Tornadoes · United States · Arkansas · 2017
EF1 tornado, Lamar, Arkansas, March 1, 2017
This EF1 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Johnson County on March 1, 2017, touching down at 1:29 AM CST and reaching 200 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $20,000 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
- March 1, 2017
- Touchdown
- 1:29 AM CST (07:29 UTC)
- Lifted
- 1:30 AM CST (07:30 UTC)
- On the ground
- 1 minutes
- Path length
- 0.1 miles (0.2 km)
- Path width
- 200 yards (183 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $20,000
- County
- Johnson County
- Touchdown point
- 35.420, -93.385
- Lift-off point
- 35.419, -93.383
- Record number
- 1703010129-01
The damage survey
6 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LZK, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The highest wind the damage implies is 95 mph.
- large trees crushed a house
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
A strong storm system brought a line of thunderstorms with several tornadoes on March 1, 2017.
An EF-1 tornado touched down at Lamar, with severe roof damage to a home.
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.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 05:35 UTC and running to 10:18 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21:40 UTC | 03:50 UTC | Tornado Watch | LZK |
| 00:00 UTC | 00:00 UTC | Lake Wind Advisory | LZK |
| 05:35 UTC | 10:18 UTC | Tornado Watch | LZK |
| 07:07 UTC | 07:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK |
| 07:39 UTC | 08:10 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm 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 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), 00:00Z
7.5 hours before the tornado, 169 km from the path. March 1, 2017.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1117 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -52 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 813 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 931 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 65 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 38 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 341 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 315 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 2.3
- Supercell composite
- 8.2
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.7 K/km
Springfield, MO (KSGF), 12:00Z
4.5 hours after it, 169 km from the path. March 1, 2017.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -100240 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 613 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 71 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 27 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -356 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- -274 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 3.6 K/km
The surface observations
Russellville Municipal Airport (RUE), 32 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 05:30 UTC | 190° 13 kt | 1005.4 | ||||
| 05:35 UTC | 190° 14 kt | 1005.1 | ||||
| 05:40 UTC | 190° 13 kt | 1005.4 | ||||
| 05:45 UTC | 200° 12 kt | 1005.4 | ||||
| 05:50 UTC | 200° 13 kt | 20 | 1005.4 | |||
| 05:53 UTC | 72 | 62 | 200° 12 kt | 21 | 1005.4 | |
| 05:55 UTC | 200° 11 kt | 17 | 1005.8 | |||
| 06:00 UTC | 200° 14 kt | 20 | 1005.8 | |||
| 06:05 UTC | 200° 14 kt | 1005.8 | ||||
| 06:10 UTC | 200° 15 kt | 1006.1 | ||||
| 06:15 UTC | 190° 14 kt | 23 | 1005.8 | |||
| 06:20 UTC | 1005.8 | |||||
| 06:25 UTC | 200° 14 kt | 19 | 1005.8 | |||
| 06:30 UTC | 200° 14 kt | 1005.8 | ||||
| 06:35 UTC | 200° 12 kt | 18 | 1005.8 | |||
| 06:40 UTC | 190° 15 kt | 1005.8 | ||||
| 06:45 UTC | 200° 10 kt | 17 | 1005.4 | |||
| 06:50 UTC | 200° 11 kt | 18 | 1005.8 | |||
| 06:53 UTC | 72 | 63 | 200° 16 kt | 22 | 1005.8 | |
| 06:55 UTC | 200° 15 kt | 20 | 1005.8 | |||
| 07:00 UTC | 200° 10 kt | 1005.4 | ||||
| 07:05 UTC | 200° 12 kt | 17 | 1005.8 | |||
| 07:10 UTC | 200° 13 kt | 1005.8 | ||||
| 07:15 UTC | 200° 14 kt | 23 | 1005.4 | |||
| 07:20 UTC | 200° 12 kt | 17 | 1005.4 | |||
| 07:25 UTC | 200° 12 kt | 18 | 1005.4 | |||
| 07:30 UTC | 200° 13 kt | 1005.4 | ||||
| 07:35 UTC | 200° 14 kt | 22 | 1005.4 | |||
| 07:40 UTC | 1005.4 | |||||
| 07:45 UTC | 200° 14 kt | 24 | 1005.1 | |||
| 07:50 UTC | 21 | 1005.1 | ||||
| 07:53 UTC | 72 | 63 | 200° 15 kt | 25 | 1005.4 | |
| 07:55 UTC | 1005.4 | |||||
| 08:00 UTC | 1008.5 | |||||
| 08:05 UTC | 1008.5 | |||||
| 08:09 UTC | 66 | 48 | 300° 20 kt | 38 | 1008.5 | |
| 08:10 UTC | 31 | 1008.5 | ||||
| 08:15 UTC | 36 | 1008.5 | ||||
| 08:17 UTC | 65 | 49 | 290° 25 kt | 36 | 1008.1 | VCTS |
| 08:20 UTC | 30 | 1009.1 | -RA | |||
| 08:25 UTC | 34 | +RA | ||||
| 08:26 UTC | 59 | 53 | 290° 24 kt | 37 | 1009.5 | +TSRA |
| 08:30 UTC | 300° 16 kt | 22 | 1009.5 | +RA BR | ||
| 08:35 UTC | 290° 13 kt | 1008.8 | RA BR | |||
| 08:40 UTC | 1008.8 | +RA BR | ||||
| 08:41 UTC | 58 | 54 | 310° 12 kt | 21 | 1008.5 | VCTS +RA BR |
| 08:45 UTC | 310° 10 kt | 15 | 1008.1 | RA BR | ||
| 08:50 UTC | 290° 12 kt | 17 | 1008.1 | RA | ||
| 08:53 UTC | 58 | 54 | 280° 9 kt | 17 | 1007.8 | +TSRA BR |
| 08:55 UTC | 290° 4 kt | 1006.8 | +RA | |||
| 09:00 UTC | 270° 3 kt | 1006.8 | -RA | |||
| 09:05 UTC | 190° 5 kt | 1006.8 | RA BR | |||
| 09:10 UTC | 240° 10 kt | 18 | 1007.1 | -RA | ||
| 09:15 UTC | 260° 8 kt | 1006.4 | ||||
| 09:20 UTC | 270° 8 kt | 1006.8 | ||||
| 09:25 UTC | 270° 7 kt | 1006.8 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 90 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 07:28 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 07:15 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Ozark | Franklin, AR | TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN IN TOWN. |
| 07:28 UTC | TORNADO | 1 S Lamar | Johnson, AR | STORM SURVEY TEAM DETERMINED THAT AN EF1 TORNADO WENT THROUGH LAMAR. SEVERE ROOF DAMAGE WAS SUSTAINED TO A HOME. |
| 07:29 UTC | TORNADO | 1 S Lamar | Johnson, AR | STORM SURVEY TEAM DETERMINED THAT AN EF1 TORNADO WENT THROUGH LAMAR. SEVERE ROOF DAMAGE WAS SUSTAINED TO A HOME. |
| 07:50 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 Nw Dover | Pope, AR | SEVERAL TREES UPROOTED AND POWERLINES DOWN IN THE AREA. |
| 07:50 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Cowell | Newton, AR | WIDESPREAD WIND DAMAGE ACROSS THE COUNTY... NUMEROUS TREES AND POWERLINES DOWN. |
| 08:15 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Jerusalem | Conway, AR | TREE DOWNS AND DAMAGE TO HOMES REPORTED IN JERUSALEM AND CLEVELAND. |
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 March 1, 2017
38 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 1 | 12:30 AM CST | EF0 | Dallas, MO | 1.0 | 100 | $25,000 | ||
| March 1 | 12:35 AM CST | EF1 | Butler, KY | 0.8 | 90 | $50,000 | ||
| March 1 | 2:31 AM EST | EF0 | Highland, OH | 6.9 | 250 | $30,000 | ||
| March 1 | 2:40 AM EST | EF0 | Highland, OH | 4.5 | 100 | $10,000 | ||
| March 1 | 2:16 AM CST | EF1 | Conway, AR | 1.0 | 250 | $30,000 | ||
| March 1 | 2:18 AM CST | EF0 | Conway, AR | 1.1 | 50 | $40,000 | ||
| March 1 | 2:33 AM CST | EF1 | Cleburne, AR | 3.9 | 250 | $20,000 | ||
| March 1 | 3:38 AM EST | EF1 | Clermont, OH | 6.4 | 150 | $400,000 | ||
| March 1 | 3:13 AM CST | EF1 | Jackson, AR | 4.2 | 200 | $30,000 | ||
| March 1 | 3:20 AM CST | EF1 | Jackson, AR | 1.6 | 125 | $100,000 | ||
| March 1 | 5:00 AM EST | EF2 | Daviess, IN | 0.1 | 30 | $40,000 | ||
| March 1 | 5:05 AM EST | EF2 | Daviess, IN | 1.5 | 30 | $65,000 | ||
| March 1 | 4:08 AM CST | EF0 | Jackson, IL | 4.1 | 25 | $2,000 | ||
| March 1 | 5:10 AM EST | EF1 | Daviess, IN | 0.0 | 30 | $35,000 | ||
| March 1 | 5:30 AM EST | EF1 | Lawrence, IN | 0.2 | 40 | $22,000 | ||
| March 1 | 5:37 AM EST | EF2 | Lawrence, IN | 0.7 | 25 | 1 | $175,000 | |
| March 1 | 4:40 AM CST | EF1 | Mississippi, MO | 15.2 | 200 | $400,000 | ||
| March 1 | 5:41 AM EST | EF1 | Washington, IN | 5.8 | 100 | $150,000 | ||
| March 1 | 5:45 AM EST | EF2 | Jackson, IN | 0.3 | 50 | $45,000 | ||
| March 1 | 4:51 AM CST | EF0 | Dyer, TN | 3.7 | 50 | $50,000 | ||
| March 1 | 6:04 AM EST | EF1 | Clark, IN | 0.3 | 20 | $200,000 | ||
| March 1 | 6:05 AM EST | EF1 | Scott, IN | 2.1 | 125 | 10 | $250,000 | |
| March 1 | 5:25 AM CST | EF2 | Graves, KY | 1.6 | 200 | $170,000 | ||
| March 1 | 6:36 AM EST | EF1 | Henry, KY | 1.1 | 200 | $100,000 | ||
| March 1 | 7:03 AM EST | EF0 | Hamilton, OH | 1.1 | 350 | $250,000 | ||
| March 1 | 7:39 AM EST | EF1 | Highland, OH | 2.2 | 150 | $50,000 | ||
| March 1 | 6:57 AM CST | EF1 | Logan, KY | 1.6 | 75 | $100,000 | ||
| March 1 | 7:00 AM CST | EF1 | Williamson, TN | 10.5 | 250 | $7.3 million | ||
| March 1 | 8:16 AM EST | EF1 | Pike, OH | 0.6 | 125 | $30,000 | ||
| March 1 | 7:17 AM CST | EF0 | Davidson, TN | 3.1 | 100 | $55,000 | ||
| March 1 | 7:24 AM CST | EF1 | Warren, KY | 2.6 | 125 | $250,000 | ||
| March 1 | 7:37 AM CST | EF0 | Wilson, TN | 3.3 | 100 | $15,000 | ||
| March 1 | 7:40 AM CST | EF1 | Wilson, TN | 7.2 | 200 | $110,000 | ||
| March 1 | 7:51 AM CST | EF1 | Smith, TN | 3.9 | 200 | $40,000 | ||
| March 1 | 8:04 AM CST | EF1 | Putnam, TN | 7.6 | 150 | $25,000 | ||
| March 1 | 9:07 AM EST | EF1 | Meigs, OH | 0.1 | 300 | $80,000 | ||
| March 1 | 8:35 AM CST | EF1 | Putnam, TN | 0.1 | 90 | $10,000 | ||
| March 1 | 4:27 PM EST | EF1 | Murray, GA | 2.9 | 150 | $100,000 |
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.