Tornadoes · United States · Arkansas · 2011

EF1 tornado, Reform to Wye, Arkansas, February 24, 2011

From Reform to Wye, this EF1 tornado ran 11.1 miles across Perry, Saline and Pulaski counties on February 24, 2011, touching down at 3:53 PM CST and reaching 80 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $165,000 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
February 24, 2011
Touchdown
3:53 PM CST (21:53 UTC)
Lifted
4:05 PM CST (22:05 UTC)
On the ground
12 minutes
Path length
11.1 miles (17.8 km)
Path width
80 yards (73 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$165,000
Counties
Perry, Saline and Pulaski counties
Touchdown point
34.778, -92.865
Lift-off point
34.880, -92.718
Record number
1102241553-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Low pressure aloft, approaching from the west, caused a line of thunderstorms to develop during the afternoon. The line moved very quickly, exiting the area during the early evening. The fast movement of the line, occasional bowing sections within the line, and winds aloft were favorable for severe thunderstorms producing wind damage. Isolated tornadoes developed near the line.

A tornado began in the Ouachita National Forest south of Lake Winona. The tornado traveled through the forest, knocking down trees, and moved into Perry County south-southwest of Williams Junction.

This tornado exited Saline County north-northeast of Reform. Its path in Perry County was in the Ouachita National Forest, where it knocked down trees. The tornado exited Perry County and entered Pulaski County west-southwest of Wye.

This tornado exited Perry County southeast of Williams Junction. In Pulaski County, a barn was flattened and another barn lost much of its roof. Trees were blown down. The tornado ended in western Pulaski County just off Arkansas Highway 10 close to where the eastern end of Higginbotham Rd. intersects the highway.

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.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:25 UTC and running to 23:19 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
17:25 UTC23:19 UTCTornado WatchLZK
21:26 UTC22:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZK
21:52 UTC22:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZK
21:54 UTC22:13 UTCTornado WarningLZK
22:05 UTC22:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZK
22:38 UTC22:54 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:32 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), 12:00Z

9.9 hours before the tornado, 248 km from the path. February 24, 2011.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2011-02-24Temperature 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 -67637, lifted condensation level 547 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 2011-02-24The 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 16 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 59 knots.1939587897117136Sfc1 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
-67637 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
547 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
59 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
16 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
109 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Springfield, MO (KSGF), 00:00Z

2.1 hours after it, 248 km from the path. February 25, 2011.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 2011-02-25Temperature 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 -88536, lifted condensation level 512 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 00:00Z on 2011-02-25The 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 -73 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 132 knots.1939587897117136Sfc1 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
-88536 J/kg
Surface CAPE
7 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
512 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
132 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-73 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-75 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
2.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Little Rock radar (KLZK), 48 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:52 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
21:45 UTCTSTM WND DMGBismarckHot Spring, ARMOBILE HOME LOST A ROOF IN BISMARCK.
21:50 UTCTSTM WND DMGHot SpringsGarland, ARTREES AND POWER LINES WERE REPORTED DOWN AROUND HOT SPRINGS AND ALSO THE NORTHERN PART OF THE COUNTY.
21:55 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Wnw ParonSaline, ARNUMEROUS TREES WERE BLOWN DOWN. A FENCE WAS BLOWN DOWN AS WELL. THE REPORT IS FROM THE ALUM FORK COOPERATIVE OBSERVING STATION.
21:55 UTCTSTM WND DMG4 Ese Hot SpringsGarland, AR*** 1 INJ *** A COUPLE OF LARGE TREES WERE DOWNED...WITH ONE TREE ON A HOUSE. A WOMAN WAS INJURED AT THE HOUSE. A METAL ROOF WAS PEELED BACK AT A NEARBY LUMBER YARD.
21:55 UTCTORNADO 16 W ParonSaline, ARTHE TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN NEAR LAKE WINONA...PASSING THROUGH THE OUACHITA NATIONAL FOREST BEFORE LIFTING WEST OF LAKE MAUMELLE. NUMEROUS TREES WERE BLOWN DOWN ALONG THE PATH OF THE TORNADO. JUST OFF HIGHWAY 10...ONE BARN
22:00 UTCTSTM WND DMGBauxiteSaline, ARNUMEROUS TREES DOWN AROUND BAUXITE.
22:00 UTCTSTM WND DMGParonSaline, ARTREES DOWN ON HIGHWAY 9.
22:00 UTCTSTM WND DMGWilliams JunctionPerry, ARTREES WERE REPORTED DOWN IN THE EASTERN PART OF PERRY COUNTY NEAR WILLIAMS JUNCTION.
22:05 UTCTSTM WND DMGLonsdaleGarland, ARTREES AND POWER LINES WERE DOWNED NEAR THE SALINE COUNTY LINE...OR AROUND LONSDALE.
22:05 UTCTSTM WND DMGOwensvilleSaline, ARTREES WERE BLOWN DOWN NEAR HIGHWAY 5 AND OWENSVILLE CUTOFF ROAD. SEVERAL TREES FELL ON THE ARKANSAS FORESTRY COMMISSION BUILDING NEAR THE INTERSECTION.
22:45 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 W WrightsvillePulaski, ARA TREE WAS REPORTED DOWN ON INTERSTATE 530 AT U.S. HIGHWAY 67.
22:47 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 W ScottPulaski, ARA ROOF WAS PARTIALLY TORN OFF OF A HOUSE.
22:50 UTCTSTM WND DMGScottPulaski, ARNUMEROUS TREES WERE REPORTED DOWN.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2011 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of February 24, 2011

12 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
February 244:56 PM CSTEF1Lonoke, AR2.3100$75,000
February 245:03 PM CSTEF1Lonoke, AR1.6235$400,000
February 246:15 PM CSTEF0Fulton, KY1.150$30,000
February 246:32 PM CSTEF1Hickman, KY7.2100$80,000
February 247:25 PM CSTEF1West Carroll Parish, LA6.575$750,000
February 247:50 PM CSTEF2Christian, KY5.7300$600,000
February 247:50 PM CSTEF2Sharkey, MS7.3400$1.0 million
February 248:30 PM CSTEF2Decatur, TN12.2400$1.5 million
February 2410:02 PM CSTEF2Davidson, TN7.5100$550,000
February 2410:14 PM CSTEF2Wilson, TN8.01502$500,000
February 2410:18 PM CSTEF0Marion, AL0.6100$75,000
February 2411:10 PM CSTEF0Cullman, AL0.220

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.