EF3 tornado, Coal Hill to Dillen, Arkansas, May 24, 2011

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 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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF3

Date

May 24, 2011

Touchdown

12:25 AM CDT (05:25 UTC)

Lifted

12:57 AM CDT (05:57 UTC)

On the ground

32 minutes

Path length

29.0 miles (46.7 km)

Path width

1,430 yards (1308 m)

Deaths

1

Injuries

4

Property damage

$13 million

Counties

Johnson and Pope counties

Touchdown point

35.423, -93.530

Lift-off point

35.682, -93.124

Record number

1105242325-01

7 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS TSA, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF3. The highest wind the damage implies is 138 mph.

• 10 large (100 foot tall) metal poles bent near the ground

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

Thunderstorms developed ahead of a cold front to the west of Arkansas on the evening of the 24th, entered western Arkansas during the late evening hours, and continued into the wee hours of the 25th. Severe weather, including two killer tornadoes, occurred in western Arkansas. After a lull in activity during the morning of the 25th, some severe weather redeveloped farther to the east in the state during the afternoon.

This is the sixth and final segment of a six-segment tornado. (The first, third, and fifth segments occurred in Franklin County in the Tulsa County Warning Area.) The tornado moved out of Franklin County north of Alix and entered Johnson County northwest of Coal Hill. In Johnson County, the tornado first moved through the Centerpoint community, knocking down trees in the cemetery and badly damaging several residences. The tornado next moved on to the Bethlehem community, where several mobile homes were destroyed and some additional residences were damaged. A 31 year-old woman in one of the mobile homes was killed and approximately 11 other people were injured. The tornado next moved on to Harmony, damaging additional residences, barns, chicken houses, and outbuildings, before continuing into the Ozark National Forest. Damage also occurred near Ozone before the tornado lifted farther to the northeast in the forest. Altogether, at least 65 residences were damaged or destroyed in Johnson County.

This tornado moved through Clarksville, causing extensive damage at the country club and to businesses and residences on the south and east sides of town. Initially, the entire city of Clarksville was without electricity. About 70% of electric customers had power restored by the end of the day on the 25th, but the hardest-hit areas lacked power for a week. In Clarksville, the tornado took a similar path to that of a tornado which occurred on April 7, 1980. After leaving Clarksville, the tornado moved off to the northeast passing between Strawberry and Chronister Store. A 65 year-old man was killed in the area of the Strawberry community when the tornado destroyed a small house on a goat farm. Altogether, at least 150 residences in Johnson County were damaged or destroyed. The tornado continued moving to the northeast, moving into the Ozark National Forest. Many trees were blown down, blocking roads in the forest. The tornado exited Johnson County south-southeast of Dillen and entered Pope County south-southwest of Bertha.

The deaths

2 direct deaths are recorded for this tornado, each with what Storm Data knows of it.

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

24 minutes of warning. NWS LZK issued a tornado warning for this county at 05:01 UTC, 24 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 05:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 01:10 UTC and running to 06:55 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 01:05 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 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.

Russellville Municipal Airport (RUE), 39 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 98 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 05:25 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

47 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.