Tornadoes · United States · Arkansas · 2007

EF1 tornado, Fountain Hill, Arkansas, May 3, 2007

This EF1 tornado ran 5.0 miles across Ashley County on May 3, 2007, touching down at 5:18 PM CDT and reaching 400 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $500,000 of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. EF065 to 85 mph

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

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

  3. EF2111 to 135 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. EF3136 to 165 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. EF4166 to 200 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. EF5over 200 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
EF1
Date
May 3, 2007
Touchdown
5:18 PM CDT (22:18 UTC)
Lifted
5:23 PM CDT (22:23 UTC)
On the ground
5 minutes
Path length
5.0 miles (8.0 km)
Path width
400 yards (366 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$500,000
County
Ashley County
Touchdown point
33.299, -91.819
Lift-off point
33.350, -91.793
Record number
0705031618-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Severe weather developed over the region during the day on May 3rd, peaked during the late afternoon hours and ended by early evening. The majority of the severe weather, as well as the hardest hit areas, occurred across Southeast Arkansas, Northeast Louisiana and West-Central Mississippi. A mix of hail, damaging winds and a few tornadoes occurred during the event.

This tornado touched down just southeast of Fountain Hill and was on the ground for 5 miles. Numerous trees, some very large, were uprooted and snapped along the path. A church had a part of its roof blown off and a couple of outbuildings were destroyed.

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

The warnings

27 minutes of warning. NWS JAN issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:51 UTC, 27 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:45 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
21:39 UTC22:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningJAN
21:51 UTC22:45 UTCTornado 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:05 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

10.3 hours before the tornado, 196 km from the path. May 3, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Jackson, MS at 12:00Z on 2007-05-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 389 joules per kilogram, CIN -33, lifted condensation level 600 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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, Jackson, MS at 12:00Z on 2007-05-03The 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 21 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 20 knots.1939Sfc1 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
389 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-33 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
600 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
20 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
21 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-12 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Jackson, MS (KJAN), 00:00Z

1.7 hours after it, 196 km from the path. May 4, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Jackson, MS at 00:00Z on 2007-05-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 103 joules per kilogram, CIN -164, lifted condensation level 1238 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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, Jackson, MS at 00:00Z on 2007-05-04The 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 79 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 21 knots.193958Sfc1 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
103 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-164 J/kg
Surface CAPE
131 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1238 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
79 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
116 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

What was reported nearby

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

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
21:20 UTCHAIL 0.88EudoraChicot, ARNICKEL HAIL IN EUDORA
21:55 UTCTSTM WND GST 806 N BeekmanMorehouse, LASIGNIFICANT STRAIGHT LINE WINDS OCCURRED ALONG THE MOREHOUSE/ASHLEY CO LINE ABOUT 3 W OF RAWLS. NUMEROUS TREES WERE UPROOTED AND SOME LARGE LIMBS WERE DOWN ON A HOUSE CAUSING MINOR DAMAGE.
22:06 UTCTSTM WND DMGCrossettAshley, ARA FEW TREES AND POWER LINES BLOWN DONW.
22:15 UTCTSTM WND DMGHamburgAshley, ARNUMEROUS TREES DOWN ACROSS ASHLEY COUNTY.
22:18 UTCTORNADO 15 Se Fountain HillAshley, ARTHIS TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN JUST SE OF FOUNTAIN HILL AND WAS ON THE GROUND FOR 5 MILES. NUMEROUS TREES, SOME VERY LARGE, WERE UPROOTED AND SNAPPED ALONG THE PATH. A CHURCH HAD A PART OF ITS ROOF BLOWN OFF. A COUPLE OF OUTB
22:47 UTCTSTM WND GST 602 N Lake VillageChicot, ARWIND GUST ESTIMATED 60 MPH.
22:48 UTCTSTM WND DMGEudoraChicot, ARSHINGLES BLOWN OFF AND A FEW TREES DOWN IN EUDORA
22:48 UTCHAIL 1.75EudoraChicot, ARGOLFBALL HAIL REPORTED.
22:54 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Se Lake VillageChicot, ARTREE DOWN ON AN RV IN AN RV PARK.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2007 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 3, 2007

12 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 34:28 PM CDTEF0Stoddard, MO3.530
May 34:47 PM CDTEF1Morehouse Parish, LA2.075$120,000
May 34:50 PM CDTEF0Polk, TX0.325
May 34:51 PM CDTEF1Morehouse Parish, LA0.550$80,000
May 35:30 PM CDTEF0Montgomery, TX0.845$30,000
May 35:29 PM MDTEF0Weld, CO0.150
May 35:58 PM MDTEF0Weld, CO0.150
May 36:16 PM MDTEF0Weld, CO0.150
May 36:21 PM MDTEF0Weld, CO0.150
May 37:40 PM CDTEF0Cooke, TX0.530
May 37:50 PM MDTEF0Weld, CO0.150
May 38:20 PM MDTEF0Morgan, CO0.150

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.