued a tornado warning for this county at 02:15 UTC, 9 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:05 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 01:07 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 2004 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are

3 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.