Tornadoes · United States · Arkansas · 2004

F0 tornado, Lake Vlg, Arkansas, November 23, 2004

This F0 tornado ran 1.0 miles across Chicot County on November 23, 2004, touching down at 4:10 PM CST and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $2,000 of property damage.

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 mphthis tornado

    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 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
F0
Date
November 23, 2004
Touchdown
4:10 PM CST (22:10 UTC)
Path length
1.0 miles (1.6 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$2,000
County
Chicot County
Touchdown point
33.230, -91.400
Lift-off point
33.230, -91.400
Record number
639

What the Weather Service recorded

This weak tornado touched down in open farmland and downed a few power lines as it moved northeast.

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

The warnings

4 minutes of warning. NWS JAN issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:06 UTC, 4 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:30 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
22:06 UTC22:30 UTCTornado WarningJAN
22:07 UTC22:30 UTCTornado WarningJAN
23:37 UTC00:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningJAN
01:48 UTC04:00 UTCFlash Flood WarningJAN

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 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 19:28 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.

Jackson, MS (KJAN), 12:00Z

10.2 hours before the tornado, 160 km from the path. November 23, 2004.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Jackson, MS at 12:00Z on 2004-11-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 298 joules per kilogram, CIN -28, lifted condensation level 605 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Jackson, MS at 12:00Z on 2004-11-23The 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 177 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 42 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
298 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-28 J/kg
Surface CAPE
605 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
605 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
42 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
177 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
241 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
1.3
0-3 km lapse rate
5.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Jackson, MS (KJAN), 00:00Z

1.8 hours after it, 160 km from the path. November 24, 2004.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Jackson, MS at 00:00Z on 2004-11-24Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1370 joules per kilogram, CIN -16, lifted condensation level 857 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Jackson, MS at 00:00Z on 2004-11-24The 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 185 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 63 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
1370 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-16 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1442 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
857 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
63 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
185 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
198 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.9
Supercell composite
6.1
0-3 km lapse rate
6.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Jackson/Brandon,MS radar (KDGX), 169 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:11 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 2004 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of November 23, 2004

47 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
November 2310:40 AM CSTF0Williamson, TX0.120
November 2310:51 AM CSTF0Williamson, TX0.120
November 2311:05 AM CSTF0Williamson, TX0.330
November 231:10 PM CSTF0Montgomery, TX0.220$40,000
November 231:34 PM CSTF0Fayette, TX0.330
November 231:49 PM CSTF0Polk, TX0.115$10,000
November 231:55 PM CSTF0San Jacinto, TX0.120
November 232:20 PM CSTF0Washington, TX0.120$10,000
November 232:52 PM CSTF0Liberty, TX0.120
November 233:25 PM CSTF0Grimes, TX0.225
November 233:30 PM CSTF0Montgomery, TX0.325$10,000
November 233:35 PM CSTF0Maverick, TX0.120
November 233:50 PM CSTF0Montgomery, TX0.120
November 234:08 PM CSTF1Hardin, TX16.0200$100,000
November 234:24 PM CSTF0Richland Parish, LA0.525
November 234:27 PM CSTF2Hardin, TX8.06001$600,000
November 234:38 PM CSTF0Zavala, TX0.120
November 234:40 PM CSTF0Maverick, TX0.330
November 234:41 PM CSTF2Jasper, TX8.0300$250,000
November 234:55 PM CSTF2Jasper, TX15.0500$500,000
November 235:12 PM CSTF0Maverick, TX0.550
November 235:12 PM CSTF1Newton, TX3.0300$100,000
November 235:40 PM CSTF1Newton, TX to LA9.0300$50,000
November 236:00 PM CSTF0Natchitoches Parish, LA1.025$30,000
November 236:08 PM CSTF0Burnet, TX0.120
November 236:08 PM CSTF1Vernon Parish, LA1.0100$200,000
November 236:08 PM CSTF0Williamson, TX0.3400
November 236:10 PM CSTF1Newton, TX1.0100$40,000
November 236:30 PM CSTF1Newton, TX10.0300$250,000
November 236:35 PM CSTF2Vernon Parish, LA10.06003$500,000
November 236:49 PM CSTF2Natchitoches Parish, LA20.03001$1.0 million
November 236:50 PM CSTF1Vernon Parish, LA14.0150$100,000
November 237:20 PM CSTF0Grant Parish, LA12.075
November 237:20 PM CSTF1Vernon Parish, LA3.050$50,000
November 237:32 PM CSTF0Bell, TX0.150$10,000
November 237:46 PM CSTF0Karnes, TX0.120
November 238:00 PM CSTF0DeWitt, TX0.120
November 238:05 PM CSTF3LaSalle Parish, LA15.0300120$5.8 million
November 238:13 PM CSTF1DeWitt, TX0.5100
November 238:30 PM CSTF0Grant Parish, LA3.075$50,000
November 238:58 PM CSTF0Lavaca, TX0.120
November 239:20 PM CSTF0Wharton, TX0.435$30,000
November 239:38 PM CSTF1Marion, AL13.9250$400,000
November 2310:00 PM CSTF2Trinity, TX2.0500$100,000
November 2310:05 PM CSTF0Fort Bend, TX0.120
November 2311:31 PM CSTF0Warren, MS1.075$1,000
November 2311:40 PM CSTF3Jefferson, MS18.0600$300,000

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.