EF2 tornado, Rudy to Kimes, Arkansas, April 13, 2018

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

April 13, 2018

Touchdown

4:04 PM CDT (21:04 UTC)

Lifted

4:19 PM CDT (21:19 UTC)

On the ground

15 minutes

Path length

11.7 miles (18.8 km)

Path width

1,000 yards (914 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

4

Property damage

$600,000

County

Crawford County

Touchdown point

35.549, -94.262

Lift-off point

35.673, -94.122

Record number

1804131504-01

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

• small barn tin roof blown off
• gun safe pulled out of concrete foundation; much of foundation swept of debris

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

Severe thunderstorms developed over eastern Oklahoma during the early afternoon hours of the 13th as a cold front moved into the area. These storms organized into a line as they approached northwestern Arkansas and produced damaging wind gusts across the area through early evening as well as a weak tornado. Scattered storms formed over far eastern Oklahoma ahead of the line and moved across portions of northwestern Arkansas during the mid afternoon. One of these storms produced a strong tornado in Crawford County that injured four people and caused considerable damage near and around the town of Mountainburg.

This tornado developed north of Rudy where numerous trees were snapped and uprooted as it crossed Frog Bayou Drive. The tornado then severely damaged a home, destroyed outbuildings, and snapped or uprooted numerous trees on Stapp Lane. Outbuildings were destroyed and numerous trees were snapped or uprooted as the tornado crossed Lancaster Road and County Road 27. The tornado continued to move northeast across Highway 282 and I-49 where several cars were rolled off the highway and severe damage to trees occurred. Several mobile homes were destroyed, a permanent home was damaged, and severe tree damage occurred as the tornado moved across Overlook Trail. A well-built outbuilding was destroyed and a home was severely damaged on Locust Mountain Road. Numerous trees were also snapped and uprooted in this area. Another home was severely damaged on Dollard Road before moving into Mountainburg, where numerous homes and businesses were damaged, outbuildings were destroyed, and trees and power poles were blown down. The tornado then moved across the south and east side of Lake Fort Smith, where homes were damaged, outbuildings were destroyed, and trees and power poles were blown down. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in the tornado was 110 to 120 mph.

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

14 minutes of warning. NWS TSA issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:50 UTC, 14 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:20 UTC and running to 01:54 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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:04 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.

Fort Smith Municipal (FSM), 34 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 39 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:04 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 2018 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are

22 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.