Tornadoes · United States · Arkansas · 2009

EF0 tornado, Elmo to Macks, Arkansas, April 30, 2009

From Elmo to Macks, this EF0 tornado ran 0.6 miles across Jackson and Independence counties on April 30, 2009, touching down at 4:13 PM CDT and reaching 24 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $1,000 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 mphthis tornado

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

  2. EF186 to 110 mph

    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
EF0
Date
April 30, 2009
Touchdown
4:13 PM CDT (21:13 UTC)
Lifted
4:15 PM CDT (21:15 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
0.6 miles (0.9 km)
Path width
24 yards (22 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$1,000
Counties
Jackson and Independence counties
Touchdown point
35.608, -91.377
Lift-off point
35.610, -91.365
Record number
0904301513-01

What the Weather Service recorded

On the 29th and 30th, a front was nearly stationary near the Arkansas/Missouri border. Thunderstorms built into the western part of Arkansas on the afternoon and evening of the 29th. During the early morning hours of the 30th, a cluster of thunderstorms approached Arkansas from the west. Although these storms died out, they left behind an area of low pressure aloft. This low pressure then caused the development of new storms during the afternoon and evening.

A tornado moved across open, plowed farm fields. There were several witnesses to the tornado. The tornado entered Jackson County just southwest of Macks.

The tornado from Independence County moved into Jackson County, southwest of Macks. The tornado knocked down a power pole and then moved across an open, plowed field before lifting.

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. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
20:59 UTC21:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZK
21:17 UTC21:32 UTCTornado WarningLZK

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 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 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.

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), 12:00Z

9.2 hours before the tornado, 155 km from the path. April 30, 2009.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Little Rock, AR at 12:00Z on 2009-04-30Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 14 joules per kilogram, CIN 0, lifted condensation level 507 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, Little Rock, AR at 12:00Z on 2009-04-30The 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 60 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 29 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
14 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
0 J/kg
Surface CAPE
38 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
507 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
60 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-57 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), 00:00Z

2.8 hours after it, 155 km from the path. May 1, 2009.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Little Rock, AR at 00:00Z on 2009-05-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1162 joules per kilogram, CIN -21, lifted condensation level 1083 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, Little Rock, AR at 00:00Z on 2009-05-01The 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 84 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 33 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
1162 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-21 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2476 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1083 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
33 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
84 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
112 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.3
Supercell composite
3.6
0-3 km lapse rate
7.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Newport (M19), 18 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
19:56 UTC72.8665.84190° 10 kt1015.9-RA
20:56 UTC7267180° 11 kt1014.9-RA
21:11 UTC71.666.2210° 9 kt1014.9VCTS
21:41 UTC69.866.2310° 21 kt261015.6-TSRA SQ BR
21:56 UTC6865.84240° 8 kt1015.6TSRA BR
22:56 UTC7067290° 4 kt1015.9

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

The radar

The Little Rock radar (KLZK), 118 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:13 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
21:15 UTCTSTM WND DMGW MacksJackson, ARPOWER POLE REPORTED DOWN NEAR THE INDEPENDENCE AND JACKSON COUNTY LINES.
21:25 UTCTSTM WND DMGDiazJackson, ARPOWERLINES WERE REPORTED DOWN IN DIAZ.
21:38 UTCTSTM WND DMGGrubbsJackson, AR3 HOMES WERE REPORTED HAVING ROOF DAMAGE AND TREE LIMBS AND POWERLINES WERE DOWN ON THE SOUTHEAST SIDE OF GRUBBS.
22:40 UTCHAIL 0.756 Se WordenWhite, ARPENNY SIZE HAIL WAS REPORTED IN THE HURRICANE LAKE WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AREA.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2009 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 30, 2009

2 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 307:11 PM CDTEF0Graves, KY0.140$1,000
April 307:44 PM CDTEF0Calloway, KY0.740$3,000

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.