Tornadoes · United States · Arkansas · 2005

F1 tornado, Moko, Arkansas, November 5, 2005

This F1 tornado ran 5.4 miles across Fulton County on November 5, 2005, touching down at 9:59 PM CST and reaching 250 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 1.

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
November 5, 2005
Touchdown
9:59 PM CST (03:59 UTC)
Path length
5.4 miles (8.7 km)
Path width
250 yards (229 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
1
County
Fulton County
Touchdown point
36.470, -91.780
Lift-off point
36.470, -91.670
Record number
557

What the Weather Service recorded

A weak tornado touched down briefly in Fulton County, about 3 miles east of Moko. Estimated winds with the tornado were about 110 mph. A house had shingles off, a broken window and the porch was shifted.One person in the house sustained minor injuries from flying debris. Another house had broken windows and several outbuildings were destroyed. Farm machinery was overturned and several vehicles sustained damage. Numerous trees were downed or snapped off along the path of the tornado. The tornado was on the ground almost five and a half miles before dissipating.

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.

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 00:59 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), 00:00Z

4.0 hours before the tornado, 191 km from the path. November 6, 2005.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 2005-11-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1504 joules per kilogram, CIN -4, lifted condensation level 1314 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 2005-11-06The 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 105 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 54 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
1504 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-4 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1428 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1314 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
54 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
105 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
134 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.8
Supercell composite
5.1
0-3 km lapse rate
7.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Springfield, MO (KSGF), 12:00Z

8.0 hours after it, 191 km from the path. November 6, 2005.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2005-11-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -75534, lifted condensation level 1219 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2005-11-06The 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 -26 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 55 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-75534 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1219 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
55 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-26 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
26 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
2.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

West Plains (UNO), 48 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
02:53 UTC7059190° 13 kt191006.1VCTS
03:13 UTC66.257.2250° 28 kt481007.5-TSRA
03:15 UTC60.855.4240° 23 kt481007.5+TSRA
03:19 UTC57.255.4200° 20 kt481006.8+TSRA BR
03:32 UTC57.255.4230° 7 kt241007.5+TSRA BR
03:36 UTC57.255.4230° 9 kt161007.8-TSRA BR
03:43 UTC5957.2230° 13 kt181008.1-TSRA
03:53 UTC5956260° 9 kt161008.1VCTS
04:06 UTC57.255.4260° 10 kt171008.1VCTS
04:29 UTC5955.4250° 8 kt1008.8
04:53 UTC5955260° 10 kt151009.1
05:53 UTC5752270° 9 kt1010.5

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

The radar

The Springfield radar (KSGF), 172 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 04:01 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)ReportWhereCountyRemark
04:50 UTCTSTM WND DMGWillifordSharp, ARMOBILE HOME DESTROYED ON LONOKE ROAD JUST NORTH OF WILLIFORD.

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

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 5, 2005

4 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
November 57:50 PM CSTF1Christian, MO17.0530$500,000
November 510:20 PM CSTF2Oregon, MO9.0300$1.5 million
November 510:39 PM CSTF2Ripley, MO7.4250$70,000
November 510:41 PM CSTF2Sharp, AR4.83503

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.