EF1 tornado, Terrytown to Olmstead, Arkansas, May 2, 2019

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 mphthis tornado

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. 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.

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

EF1

Date

May 2, 2019

Touchdown

12:37 PM CDT (17:37 UTC)

Lifted

12:41 PM CDT (17:41 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

1.5 miles (2.4 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$100,000

Crop damage

$30,000

County

Pulaski County

Touchdown point

34.651, -92.406

Lift-off point

34.671, -92.398

Record number

1905021137-01

27 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 100 mph.

• tree lying along convergent damage path

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

Areas of heavy rainfall were observed as a complex of showers and a few thunderstorms moved across central sections of Arkansas. Several inches of rain fell rather quickly, causing flash flooding. As this area of thunderstorms moved into the Little Rock Metro area, these thunderstorms strengthened, causing several weak tornadoes to touch down across central portions of the state. In addition to damage caused by tornadoes, some downburst winds were also observed.

This tornado formed just east of I-30, east of exit 128, where several trees were either uprooted or limbs blown down. Damage was observed to several businesses along the track, also blowing over tractor trailers near the I-30/I-40 Interchange. The tornado crossed I-30 near this same area, continuing to blow down trees and causing some damage to other buildings. This tornado lifted near Baseline Road.

This tornado formed just northeast of the National Weather Service where some small limbs were snapped off between Wayside Drive and Batesville Pike. As this tornado moved north, several trees were uprooted along Kellogg Acres Road near Windstone Drive, blocking the road and taking down power lines. Several more trees were either snapped or uprooted as the tornado moved north along Batesville Pike. The center of the tornado passed near the intersection of Batesville Pike and Jacksonville-Cato Road were some minor roof damage was noted. This tornado lifted near the intersection of Batesville Pike and Bridge Creek Road. Most of the damage along this track was uprooted trees, and trees falling onto homes or power lines.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 16:19 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.

Benton (SUZ), 11 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Little Rock radar (KLZK), 23 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 17:36 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 2019 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are

15 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.