EF2 tornado, Bellaire to Merigold, Arkansas, December 21, 2013

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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

December 21, 2013

Touchdown

4:51 PM CST (22:51 UTC)

Lifted

5:28 PM CST (23:28 UTC)

On the ground

37 minutes

Path length

40.8 miles (65.6 km)

Path width

440 yards (402 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

2

Property damage

$800,000

Counties

Chicot, Desha and Bolivar counties

Touchdown point

33.510, -91.362

Lift-off point

33.807, -90.753

Record number

1312211651-01

28 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS JAN and NWS LZK, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 115 mph.

• Shed damaged, trailer moved and trees down
• Roof off shed and trees down.
• Heavy damage to a tractor shed and doors blow in on a medal building. Damage to a mobile home.
• Damage to roof of a metal port building.

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

A squall line took shape across west-central Louisiana early to mid afternoon on the 21st. The squall line gradually moved to the east with some strong storms and embedded supercells developing in the ArkLaMiss Delta. The supercells produced a tornado in the far northwestern portions of the ArkLaMiss Delta. The tornado began in Chicot County, southeast of Dermott, and tracked through Chicot and Desha counties in Arkansas, before dissipating in Bolivar County Mississippi northwest of Cleveland. As the squall line progressed east through the late afternoon and evening multiple trees and power lines were downed across Mississippi. A 64 mph wind gust was recorded at the Cleveland Municipal Airport. The line of storms weakened later in the evening and finally moved out of the region in the early morning hours of December 22nd.||In addition to the damage from the line of storms, strong gradient winds ahead of the storms caused trees and power lines to fall in Adams, Clarke and Jones counties. Winds speeds between 45 and 50 mph were measured ahead of the line of the storms at the Greenville, Greenwood and Meridian airports.

A cold front moved into northwest Arkansas on the morning of the 20th and lingered in the state until the night of the 21st. While the front was making its way slowly across the state, an area of low pressure arrived from the southwest. The result was heavy rain and flash flooding in the cooler air behind the front. In the warmer air ahead of the front, isolated tornadoes occurred.||Some of the larger rainfall totals for the 48 hours that included the 20th and 21st were: 7.92 inches 3.3 miles west of Carlisle (Lonoke Co.), 7.68 inches at Little Dixie (Woodruff Co.), 7.66 inches at Des Arc (Prairie Co.), 7.37 inches at Keo (Lonoke Co.), 6.71 inches at Georgetown (White Co.), 6.50 inches at Griffithville (White Co.), 6.45 inches at Augusta (Woodruff Co.), 6.29 inches at Chenal Valley (Pulaski County), 6.15 inches at DeGray Lake (Clark Co.), 6.12 inches 8.8 miles west of Little Rock (Pulaski Co.), and 6.00 inches 0.5 mile southwest of Beebe (White Co.). Numerous other stations reported amounts between 4 and 6 inches, especially in eastern, central, and southern parts of Arkansas.

A squall line took shape across west-central Louisiana early to mid afternoon on the 21st. The squall line gradually moved to the east with some strong storms and embedded supercells developing in the ArkLaMiss Delta. The supercells produced a tornado in the far northwestern portions of the ArkLaMiss Delta. The tornado began in Chicot County, southeast of Dermott, and tracked through Chicot and Desha counties in Arkansas, before dissipating in Bolivar County Mississippi northwest of Cleveland. As the squall line progressed east through the late afternoon and evening multiple trees and power lines were downed across Mississippi. A 64 mph wind gust was recorded at the Cleveland Municipal Airport. The line of storms weakened later in the evening and finally moved out of the region in the early morning hours of December 22nd.||In addition to the damage from the line of storms, strong gradient winds ahead of the storms caused trees and power lines to fall in Adams, Clarke and Jones counties. Winds speeds between 45 and 50 mph were measured ahead of the line of the storms at the Greenville, Greenwood and Meridian airports.

A long track tornado touched down along Highway 65 in Chicot County, Arkansas, where numerous power poles were snapped and two eighteen wheelers flipped over causing 2 minor injuries. Damage occurred to several homes and farm buildings and heavy roof damage occurred to the Yellow Bend Port facility. This tornado was initially in Chicot County, moved into Desha County, and then moved back into Chicot County. The tornado then crossed the Mississippi River into Bolivar County, Mississippi. The tornado was rated EF-1 in Chicot County and was given an overall rating of EF-2 due to damage in Mississippi.||In Bolivar County, Mississippi, numerous power poles were snapped. A well built tractor shed was destroyed and several farm buildings were damaged. Maximum wind speeds were estimated at 115 mph, with a total path length of 41 miles through Chicot, Desha, and Bolivar counties.

This tornado moved out of Chicot County into Desha County. One mobile home was knocked off its foundation, had its porch torn off, and had a large metal intermodal shipping container in the back yard overturn and crash into the rear wall of the mobile home, smashing in the kitchen wall. A house had its porch torn off, roof damage, a hole punched in a wall, and broken windows. Another house had a considerable amount of roofing material torn off. At another house, the attached carport was torn off, with much of it landing on the roof of the house. Several sheds were destroyed, large trees were blown down, and several power poles were snapped off. The tornado then exited Desha County 5.1 miles east-northeast of Halley and re-entered Chicot County near the Yellow Bend Port.

A long track tornado touched down along Highway 65 in Chicot County, Arkansas, where numerous power poles were snapped and two eighteen wheelers flipped over causing 2 minor injuries. Damage occurred to several homes and farm buildings and heavy roof damage occurred to the Yellow Bend Port facility. This tornado was initially in Chicot County, moved into Desha County, and then moved back into Chicot County. The tornado then crossed the Mississippi River into Bolivar County, Mississippi. The tornado was rated EF-1 in Chicot County and was given an overall rating of EF-2 due to damage in Mississippi.||In Bolivar County, Mississippi, numerous power poles were snapped. A well built tractor shed was destroyed and several farm buildings were damaged. Maximum wind speeds were estimated at 115 mph with a total path length of 41 miles through Chicot, Desha, and Bolivar counties.

A long track tornado touched down along Highway 65 in Chicot County, Arkansas, where numerous power poles were snapped and two eighteen wheelers flipped over causing 2 minor injuries. Damage occurred to several homes and farm buildings and heavy roof damage occurred to the Yellow Bend Port facility. This tornado was initially in Chicot County, moved into Desha County, and then moved back into Chicot County. The tornado then crossed the Mississippi River into Bolivar County, Mississippi. The tornado was rated EF-1 in Chicot County and was given an overall rating of EF-2 due to damage in Mississippi.||In Bolivar County, Mississippi, numerous power poles were snapped. A well built tractor shed was destroyed and several farm buildings were damaged. This tornado remained in Bolivar County after it crossed into Mississippi. It did not cross back into Desha County, Arkansas a second time. Maximum wind speeds were estimated at 115 MPH with a total path length of 41 miles in Chicot, Desha, and Bolivar counties.

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

3 minutes of warning. NWS JAN issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:48 UTC, 3 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:02 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 15:46 UTC and running to 00:00 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 20:00 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 Little Rock radar (KLZK), 171 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:53 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 2013 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are

13 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.