Tornadoes · United States · Arkansas · 2017
EF1 tornado, Conant to Rescue, Arkansas, April 29, 2017
From Conant to Rescue, this EF1 tornado ran 5.9 miles across White County on April 29, 2017, touching down at 12:37 AM CDT and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $80,000 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.
EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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
- April 29, 2017
- Touchdown
- 12:37 AM CDT (05:37 UTC)
- Lifted
- 12:47 AM CDT (05:47 UTC)
- On the ground
- 10 minutes
- Path length
- 5.9 miles (9.4 km)
- Path width
- 100 yards (91 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $80,000
- County
- White County
- Touchdown point
- 35.151, -91.702
- Lift-off point
- 35.165, -91.600
- Record number
- 1704292337-01
The damage survey
41 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LZK, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 110 mph.
- Trees uprooted...laying northward
- Single Wide shifted off foundation to the north. Start Point
- 5-7 pines snapped off approx. 20-30 ft above ground level.
- several pine trees snapped and debris in the trees in different directions
Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.
What the Weather Service recorded
Severe thunderstorms and very heavy rainfall was noted on April 29-30, 2017. Major flooding was a result of the heavy rain.
A mobile home was shifted off its foundation. Several trees were either snapped or uprooted. Several structures were damaged, with debris lofted upward into the trees.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
2 minutes of warning. NWS LZK issued a tornado warning for this county at 05:35 UTC, 2 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 06:00 UTC.
The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 03:23 UTC and running to 11:00 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14:00 UTC | 15:51 UTC | Lake Wind Advisory | LZK |
| 00:13 UTC | 01:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK |
| 02:10 UTC | 03:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK |
| 02:51 UTC | 03:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK |
| 03:10 UTC | 04:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK |
| 03:23 UTC | 11:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | LZK |
| 03:24 UTC | 03:48 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK |
| 03:51 UTC | 04:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK |
| 04:11 UTC | 04:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK |
| 04:13 UTC | 05:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK |
| 04:37 UTC | 05:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK |
| 04:55 UTC | 08:00 UTC | Flash Flood Warning | LZK |
| 05:09 UTC | 06:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK |
| 05:14 UTC | 08:15 UTC | Flash Flood Warning | LZK |
| 05:35 UTC | 06:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | LZK |
| 05:56 UTC | 06:01 UTC | Tornado Warning | LZK |
| 07:12 UTC | 11:15 UTC | Flash Flood Warning | LZK |
| 07:54 UTC | 11:45 UTC | Flash Flood Warning | LZK |
| 10:14 UTC | 13:15 UTC | Flash Flood Warning | LZK |
| 11:56 UTC | 15:20 UTC | Flood Warning | LZK |
| 13:12 UTC | 16:15 UTC | Flash Flood Warning | LZK |
| 16:07 UTC | 01:00 UTC | Flood Warning | LZK |
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 Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:58 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.
Little Rock, AR (KBYH), 00:00Z
5.6 hours before the tornado, 159 km from the path. April 30, 2017.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1699 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -9 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 3603 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 993 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 33 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 30 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 137 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 210 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.2
- Supercell composite
- 11.6
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.5 K/km
Little Rock, AR (KBYH), 12:00Z
6.4 hours after it, 159 km from the path. April 30, 2017.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 6 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -292 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 179 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 811 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 57 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 14 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -47 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 91 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- -0.1
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.4 K/km
The surface observations
Searcy Municipal Airport (M07) (SRC), 10 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 03:40 UTC | 130° 11 kt | 1006.1 | -RA | |||
| 03:45 UTC | 120° 12 kt | 1006.1 | ||||
| 03:50 UTC | 120° 10 kt | 1005.8 | ||||
| 03:55 UTC | 150° 8 kt | 1005.8 | ||||
| 03:56 UTC | 70 | 68 | 150° 8 kt | 1005.8 | VCTS | |
| 04:00 UTC | 170° 5 kt | 1006.1 | ||||
| 04:02 UTC | 69.8 | 69.8 | 170° 6 kt | 1006.1 | VCTS | |
| 04:05 UTC | 210° 7 kt | 1006.1 | ||||
| 04:10 UTC | 210° 7 kt | 1006.4 | ||||
| 04:15 UTC | 150° 13 kt | 1006.1 | ||||
| 04:20 UTC | 130° 9 kt | 1006.1 | ||||
| 04:25 UTC | 130° 8 kt | 1005.8 | -RA | |||
| 04:30 UTC | 110° 6 kt | 1005.8 | -RA | |||
| 04:35 UTC | 130° 6 kt | 1005.8 | -RA | |||
| 04:40 UTC | 100° 5 kt | 1005.1 | -RA | |||
| 04:45 UTC | 100° 6 kt | 1005.1 | -RA | |||
| 04:50 UTC | 200° 5 kt | 1006.4 | -RA | |||
| 04:55 UTC | 290° 7 kt | 1007.1 | -RA | |||
| 04:56 UTC | 72 | 70 | 310° 9 kt | 1006.8 | -TSRA | |
| 05:00 UTC | 350° 6 kt | 1006.1 | -RA | |||
| 05:01 UTC | 69.8 | 69.8 | 350° 5 kt | 1006.1 | -TSRA | |
| 05:05 UTC | 60° 5 kt | 1006.1 | -RA | |||
| 05:10 UTC | 100° 7 kt | 1006.1 | -RA | |||
| 05:13 UTC | 69.8 | 69.8 | 70° 9 kt | 1005.8 | -TSRA | |
| 05:15 UTC | 60° 9 kt | 1005.8 | -RA | |||
| 05:20 UTC | 1006.1 | -RA | ||||
| 05:25 UTC | 1006.8 | -RA | ||||
| 05:30 UTC | 1007.1 | -RA | ||||
| 05:35 UTC | 1009.8 | RA | ||||
| 05:40 UTC | 320° 13 kt | 1010.2 | +RA BR | |||
| 05:42 UTC | 66.2 | 66.2 | 330° 9 kt | 24 | 1009.8 | +TSRA BR |
| 05:45 UTC | 260° 6 kt | 1009.5 | +RA BR | |||
| 05:50 UTC | 300° 6 kt | 1008.8 | +RA BR | |||
| 05:51 UTC | 66.2 | 66.2 | 4 kt | 1008.5 | +TSRA BR | |
| 05:55 UTC | 230° 3 kt | 1008.5 | +RA BR | |||
| 05:56 UTC | 66 | 66 | 3 kt | 1008.8 | +TSRA BR | |
| 06:00 UTC | 300° 3 kt | 1008.5 | +RA BR | |||
| 06:05 UTC | 210° 4 kt | 1008.8 | +RA | |||
| 06:10 UTC | 300° 3 kt | 1008.5 | +RA | |||
| 06:11 UTC | 66.2 | 66.2 | 320° 3 kt | 1008.1 | +TSRA | |
| 06:15 UTC | 90° 3 kt | 1008.5 | +RA BR | |||
| 06:20 UTC | 0° 0 kt | 1008.1 | +RA BR | |||
| 06:21 UTC | 66.2 | 66.2 | 0° 0 kt | 1007.8 | +TSRA BR | |
| 06:25 UTC | 0° 0 kt | 1008.1 | +RA BR | |||
| 06:30 UTC | 120° 6 kt | 1007.8 | +RA BR | |||
| 06:35 UTC | 30° 5 kt | 1007.5 | +RA BR | |||
| 06:40 UTC | 0° 0 kt | 1008.1 | RA BR | |||
| 06:45 UTC | 50° 6 kt | 1007.1 | RA | |||
| 06:50 UTC | 90° 8 kt | 1007.1 | RA | |||
| 06:55 UTC | 80° 5 kt | 1007.5 | RA | |||
| 06:56 UTC | 66 | 66 | 80° 4 kt | 1007.5 | -TSRA | |
| 07:00 UTC | 80° 6 kt | 1007.1 | RA | |||
| 07:02 UTC | 66.2 | 66.2 | 90° 4 kt | 1007.5 | +TSRA | |
| 07:10 UTC | 120° 5 kt | 1007.8 | +RA BR | |||
| 07:12 UTC | 66.2 | 66.2 | 90° 4 kt | 1007.5 | +TSRA BR | |
| 07:15 UTC | 30° 6 kt | 1006.4 | +RA BR | |||
| 07:20 UTC | 66.2 | 66.2 | 80° 10 kt | 1006.4 | +TSRA BR | |
| 07:25 UTC | 60° 7 kt | 1007.1 | +RA BR | |||
| 07:30 UTC | 160° 3 kt | 1008.1 | +RA BR | |||
| 07:31 UTC | 66.2 | 66.2 | 3 kt | 1007.8 | +TSRA BR | |
| 07:35 UTC | 50° 12 kt | 1005.8 | +RA BR |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Little Rock radar (KLZK), 66 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 05:37 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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 04:35 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 N Ward | Lonoke, AR | HIGHWAY 319 BLOCKED DUE TO TREES DOWN |
| 04:40 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Se Country Road Estat | Lonoke, AR | MULTIPLE TREES DOWN AND BLOCKING THE ROAD |
| 04:40 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Cinnamon Acres | Lonoke, AR | DOWNED TREES BLOCKING ROADWAY. |
| 04:59 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Nw Ward | Lonoke, AR | TREES WERE BLOWN DOWN. |
| 04:59 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Sw Austin | Lonoke, AR | TREES WERE BLOWN DOWN. |
| 05:37 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Se West Point | White, AR | A HOUSE SUSTAINED MAJOR DAMAGE. |
| 05:37 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Higginson | White, AR | TREES AND POWERLINES DOWN AROUND THE HIGGINSON AREA... PORTION OF HIGHWAY 11 BLOCKED AS A RESULT. |
| 05:37 UTC | TORNADO | 2 N Walker | White, AR | AN EF1 TORNADO WAS CONFIRMED IN WHITE COUNTY. A MOBILE HOME SHIFTED OFF ITS FOUNDATION...WITH SEVERAL TREES SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. SEVERAL STRUCTURES WERE DAMAGED...WITH DEBRIS LOFTED INTO TREES. |
| 05:38 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 N Griffithville | White, AR | A TRAILER WAS FLIPPED OVER. |
| 05:44 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Nw Georgetown | White, AR | SEVERAL TRAILERS WERE OVERTURNED NORTHWEST OF GEORGETOWN...NEAR HIGHWAY 36 AND NIMMO ROAD. |
| 05:52 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Georgetown | White, AR | TREES AND POWERLINES DOWN IN GEORGETOWN... INCLUDING A TREE DOWN ON A HOME. |
| 05:57 UTC | TORNADO | 4 S Augusta | Woodruff, AR | AN EF1 TORNADO WAS CONFIRMED IN WESTERN WOODRUFF COUNTY. SEVERAL TREES WERE UPROOTED OR SNAPPED...WITH DAMAGE TO A METAL SHED. |
| 06:00 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | Sherwood | Pulaski, AR | NUMEROUS ROADS FLOODED IN SHERWOOD... INCLUDING PARTS OF HIGHWAY 167 NEAR MCCAIN AND PORTIONS OF HIGHWAY 107 |
| 06:24 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Tilton | Cross, AR | SEVERAL TREES, HOUSES, OUTBUILDINGS, AND POWER POLES DAMAGED FROM NORTH OF TILTON TO SOUTH OF CHERRY VALLEY. |
| 07:00 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | 5 Ne Pangburn | White, AR | A BRIDGE WAS WASHED OUT ON PRINCE REAPER ROAD. |
| 07:21 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | Woodlawn Addition | Lonoke, AR | HIGHWAY 5 NORTH OF MOUNTAIN SPRINGS FLOODED |
| 07:25 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | Kingwood Addition | Lonoke, AR | HIGHWAY 321 AND HIGHWAY 89 FLOODED. |
| 07:27 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | 1 Nne Woodlawn | Lonoke, AR | HIGHWAY 31 FLOODED WITH SWIFT MOVING WATER OVER THE ROAD |
| 08:28 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | Hazen | Prairie, AR | RUNNING WATER ON CITY STREETS |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2017 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of April 29, 2017
17 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 29 | 2:24 PM CDT | EF1 | Natchitoches Parish, LA | 2.0 | 290 | $200,000 | ||
| April 29 | 3:16 PM CDT | EF1 | Boone, AR | 1.9 | 100 | 1 | $400,000 | |
| April 29 | 3:31 PM CDT | EF0 | Saint Charles, MO | 3.9 | 100 | |||
| April 29 | 4:02 PM CDT | EF1 | Jersey, IL | 2.4 | 50 | |||
| April 29 | 4:15 PM CDT | EF0 | Van Zandt, TX | 1.6 | 100 | |||
| April 29 | 4:17 PM CDT | EF1 | Sequoyah, OK | 7.3 | 600 | $20,000 | ||
| April 29 | 4:20 PM CDT | EF0 | Morgan, IL | 0.7 | 10 | |||
| April 29 | 4:57 PM CDT | EF1 | Crawford, AR | 5.5 | 300 | $50,000 | ||
| April 29 | 5:10 PM CDT | EF0 | Van Zandt, TX | 1.8 | 75 | $60,000 | ||
| April 29 | 5:29 PM CDT | EF4 | Canton tornado, TX | 21.4 | 1,760 | 2 | 25 | $1.2 million |
| April 29 | 5:51 PM CDT | EF2 | Henderson, TX | 11.7 | 100 | 10 | $600,000 | |
| April 29 | 6:08 PM CDT | EF3 | Van Zandt, TX | 39.7 | 1,760 | 2 | 24 | $670,000 |
| April 29 | 6:32 PM CDT | EF0 | Hopkins, TX | 8.6 | 100 | $10,000 | ||
| April 29 | 7:13 PM CDT | EF0 | Van Zandt, TX | 0.9 | 80 | $5,000 | ||
| April 29 | 8:45 PM CDT | EF1 | Smith, TX | 3.0 | 570 | $25,000 | ||
| April 29 | 8:48 PM CDT | EF1 | Wood, TX | 0.3 | 190 | $30,000 | ||
| April 29 | 12:57 AM CDT | EF1 | Woodruff, AR | 0.8 | 80 | $5,000 |
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.