F2 tornado, Saddle to Wirth, Arkansas, September 22, 2006

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 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. 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.

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

F2

Date

September 22, 2006

Touchdown

6:22 PM CDT (23:22 UTC)

Path length

14.0 miles (22.5 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$2,000

Counties

Sharp, Fulton and Randolph counties

Touchdown point

36.350, -91.550

Lift-off point

36.530, -91.280

Record number

922

A strong tornado was spawned in eastern Fulton County. The tornado tracked from 5 miles east of Saddle to 7.5 miles southeast of Mammoth Spring. The tornado destroyed a home, and caused damage to several other homes. Hundreds of trees were downed, with one tree on a pickup truck. The tornado continued into northern Sharp County.

A weak tornado moved from eastern Izard County into western Sharp County. The tornado tracked from 5.8 miles north-northwest of Evening Shade to 5 miles south-southeast of Ash Flat. The tornado damaged several homes, with mostly roof damage noted. A mobile home and recreational vehicle were overturned, and another mobile home was partially destroyed. The tornado also snapped or uprooted dozens of trees before dissipating.

A strong tornado moved from eastern Fulton County into northern Sharp County. The tornado tracked from 5 miles southwest of Wirth to 1.8 miles east of Wirth. The tornado badly damaged two barns, with minor damaged at several residences. Three stock trailers were also overturned. Dozens of trees were downed, along with power poles and power lines. The tornado continued into Randolph County of the Memphis County Warning Area.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 14:10 UTC and running to 23:30 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 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 19:56 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.

Walnut Ridge (Awos) (ARG), 56 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 185 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:22 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.

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

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

The live radar over the trackEvery 2006 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are

32 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.