EF2 tornado, Mossville to Push, Arkansas, March 6, 2017

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

March 6, 2017

Touchdown

11:38 PM CST (05:38 UTC)

Lifted

12:27 AM CST (06:27 UTC)

On the ground

49 minutes

Path length

36.6 miles (59.0 km)

Path width

700 yards (640 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

1

Property damage

$400,000

Counties

Newton and Searcy counties

Touchdown point

35.925, -93.388

Lift-off point

36.057, -92.753

Record number

1703062338-01

28 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LZK, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 120 mph.

• to get the width, move this point to the road... pretty wide tornado, but I can't reach the road to get a point.
• Family of 5 went to storm shelter before tornado hit, damage was likely not survivable.

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

A storm system brought severe thunderstorms and three tornadoes on March 6-9, 2017.

An EF-2 tornado cut a 36.7 mile path across Newton and Searcy counties. The damage included trees being uprooted and snapped. Several residences were damaged. The post office at Parthenon was destroyed. Maximum winds with this tornado were 120 mph. This tornado touched down north of Mossville in Newton County, and lifted east northeast of Saint Joe in Searcy County. At Parthenon, several homes were damaged. Outbuildings were damaged or destroyed. The post office was destroyed. A residence was destroyed north of Vendor. North of Saint Joe, a family of five (two adults and 3 small children) heard the tornado warning, went into a storm shelter before the tornado hit. Their manufactured home was completely destroyed. The damage was likely not survivable. Also, north of Saint Joe, trees and power lines were blown down. Outbuildings were damaged. A residence had significant damage. There was one minor injury.

An EF-2 tornado cut a 36.7 mile path across Newton and Searcy counties. The damage included trees being uprooted and snapped. Several residences were damaged. The post office at Parthenon was destroyed. Maximum winds with this tornado were 120 mph. This tornado touched down north of Mossville in Newton County, and lifted east northeast of Saint Joe in Searcy County. At Parthenon, several homes were damaged. Outbuildings were damaged or destroyed. The post office was destroyed. A residence was destroyed north of Vendor. North of Saint Joe, a family of five (two adults and 3 small children) heard the tornado warning, went into a storm shelter before the tornado hit. Their manufactured home was completely destroyed. The damage was likely not survivable. Also, north of Saint Joe, trees and power lines were blown down. Outbuildings were damaged. A residence had significant damage. There was one minor injury.

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

18 minutes of warning. NWS LZK issued a tornado warning for this county at 05:20 UTC, 18 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 06:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 03:22 UTC and running to 08:28 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 00:54 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 Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 140 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 05:41 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 2017 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are

53 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.