Tornadoes · United States · Arkansas · 2005

F2 tornado, Morrilton to Springfield, Arkansas, November 27, 2005

Name: F2 tornado, Morrilton to Springfield, Arkansas, November 27, 2005
Start: 2005-11-27T23:45:00.000Z
Location: Morrilton to Springfield, Arkansas

From Morrilton to Springfield, this F2 tornado ran 11.8 miles across Conway County on November 27, 2005, touching down at 5:45 PM CST and reaching 250 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.

F040 to 72 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
F2113 to 157 mphthis tornado
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.
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.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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: F2
Date: November 27, 2005
Touchdown: 5:45 PM CST (23:45 UTC)
Path length: 11.8 miles (19.0 km)
Path width: 250 yards (229 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
County: Conway County
Touchdown point: 35.200, -92.870
Lift-off point: 35.330, -92.700
Record number: 573

What the Weather Service recorded

A strong tornado touched down in southwest Conway County, about 9 miles west-southwest of Morrilton. Winds were estimated at 125 mph. Damage consisted of several damaged or destroyed outbuildings and a few homes with minor roof damage. A number of trees were also blown down. The tornado moved northeast into Pope County.

The strong tornado moved out of Pope County and back into Conway County about one mile southwest of Blackwell. The tornado moved to the northeast, downing three wooden 115 kilovolt power structures. As the tornado crossed Interstate 40, it destroyed a liquor store at Blackwell. The tornado continued moving northeastward, damaging several houses. Several outbuildings were damaged or destroyed. Numerous trees and power lines were also knocked down. The tornado dissipated about 2.5 miles northeast of Saint Vincent.

A strong tornado moved out of Perry County and into Conway County about 2 miles south of Oppelo. Damage along the track of the tornado consisted of numerous downed power lines and power poles. The tornado dissipated about 1.5 miles southeast of Oppelo.

A strong tornado was spawned in southern Conway County about 2.5 miles southeast of Morrilton. The tornado tracked northeast across Interstate 40 and overturned several vehicles. In one of the vehicles, a person was killed and seven people were injured roughly 1 mile west of Plumerville. In the same area, a lumber company was badly damaged. The tornado also destroyed a large barn that contained several bass boats and vehicles. Homes and businesses were heavily damaged or destroyed. A fire station, numerous barns, outbuildings and chicken houses were damaged. Mobile homes were overturned. There were hundreds of trees, power lines and power poles downed. The tornado dissipated 1 mile east of Springfield.

A strong tornado touched down over eastern Conway County, about a mile north-northeast of Springfield. Winds were estimated at 140 mph. Damage along the path of the tornado consisted of several homes with roofs blown off and a couple of mobile homes destroyed. About 3 miles northeast of Springfield, a collision repair and auto customizing shop was detroyed. A nearby mobile home was thrown into the business. Numerous trees, power poles and power lines were also knocked down. The tornado moved northeast into Faulkner County.

The deaths

1 direct deaths are recorded for this tornado, each with what Storm Data knows of it.

Age	Sex	Where	Kind
33	M	Vehicle/Towed Trailer	Direct

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

The warnings

33 minutes of warning. NWS LZK issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:12 UTC, 33 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:55 UTC and running to 02:47 UTC.

Issued (UTC)	Expired	Product	Office
16:00 UTC	12:00 UTC	Lake Wind Advisory	LZK
20:55 UTC	02:47 UTC	Tornado Watch	LZK
22:12 UTC	23:15 UTC	Tornado Warning	LZK
23:12 UTC	00:00 UTC	Tornado Warning	LZK
23:28 UTC	00:15 UTC	Tornado Warning	LZK

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 19:59 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.

Springfield, MO (KSGF), 12:00Z

11.8 hours before the tornado, 203 km from the path. November 27, 2005.

Skew-T log-p

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.

Hodograph

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: 4 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: 0 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 461 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 30 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 164 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 150 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0
0-3 km lapse rate: 4.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Springfield, MO (KSGF), 00:00Z

0.2 hours after it, 203 km from the path. November 28, 2005.

Skew-T log-p

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.

Hodograph

Mixed-layer CAPE: 70 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -44 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 162 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1004 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 80 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 196 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 204 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 0.4
0-3 km lapse rate: 6.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Russellville Municipal Airport (RUE), 28 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)	Temp (°F)	Dew point (°F)	Wind	Gust (kt)	Pressure (mb)	Weather
21:53 UTC	65	58	6 kt		995.9
22:12 UTC	64.4	59	90° 13 kt	19	994.2	-TSRA
22:32 UTC	62.6	60.8	20° 17 kt	21	992.9	+TSRA BR
22:44 UTC	62.6	60.8			994.6	TS
22:53 UTC					995.3	TS
23:53 UTC					997	VCTS
00:48 UTC					993.6	TS
00:53 UTC					993.9	TS
01:24 UTC					993.9

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

The radar

The Little Rock radar (KLZK), 67 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:46 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.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)	Report	Where	County	Remark
21:45 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	10 E Waltreak	Yell, AR	POWER POLES DOWN AND ROOF OFF OF CHICKEN HOUSE ON HIGHWAY 80.
22:13 UTC	HAIL 0.88	5 W Dardanelle	Yell, AR	NICKEL SIZE HAIL AT MOUNT NEBO STATE PARK.
22:22 UTC	TORNADO	Dardanelle	Yell, AR	TORNADO WAS SPOTTED ON THE GROUND WEST OF DARDANELLE.
00:05 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	Perryville	Perry, AR	STRUCTURE DAMAGE TO HOUSE...PERSON TRAPPED IN HOME...AND WAS RESCUED BY EMERGENCY PERSONNEL.
00:05 UTC	HAIL 1	Adona	Perry, AR
00:14 UTC	HAIL 1	Morrilton	Conway, AR
00:15 UTC	TORNADO	1 W Plumerville	Conway, AR	* 1 FATAL * ON INTERSTATE 40 AT MILE MARKER 111...LUMBERYARD HIT BY TORNADO. LUMBER COVERING BOTH SIDES OF I-40. CARS TURNED OVER ON I-40. STATE POLICE CONFIRM ONE FATALITY DIRECTLY RELATED TO THE TORNADO. CAR TRAVEL
00:15 UTC	TORNADO	3 W Plumerville	Conway, AR	ON INTERSTATE 40 BETWEEN MILE MARKERS 110 AND 111...LUMBERYARD HIT BY TORNADO. LUMBER COVERING BOTH SIDE OF I-40...CARS TURNED OVER ON I-40.
00:45 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	Bee Branch	Van Buren, AR	HOUSE DESTROYED ON HAPPY HOLLOW ROAD.
00:53 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	Cherry Hill	Perry, AR	STRUCTURE DAMAGE TO HOMES...AND TREES DOWN. HIGHWAY 60 IS BLOCKED.
01:06 UTC	HAIL 0.88	Greenbrier	Faulkner, AR	ALSO...POSSIBLE TORNADO REPORTED.
01:30 UTC	HAIL 1	2 Se Conway	Faulkner, AR
01:33 UTC	HAIL 0.75	Ferndale	Pulaski, AR
02:26 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	1 W Morgan	Pulaski, AR	POWER LINES DOWN.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the track Every 2005 tornado in Arkansas Every tornado in Arkansas since 1950 Warnings in force in Arkansas now The forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of November 27, 2005

64 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
November 27	1:48 PM CST	F0	Marion, KS	0.1	50
November 27	1:48 PM CST	F0	Marion, KS	13.0	50
November 27	1:50 PM CST	F0	Marion, KS	2.0	50			$1,000
November 27	2:04 PM CST	F0	Marion, KS	0.1	50
November 27	2:05 PM CST	F0	Morris, KS	0.3	100
November 27	2:12 PM CST	F1	Morris, KS	20.0	400			$250,000
November 27	2:32 PM CST	F0	Dickinson, KS	1.5	100
November 27	2:32 PM CST	F0	Morris, KS	6.0	100
November 27	2:35 PM CST	F0	Lyon, KS	1.0	100			$20,000
November 27	2:48 PM CST	F0	Montgomery, KS	0.1	50
November 27	2:58 PM CST	F0	Morris, KS	0.3	100
November 27	3:09 PM CST	F1	Geary, KS	2.0	300			$900,000
November 27	3:15 PM CST	F0	Geary, KS	0.3	100
November 27	3:21 PM CST	F0	Geary, KS	2.0	150			$40,000
November 27	3:28 PM CST	F0	Riley, KS	0.3	100
November 27	3:32 PM CST	F0	Riley, KS	0.3	100			$10,000
November 27	3:40 PM CST	F1	Yell, AR	4.5	50
November 27	3:49 PM CST	F0	Riley, KS	0.3	100
November 27	3:57 PM CST	F0	Yell, AR	2.7	40
November 27	4:06 PM CST	F1	Neosho, KS	6.0	80			$120,000
November 27	4:22 PM CST	F0	Allen, KS	0.2	50
November 27	4:25 PM CST	F1	Pike, AR	13.8	40		1
November 27	4:42 PM CST	F1	Montgomery, AR	3.2	40
November 27	4:49 PM CST	F1	Montgomery, AR	4.5	40
November 27	4:56 PM CST	F1	Garland, AR	3.5	40
November 27	5:10 PM CST	F1	Garland, AR	1.2	50
November 27	5:19 PM CST	F0	Jasper, MO	0.0	75
November 27	5:20 PM CST	F2	Hot Spring, AR	4.2	100
November 27	5:23 PM CST	F1	Van Buren, AR	2.8	50
November 27	5:26 PM CST	F2	Garland, AR	13.8	100		1
November 27	5:27 PM CST	F1	Searcy, AR	2.7	50
November 27	5:30 PM CST	F1	Garland, AR	2.1	100
November 27	5:32 PM CST	F1	Saline, AR	6.1	100
November 27	5:37 PM CST	F2	Conway, AR	3.9	250
November 27	5:41 PM CST	F3	Perry, AR	19.0	800			$4.0 million
November 27	5:42 PM CST	F2	Pope, AR	2.3	250
November 27	5:44 PM CST	F1	Clay, MO	11.0	75			$1.2 million
November 27	5:59 PM CST	F1	Ray, MO	2.0	75			$30,000
November 27	6:00 PM CST	F3	Conway, AR	2.0	150
November 27	6:09 PM CST	F3	Conway, AR	15.0	700	1	8
November 27	6:15 PM CST	F1	Baxter, AR	3.7	100
November 27	6:25 PM CST	F1	Perry, AR	0.8	25
November 27	6:26 PM CST	F1	Pulaski, AR	2.2	25
November 27	6:27 PM CST	F2	Conway, AR	6.1	600
November 27	6:34 PM CST	F2	Faulkner, AR	2.6	400
November 27	6:37 PM CST	F2	Van Buren, AR	13.1	400
November 27	6:40 PM CST	F1	Fulton, AR	1.3	50
November 27	6:42 PM CST	F1	Ozark, MO	1.0	100
November 27	6:46 PM CST	F1	Howell, MO	3.0	100		2	$70,000
November 27	6:55 PM CST	F1	Van Buren, AR	3.7	50
November 27	6:56 PM CST	F1	Howell, MO	5.0	100		2	$70,000
November 27	6:59 PM CST	F1	Faulkner, AR	7.7	75
November 27	7:02 PM CST	F1	Cleburne, AR	2.7	50
November 27	7:11 PM CST	F0	Faulkner, AR	4.0	40
November 27	7:19 PM CST	F2	Van Buren, AR	0.8	100
November 27	7:20 PM CST	F2	Cleburne, AR	9.2	100		1
November 27	7:47 PM CST	F0	Cleburne, AR	1.2	25
November 27	7:55 PM CST	F1	Izard, AR	5.8	150
November 27	8:01 PM CST	F1	Sharp, AR	0.4	100
November 27	8:02 PM CST	F1	Fulton, AR	5.8	100

All 65 of them

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.