Tornadoes · United States · Arkansas · 2005
F1 tornado, Bluffton to Danville, Arkansas, November 27, 2005
From Bluffton to Danville, this F1 tornado ran 4.5 miles across Yell County on November 27, 2005, touching down at 3:40 PM CST and reaching 50 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 mphthis tornado
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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
- F1
- Date
- November 27, 2005
- Touchdown
- 3:40 PM CST (21:40 UTC)
- Path length
- 4.5 miles (7.2 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Yell County
- Touchdown point
- 34.870, -93.600
- Lift-off point
- 34.900, -93.520
- Record number
- 558
What the Weather Service recorded
A weak tornado touched down about 2 miles south of Bluffton. Winds associated with the tornado were estimated around 75 mph. Damage along the path of the tornado consisted of some snapped and uprooted trees, along with some downed power lines. The tornado was on the ground for about four and a half miles before lifting southwest of Briggsville.
A weak tornado touched down briefly southwest of Danville. Winds associated with the tornado were estimated around 65 mph. Damage along the path of the tornado consisted of downed trees and power poles. Some tin roofing was also removed from a chicken house. The tornado was on the ground for about 2.7 miles before dissipating.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
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.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Little Rock, AR wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Nov 27, 3:18 PM CST, 22 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Nov 27, 3:18 PM CST, 22 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 318 PM CST SUN NOV 27 2005 .SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT STRONG LOW PRESSURE CONTINUES TO MOVE EAST THROUGH KANSAS. STRONG SHEAR IS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS SYSTEM AND HELICITY VALUES HAVE INCREASED TO OVER 400 ACROSS THE WESTERN HALF OF THE AREA. KLZK RADAR SHOWS A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING IN FAR WESTERN SECTIONS. COLD FRONT CURRENTLY IN OKLAHOMA WILL MOVE THROUGH ARKANSAS OVERNIGHT TONIGHT TO NEAR THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER BY 12Z. SPC CONTINUES MODERATE RISK OVER THE AREA TONIGHT. DAMAGING WINDS...LARGE HAIL AND ISOLATED TORNADOES ARE EXPECTED. WITH A TIGHT GRADIENT AROUND THAT SURFACE LOW...WILL CONTINUE THE LAKE WIND ADVISORY THROUGH 12Z AND EXPECT WIND GUSTS TO 35 MPH. AS LOW MOVES INTO IOWA ON MONDAY...WRAP AROUND MOISTURE WILL MAKE IT INTO THE NORTH...THEREFORE WILL CONTINUE SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS ACROSS THE NORTH SECTIONS THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON. HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS INTO THE AREA TUESDAY AND TUESDAY NIGHT. DRY CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT. && .LONG TERM...THURSDAY THROUGH SUNDAY 12Z GFS CAME IN ALMOST THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT THE 00Z AND 06Z RUNS WERE SHOWING FOR LATE THURSDAY THROUGH THE WEEKEND...BASICALLY SHOWING MOISTURE AND CHANCES OF RAIN DURING TIME PERIODS THE EARLIER RUNS WERE SHOWING AS DRY AND SHOWING DRY AND COOL CONDITIONS DURING WHAT WERE MOIST PERIODS. IT DOES LOOK LIKE THE UPPER FLOW PATTERN TRANSITIONS INTO SOMEWHAT OF A FAST ZONAL FLOW PATTERN LATE IN THE WEEK AND THIS WILL LEAD TO FAST MOVING WEAK SYSTEMS THAT WILL BE HARD TO TIME AND CAN EASILY CHANGE CHARACTER IN LATER RUNS. DECIDED TO STICK PRETTY MUCH WITH WHAT THE 00Z AND 06Z RUNS WERE SHOWING FOR NOW AND MADE LITTLE CHANGE TO THE FORECAST. DID INSERT SOME POPS INTO THE FORECAST FOR SUNDAY WITH THOSE TRANSLATING INTO THE SOUTHEAST SUNDAY NIGHT. WAS GOING TO DROP POPS FOR SATURDAY NIGHT BUT SINCE THE 12Z GFS IS INDICATING MOISTURE IN THE AREA...DECIDED TO LEAVE THE SMALL POPS IN FOR NOW. TEMPS SHOULD BE NEAR OR A LITTLE BELOW NORMAL. BASED ON ALL THIS AND NO STRONG SYSTEMS...SHOULD NOT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT WINTER PRECIPITATION OR SEVERE WEATHER IN THIS CWA THROUGH THE EXTENDED. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... LITTLE ROCK AR 50 61 37 54 / 60 20 10 10 HARRISON AR 45 49 31 47 / 60 20 10 10 HOT SPRINGS AR 50 60 37 54 / 50 10 10 0 PINE BLUFF AR 52 63 38 56 / 70 20 0 0 MOUNTAIN HOME AR 46 51 31 48 / 50 20 10 10 MONTICELLO AR 54 65 39 58 / 80 20 0 0 SEARCY AR 50 60 36 52 / 70 20 10 10 MOUNT IDA AR 49 59 36 53 / 60 10 10 0 RUSSELLVILLE AR 48 56 35 51 / 60 10 10 10 && .LZK WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... LAKE WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 6 AM MONDAY FOR ARZ003-ARZ004-ARZ005- ARZ006-ARZ007-ARZ012-ARZ013-ARZ014-ARZ015-ARZ016-ARZ021-ARZ022- ARZ023-ARZ024-ARZ025-ARZ030-ARZ031-ARZ032-ARZ033-ARZ034-ARZ037- ARZ038-ARZ039-ARZ040-ARZ041-ARZ042-ARZ043-ARZ044-ARZ045-ARZ046- ARZ047-ARZ052-ARZ053-ARZ054-ARZ055-ARZ056-ARZ057-ARZ062-ARZ063- ARZ064-ARZ065-ARZ066-ARZ067-ARZ068-ARZ069. && SHORT TERM...51 / LONG TERM....29
Hazardous weather outlook, Nov 27, 8:15 AM CST, 7 hours 25 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 815 AM CST SUN NOV 27 2005 ARZ003>007-012>016-021>025-030>034-037>047-052>057-062>069-281100- ARKANSAS-BAXTER-BOONE-BRADLEY-CALHOUN-CLARK-CLEBURNE-CLEVELAND- CONWAY-DALLAS-DESHA-DREW-FAULKNER-FULTON-GARLAND-GRANT-HOT SPRING- INDEPENDENCE-IZARD-JACKSON-JEFFERSON-JOHNSON-LINCOLN-LOGAN-LONOKE- MARION-MONROE-MONTGOMERY-NEWTON-OUACHITA-PERRY-PIKE-POLK-POPE- PRAIRIE-PULASKI-SALINE-SCOTT-SEARCY-SHARP-STONE-VAN BUREN-WHITE- WOODRUFF-YELL- 815 AM CST SUN NOV 27 2005 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR A LARGE PART OF ARKANSAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT ...SIGNIFICANT SEVERE WEATHER IS POSSIBLE LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT... A STRONG LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM OVER THE CENTRAL PLAINS WILL GATHER MORE STRENGTH TODAY. WINDS AT THE SURFACE AND ALOFT WILL BECOME EXCEPTIONALLY STRONG. WINDS NEAR THE SURFACE WILL BE FROM THE SOUTH OR A LITTLE EAST OF SOUTH WHILE WINDS ALOFT WILL COME FROM MORE OF A SOUTHWEST TO WEST DIRECTION. THIS WILL SET THE STAGE FOR THE POSSIBILITY OF SIGNIFICANT SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS AND TORNADOES ACROSS ARKANSAS. LATE THIS AFTERNOON...THE LOW WILL BE IN NORTHEAST KANSAS...WITH A COLD FRONT EXTENDING FROM THE LOW THROUGH EASTERN OKLAHOMA INTO NORTHEASTERN TEXAS. THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP RAPIDLY ALONG THE FRONT AROUND MID AFTERNOON. THUNDERSTORMS ARE FORECAST TO DEVELOP IN A NORTH TO SOUTH LINE ALONG THE COLD FRONT THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THE SQUALL LINE WILL MOVE TO THE EAST RAPIDLY AND SHOULD BE OUT OF THE AREA BY MIDNIGHT OR SHORTLY THEREAFTER. THUNDERSTORMS ALONG THIS LINE MAY BE SEVERE WITH DAMAGING WINDS BEING THE MAIN SEVERE WEATHER. HOWEVER CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR TORNADOES AND A FEW SIGNIFICANT TORNADOES CANNOT BE RULED OUT. SOME LARGE HAIL WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE. THERE IS A POSSIBILITY THAT ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS COULD DEVELOP AHEAD OF THE LINE. ANY OF THESE COULD BECOME SEVERE OR TORNADIC WITH DAMAGING WINDS...TORNADOES AND POSSIBLY LARGE HAIL. THE LOW PRESSURE WILL CAUSE SURFACE WINDS TO INCREASE IN STRENGTH AND TO BECOME GUSTY. A LAKE WIND ADVISORY WILL BE IN EFFECT FOR THE ENTIRE AREA TODAY. ANYBODY VENTURING OUT ON LAKES TODAY WILL NEED TO EXERCISE EXTREME CAUTION FOR BOTH THE STRONG WINDS AND THE RAPID DEVELOPMENT OF THUNDERSTORMS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. MUCH COOLER AIR WILL FOLLOW THE FRONT ON MONDAY WITH BREEZY NORTHWEST WINDS. THERE IS A POSSIBILITY THAT LAKE WIND ADVISORIES MAY BE REQUIRED FOR SOME AREAS ON MONDAY. .SPOTTER ACTIVATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS LIKELY LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY TONIGHT ACROSS MOST ALL OF THE AREA. THIS IS A POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS SITUATION. PEOPLE ACROSS ARKANSAS ARE URGED TO REVIEW THEIR SEVERE WEATHER AND TORNADO SAFETY RULES AND MONITOR NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR OTHER MEDIA OUTLETS FOR LATER STATEMENTS...WATCHES...AND WARNINGS. && FOR THE LATEST GRAPHICAL AND TEXT FORECASTS AND OUTLOOKS...PLEASE VISIT OUR WEB SITE AT WWW.SRH.WEATHER.GOV/LZK 29/32
In the hours before
Local storm report, Nov 27, 3:26 PM CST, 14 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
326 PM CST SUN NOV 27 2005
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0300 PM HAIL 14 E MENA 34.58N 93.99W
11/27/2005 1.75 INCH POLK AR LAW ENFORCEMENT
0300 PM TSTM WND DMG WICKES 34.30N 94.34W
11/27/2005 POLK AR LAW ENFORCEMENT
TREES DOWN.
0310 PM HAIL 10 E MENA 34.58N 94.06W
11/27/2005 1.75 INCH POLK AR LAW ENFORCEMENT
&&
INIGUEZThe 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
9.7 hours before the tornado, 225 km from the path. November 27, 2005.
- 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
Springfield, MO (KSGF), 00:00Z
2.3 hours after it, 225 km from the path. November 28, 2005.
- 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
The surface observations
Mount Ida (MWT), 38 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:00 UTC |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 86 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:38 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 2005 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe 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 | 3:49 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 | 5:45 PM CST | F2 | Conway, AR | 11.8 | 250 | |||
| 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 |
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.