EF1 tornado, Dermott to Trippe Junction, Arkansas, March 13, 2016

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.

Rating

EF1

Date

March 13, 2016

Touchdown

9:15 PM CDT (02:15 UTC)

Lifted

9:25 PM CDT (02:25 UTC)

On the ground

10 minutes

Path length

9.0 miles (14.4 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

1

Property damage

$2.5 million

Counties

Chicot and Desha counties

Touchdown point

33.508, -91.451

Lift-off point

33.570, -91.311

Record number

1603132015-01

14 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 EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 105 mph.

• many snapped trees on N side of hwy 35
• trees snapped, minor roof dmg to home
• trees dmg and metal shed grown and destroyed, large fence down at the prison.
• roof dmg to 50% many windows busted, vehicles dmg, fence down.

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

As high pressure over the East Coast refused to move, a storm system approached the ArkLaMiss from the west and stalled just to the west of the region on March 7th. While warm moist air from the Gulf of Mexico filtered north and encompassed the region, a series of potent upper level disturbances began lifting northeast across the Lower Mississippi River Valley. This set the stage for multiple rounds of torrential rains that fell almost continuously across the ArkLaMiss from March 8th through March 12th. These prolonged torrential rains resulted in widespread flash flooding and river flooding across the region, with numerous area rivers reaching moderate and major flood stages. Floodwaters damaged numerous homes, businesses, and closed many primary and secondary roads across the region, with some secondary roads washed out. ||As the storm system finally exited the region late on the 12th, another fast moving, compact storm system followed in its wake during the evening of March 13th. This system brought another round of heavy rain to the Delta region, in addition to several reports of hail and damaging straight line winds. Tornadoes were spawned by this system as well, which included one that affected Chicot County.

Severe thunderstorms produced very large hail, damaging winds, and tornadoes during the afternoon and evening.

This tornado started on the southwest side of Dermott just west of Buckner Lane. Here several trees were snapped. As it crossed Buckner, six power poles were taken down. It then crossed Trotter Street, where more trees were snapped with others uprooted. A fence was laid down as well. A few homes here had minor roof damage where shingles were blown off. The tornado then tracked across US Highway 165 where it moved through open field. It tracked into the South Delta Regional Correctional Facility. Quite a bit of damage was done to the facility as it took a direct hit. Several large sections of the outer fence were torn down. Five buildings on the south side of the complex sustained roof damage where shingles and sheet paper were removed. The gym building, a metal structure, was heavily damaged where a large section of wall was removed. The main building of the complex suffered roof damage where roughly half of the roof was lifted or had parts removed. The roof is not a typical roof; it has several layers. Large portions of the foam insulation were pulled out along with several sections of a thin roof covering. A couple of the guard watch towers had the windows blown out and some minor damage. One employee was injured trying to exit a tower and broke a leg. The tornado then moved into a wooded area, where trees were snapped and a metal carport was thrown and destroyed. As the tornado crossed Highway 35, many more trees were damaged. One home sustained minor roof damage on the south side of the highway. The tornado crossed US Highway 65 and snapped more trees. It then continued through a large wooded area and farmland and it moved into Desha County. It then crossed Highway 159 where many more trees were snapped and uprooted. Where it crossed Highway 159, a home sustained some minor roof damage and had the wood framed shed destroyed. A few power lines were down here as well. The tornado continued northeast into a wooded area where more trees were damaged. Though the tornado likely dissipated a bit farther east, no access was available to that area due to flooding. The total path length was 9.2 miles, with 2.6 miles of that in Desha County. The maximum estimated winds were 105 mph.

This is a continuation of a tornado from Chicot County AR. As the tornado crossed into Desha County, some trees were snapped and uprooted, along with some power lines blown down.

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

14 minutes of warning. NWS JAN issued a tornado warning for this county at 02:01 UTC, 14 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:28 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 00:11 UTC and running to 04:38 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 Enhanced 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 01:20 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), 165 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:16 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 2016 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are

10 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.