EF0 tornado, Ravenden Spgs, Arkansas, May 29, 2019

1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

   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 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

EF0

Date

May 29, 2019

Touchdown

5:16 PM CDT (22:16 UTC)

Lifted

5:20 PM CDT (22:20 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

0.6 miles (1.0 km)

Path width

75 yards (69 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$40,000

County

Randolph County

Touchdown point

36.272, -91.229

Lift-off point

36.275, -91.218

Record number

1905291616-01

2 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LZK, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 80 mph.

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

There was one more round of active weather to mention on the 29th. There was a tremendous amount of energy available (heat/humidity), and thunderstorms were a sure thing during the afternoon.||Golf ball size hail occurred near Concord (Cleburne County), with half dollar size stones at Clinton (Van Buren County). A 67 mph gust was measured at Siloam Springs (Benton County). Trees were downed at Conway and Vilonia (both in Faulkner County), near Salem (Saline County), and around Maynard (Randolph County). A few miles south of Ravenden Springs (Randolph County), a weak tornado (rated EF0) damaged an outbuilding and a mobile home. A lightning strike set a home on fire just north of Bryant (Saline County). Finally, over four inches of rain was measured near Clinton (Van Buren County), and from Little Rock (Pulaski County) to Benton (Saline County). Roads were flooded and had to be barricaded in some cases.

On the evening of May 29, 2019, a brief EF-0 tornado moved east northeast from Wyatt Road over Conrad Trail along an aprroximately six tenths of a mile track. A large metal outbuilding was partially destroyed with tin blown downwind and twisted around trees, fences, and another object. A mobile home was also damaged sustaining roof damage and with several large trees downed near the property. The damage was consistent with 80 mph peak winds and the maximum width was 75 yards. This occurred approximately 3 miles south of Ravenden Springs. This is the 22nd tornado across Arkansas for 2019.

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.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 22:15 UTC and running to 00:38 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 19:59 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.

Walnut Ridge (Awos) (ARG), 31 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 160 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:13 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

40 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.