Tornadoes · United States · Arkansas · 2019

EF1 tornado, Culler to Slovak, Arkansas, March 9, 2019

Name: EF1 tornado, Culler to Slovak, Arkansas, March 9, 2019
Start: 2019-03-09T16:57:00.000Z
End: 2019-03-09T17:05:00.000Z
Location: Culler to Slovak, Arkansas

From Culler to Slovak, this EF1 tornado ran 5.2 miles across Lonoke and Prairie counties on March 9, 2019, touching down at 10:57 AM CST and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $30,000 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 9, 2019
Touchdown: 10:57 AM CST (16:57 UTC)
Lifted: 11:05 AM CST (17:05 UTC)
On the ground: 8 minutes
Path length: 5.2 miles (8.3 km)
Path width: 100 yards (91 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $30,000
Crop damage: $10,000
Counties: Lonoke and Prairie counties
Touchdown point: 34.620, -91.721
Lift-off point: 34.662, -91.646
Record number: 1903091057-01

The damage survey

18 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 105 mph.

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 severe weather to the region on the 9th. Severe thunderstorms produced wind damage and a few tornadoes. In additional to thunderstorms producing damage, non-thunderstorm winds were very strong as the system departed, which also caused damage well behind the thunderstorms.

Several metal farm buildings were either damaged or destroyed, along with many power poles snapped. This tornado then continued into Prairie County near the intersection of West Zion Road and County Road 817.

This tornado formed near the community of Hamilton where a home was damaged along with some trees uprooted or snapped. This tornado continued northeast of Peterson Lake into Prairie County .

This tornado moved out of Lonoke County into Prairie County near the intersection of West Zion Road and County Road 817. Additional damage from this tornado was limited to broken power poles along the track in Prairie County.

This tornado continued northeast out of Lonoke County into rural southwest Prairie county, uprooting some trees along the path. Near the end of the path, metal roofing material was removed from a metal farm building along South Lisko Road.

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

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Little Rock, AR wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Mar 9, 5:26 AM CST, 5 hours 31 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 9, 5:26 AM CST, 5 hours 31 minutes before

Area Forecast Discussion...UPDATED
National Weather Service Little Rock AR
526 AM CST Sat Mar 9 2019

.UPDATE...

Updated to include 12z aviation discussion below.

&&

.AVIATION...

Low ceilings, fog and drizzle will impact most of the area
terminals this morning with rain and thunderstorms expected as a
cold front moves across the area later this morning through the
early afternoon hours. Rapid clearing will take place with VFR
conditions expected from west to east by 17-21z. SW winds will
remain elevated today with gusts over 20-30kts at times. Winds
will relax somewhat and become NW this evening and tonight.

&&

.PREV DISCUSSION...(ISSUED 401 AM CST Sat Mar 9 2019)
SHORT TERM...Today Through Sunday Night

Busy weather day across the region already unfolding as elevated
storms have been developing across areas just to the west of the
state. All observational platforms can be used to identify surface
to upper level features in play for today's setup.

Surface observations locally show a warm front that wreaked havoc on
short term temperature forecasting yesterday and last night
continuing to "waffle" from just north of Mena to Arkadelphia to
between Pine Bluff and Monticello, with drizzle and significantly
reduced vsby to the north. Further west, observations clearly show a
990mb surface low over southeast Colorado with a strong cold
front trailing to its south.

GOES16 IR satellite data shows the H500 trough lifting northeast
across the Southern to Central Plains. This same imagery shows
abundant moisture streaming northward to Minnesota and cooling
cloud tops from TS activity over OK/KS.

Anyway, all of this is to say that things are on track so to speak.
If anything, the timing has sped up which will lead to most of the
activity being just east of a Hardy to Little Rock to Camden line
by 18z. The main concerns haven't changed with hail continuing to
be the main threat across the north and west this morning, with a
transition to damaging winds and isolated tornadoes expected
later in the morning through the early afternoon. High resolution
CAM data continues to show high levels of LLWS as well as
increasing surface/elevated instability. The area of greatest
concern for the most widespread damaging wind threat and isolated
tornadoes continues to be across the southeast half of the state.
All of this activity is expected to be east of the MS river aoa
21z.

Other than the severe threat, as the surface low approaches the area
non-thunderstorm gradient winds will greatly increase. The main
focus for the strongest winds exists across northern Arkansas
southeastward across the Delta. Expect winds to slack off after
sunset with surface high pressure building in and cooler air
spreading across the state. Most of Sunday should be dry, but light
rain is expected to move in from the west during the evening and
overnight hours.

LONG TERM...Monday Through Friday

The period will begin with a large area of high pressure from the
Ohio Valley to the southeast states. That will keep much of the
state dry on Monday, with seasonal temperatures in the forecast.
Meanwhile, a storm system aloft will dig toward Baja California,
with a deep southerly flow developing in the southern Plains. This
could result in a few showers in southern sections of the state by
Monday afternoon/evening.

On Tuesday/Wednesday, the system will head this way, with a warming
trend in the forecast. There will be chances of showers on Tuesday
in northern/western Arkansas. Showers will become widespread on
Wednesday, with areas of heavy rain expected. Isolated thunderstorms
will be possible as well. As far as severe weather, instability
looks marginal at this point, but will keep an eye on the situation.

Some showers will linger in the southeast half of the state on
Thursday, with drier/slightly cooler air arriving on Friday.
Temperatures will be back to seasonal to end the period.

&&

.LZK Watches/Warnings/Advisories...
Dense Fog Advisory until 6 AM CST early this morning FOR
Arkansas-Baxter-Boone-Cleburne-Conway-Faulkner-Fulton-Garland-
Grant-Hot Spring-Independence-Izard-Jackson-Jefferson-Johnson-
Lawrence-Logan-Lonoke-Marion-Monroe-Montgomery-Newton-Perry-Polk-
Pope-Prairie-Pulaski-Randolph-Saline-Scott-Searcy-Sharp-Stone-
Van Buren-White-Woodruff-Yell.

Wind Advisory from 10 AM this morning to 6 PM CST this evening
FOR Arkansas-Baxter-Boone-Cleburne-Fulton-Independence-Izard-
Jackson-Lawrence-Marion-Monroe-Newton-Prairie-Randolph-Searcy-
Sharp-Stone-Van Buren-White-Woodruff.

&&

Aviation...67

Hazardous weather outlook, Mar 9, 4:20 AM CST, 6 hours 37 minutes before

Hazardous Weather Outlook
National Weather Service Little Rock AR
420 AM CST Sat Mar 9 2019

ARZ003>008-012>017-021>025-030>034-037>047-052>057-062>069-101100-
Boone-Marion-Baxter-Fulton-Sharp-Randolph-Newton-Searcy-Stone-
Izard-Independence-Lawrence-Johnson-Pope-Van Buren-Cleburne-
Jackson-Logan-Conway-Faulkner-White-Woodruff-Scott-Yell-Perry-
Polk-Montgomery-Garland-Saline-Pulaski-Lonoke-Prairie-Monroe-Pike-
Clark-Hot Spring-Grant-Jefferson-Arkansas-Dallas-Cleveland-
Lincoln-Desha-Ouachita-Calhoun-Bradley-Drew-
420 AM CST Sat Mar 9 2019

This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for a Large Part of Arkansas.

.DAY ONE...Today and Tonight

Areas of dense fog will reduce visibilities to less than a half of
mile across much of northern and central Arkansas through Saturday
morning.

Thunderstorms, some of which may be severe, will be possible
across western and northern portions of the state Saturday
morning. The main threat with these storms would be large hail.
Additional strong to severe thunderstorms will be possible across
the state through the early afternoon hours.

At this time, the greatest threat for severe thunderstorms during
the day Saturday will be across the southeast half of the state.
Damaging winds and a few tornadoes will be the primary hazards
from later in the morning through early afternoon. Strong south
to southwesterly winds will also be seen on Saturday, ahead of an
approaching cold front. Non-thunderstorm wind gusts could exceed
40 mph in some places.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Sunday Through Friday

Showers and thunderstorms will spread across the region on
Wednesday, with areas of heavy rain expected. Some storms may be
strong as well.

Through Wednesday, parts of the state could pick up two to three
inches of rain. This could worsen ongoing river flooding.

.Spotter Information Statement...

Spotter Activation May Be Needed Through Saturday Afternoon.

&&

Visit NWS Little Rock on the web. Go to http://weather.gov/lzk.

67/46

In the hours before

Local storm report, Mar 9, 8:35 AM CST, 2 hours 22 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
835 AM CST SAT MAR 9 2019

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0745 AM     TSTM WND DMG     KNOXVILLE               35.38N 93.36W
03/09/2019                   JOHNSON            AR   EMERGENCY MNGR

            TREES DOWN IN KNOXVILLE. EMERGENCY MANAGER REPORTS DAMAGE
            CONSISTENT WITH 60 MPH WINDS.

&&

JGOUDS

Local storm report, Mar 9, 9:15 AM CST, 1 hour 42 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
915 AM CST SAT MAR 9 2019

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0755 AM     TSTM WND DMG     3 N DOVER               35.45N 93.11W
03/09/2019                   POPE               AR   SOCIAL MEDIA

            TREE DOWN AND TRUCK BLOWN OFF THE ROAD NORTH OF DOVER.
            ALSO A REPORT OF A SHED BLOWN ONTO A CAR AND A TREE
            LEANING OVER A HOUSE.

&&

JGOUDS

Local storm report, Mar 9, 9:44 AM CST, 1 hour 13 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
944 AM CST SAT MAR 9 2019

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0920 AM     TSTM WND GST     VILONIA                 35.08N 92.21W
03/09/2019  E60 MPH          FAULKNER           AR   PUBLIC

            PUBLIC REPORTS OF WIND GUSTS UP TO 60 MPH.

&&

JGOUDS

Local storm report, Mar 9, 9:46 AM CST, 1 hour 11 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
946 AM CST SAT MAR 9 2019

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0810 AM     TSTM WND DMG     CADDO GAP               34.40N 93.62W
03/09/2019                   MONTGOMERY         AR   SOCIAL MEDIA

            TRACTOR SHED DESTROYED IN CADDO GAP.

&&

JGOUDS

Local storm report, Mar 9, 10:23 AM CST, 34 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
1023 AM CST SAT MAR 9 2019

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

1011 AM     TSTM WND DMG     2 E CATO                34.93N 92.23W
03/09/2019                   PULASKI            AR   AMATEUR RADIO

            SMALL LIMBS REPORTED DOWN. WINDS ESTIMATED TO BE 50 MPH.

&&

JGOUDS

Local storm report, Mar 9, 10:52 AM CST, 5 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
1052 AM CST SAT MAR 9 2019

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

1042 AM     TSTM WND DMG     2 E ALICIA              35.89N 91.05W
03/09/2019                   LAWRENCE           AR   911 CALL CENTER

            ROAD SIGNS BLOWN DOWN.

&&

JGOUDS

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), 12:00Z

5.0 hours before the tornado, 160 km from the path. March 9, 2019.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 313 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -148 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 477 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 61 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 50 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 313 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 287 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 3.7
0-3 km lapse rate: 1.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Little Rock, AR (KBYH), 00:00Z

7.0 hours after it, 160 km from the path. March 10, 2019.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.

Hodograph

Mixed-layer CAPE: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -85697 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 3101 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 56 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 149 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 174 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0
0-3 km lapse rate: 6.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Stuttgart (Awos) (SGT), 11 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)	Temp (°F)	Dew point (°F)	Wind	Gust (kt)	Pressure (mb)	Weather
00:00 UTC

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

The radar

The Little Rock radar (KLZK), 57 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 16:59 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.

This ground now

The live radar over the track Every 2019 tornado in Arkansas Every tornado in Arkansas since 1950 Warnings in force in Arkansas now The forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of March 9, 2019

11 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
March 9	7:38 AM CST	EF0	Dallas, TX	1.7	100		$10,000
March 9	10:24 AM CST	EF1	Pulaski, AR	6.3	150	2	$160,000
March 9	10:45 AM CST	EF1	Caddo Parish, LA	8.5	100		$125,000
March 9	10:48 AM CST	EF1	Lonoke, AR	10.8	300		$310,000
March 9	11:13 AM CST	EF1	Bossier Parish, LA	2.9	100		$25,000
March 9	11:24 AM CST	EF1	Webster Parish, LA	0.8	75		$150,000
March 9	2:31 PM CST	EF0	Tippah, MS	0.0	50
March 9	2:36 PM CST	EF0	Tippah, MS	3.1	100		$250,000
March 9	3:26 PM CST	EF0	Hardin, TN	0.3	50
March 9	5:16 PM CST	EF1	Tishomingo, MS	2.2	250		$1.5 million
March 9	5:17 PM CST	EF0	Montgomery, MS	0.4	25		$7,000

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.