EF0 tornado, Morning Star to Coahoma, Arkansas, April 26, 2011

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.

Rating

EF0

Date

April 26, 2011

Touchdown

6:29 PM CDT (23:29 UTC)

Lifted

7:02 PM CDT (00:02 UTC)

On the ground

33 minutes

Path length

30.8 miles (49.5 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$75,000

Counties

Phillips and Coahoma counties

Touchdown point

34.137, -90.984

Lift-off point

34.367, -90.522

Record number

1104261729-03

A stationary front remained draped across Southern Missouri into Western Kentucky from April 24th, 2011 into April 25th, 2011. A very warm and unstable atmosphere was in place across the Mid-South ahead of the front. A low pressure system developed along the front and interacted with the unstable environment which helped produce several rounds of severe storms into the evening of April 26th, 2011. As a result of the severe storms, the front sank south during the early morning hours of April 27th, 2011 as a secondary low pressure system developed along the front. As a result, another round of severe storms fired during the afternoon hours ahead of the low pressure center. Additional severe storms fired along the trailing cold front. Tornadoes, large hail, damaging winds, flash flooding occurred as a result of the severe storms. Heavy rain from the continuous rounds of severe weather eventually resulted in record river flooding on a number of rivers in the region.

A stationary front remained draped across Southern Missouri into Western Kentucky from April 24th, 2011 into April 25th, 2011. A very warm and unstable atmosphere was in place across the Mid-South ahead of the front. A low pressure system developed along the front and interacted with the unstable environment which helped produce several rounds of severe storms into the evening of April 26th, 2011. As a result of the severe storms, the front sank south during the early morning hours of April 27th, 2011 as a secondary low pressure system developed along the front. As a result, another round of severe storms fired during the afternoon hours ahead of the low pressure center. Additional severe storms fired along the trailing cold front. Tornadoes, large hail, damaging winds, flash flooding occurred as a result of the severe storms.

A weak tornado touched down one mile north of Elaine on Highway 44 and traveled east-northeast. Trees and power lines were knocked down. A few road signs were also blown over. The tornado continued east-northeast and crossed into Coahoma County, Mississippi.

A weak tornado moved east-northeast out of Phillips County, Arkansas into Coahoma County. Several trees and power lines were knocked down. The tornado continued to move east-northeast and moved back into Phillips County, Arkansas.

A weak tornado moved east-northeast from Coahoma County, Mississippi back into Phillips County. Several trees were knocked down. The tornado continued to move east-northeast and crossed back into Coahoma County, Mississippi.

A weak tornado moved east-northeast out of Phillips County, Arkansas into the Friars Point area. Several homes sustained roof damage and one home was moved off of the block foundation. A commercial metal storage building had a large section of roof peeled off. The tornado continued east-northeast near Coahoma and Lula. A church a few miles south of Lula sustained roof damage. At least two homes in Coahoma sustained damage. Trees and power lines were knocked down all along the path. A few telephone poles were knocked down as well as a few road signs. The tornado continued east-northeast into Tunica County, Mississippi.

A weak tornado touched down near Ferguson on Highway 44 and traveled northeast toward the Mississippi River. Some trees were knocked down. The tornado continued northeast crossing into Coahoma County, Mississippi.

A weak tornado traveled northeast out of Phillips County, Arkansas into Coahoma County. The tornado continued northeast toward the city of Coahoma where it eventually lifted. A church sustained roof damage, 3 miles southwest of Coahoma. Numerous trees were either uprooted or snapped. Scattered telephone poles were knocked down. A few road or advertisement signs were damaged as well. A few pivot irrigation systems were also toppled over.

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

37 minutes of warning. NWS MEG issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:52 UTC, 37 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:05 UTC and running to 02:38 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 High Risk, with a 0.30 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 19:47 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.

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 146 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:29 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 2011 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are

58 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.