EF1 tornado, Lake Georgia Pacific to Montrose, Arkansas, January 11, 2020

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

January 11, 2020

Touchdown

2:55 AM CST (08:55 UTC)

Lifted

3:08 AM CST (09:08 UTC)

On the ground

13 minutes

Path length

10.3 miles (16.6 km)

Path width

800 yards (732 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$400,000

County

Ashley County

Touchdown point

33.176, -91.944

Lift-off point

33.184, -91.766

Record number

2001110255-01

270 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS JAN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 112 mph.

• 3 builds roof dog, barn destroyed, trees down
• barn damaged and tree damage to part of mobile home roof.
• tree on a home, other uprooted trees
• heavy tree damage, old church building roof damage, she’d destroyed. power lines down

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

A warm, moist airmass was in place across the region ahead of a potent January weather system. Ample wind energy also was present, which not only helped bring damaging winds with severe storms but also allowed for strong gradient winds to occur ahead of an eastward advancing squall line. Severe weather occurred in the early morning hours of January 11th and continued across the ArkLaMiss region before noon, resulting in widespread wind damage as well as some tornadoes.

This tornado started in the swamp area on the eastern side of Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge and tracked roughly due east and dissipated just after crossing Hancock Road. At the start, a few trees were damaged and that continued as the tornado tracked along Ashley 299 Road. Some trees were uprooted along this part of the path. The tornado intensified as it neared Ashley 14 Road and widened. Numerous trees were uprooted and snapped. Several outbuildings were damaged along with other minor damage to some homes with shingles off. Along a portion of Ashley 14 Road, heavy tree damage was noted along with several homes having trees on them. Numerous power lines were down as well. The tornado then weakened some with mostly minor type tree damage. Intensity increased again as it crossed Hancock Road. Here Beulahland Church sustained moderate roof damage along with two other homes having roof damage. Several power lines and poles were down as well. The tornado quickly dissipated just east of Hancock Road. Maximum peak winds were estimated at 108 mph.

This tornado started just west of Highway 133 near Ashley 181 Road and traveled roughly eastward to just east of Highway 425 where it dissipated north of Hamburg. At the start, scattered trees were damaged. As the tornado approached Highway 133, intensity increased and more were snapped and uprooted. A few power lines were down as well. Along Highway 133, two areas of focused damage were noted. One area had a few dozen trees uprooted and one large tree was on a mobile home. The other area was at the Trinity Church, where some roof damage occurred to the main building and the covered walkway was blown away. Numerous trees were uprooted and snapped along Ashley 497 Road and the Egypt Church building sustained damage. The large front covering was destroyed and the roof has some damage. Along Ashley 470 Road, heavy tree damage was noted along with several power lines down. Some homes had minor roof damage here as well as along Ashley 471 Road. Uprooted and snapped trees continued along the path. As the the tornado crossed Highway 189, a strong surge was noted on the north side of the path where a focused corridor of trees were damaged. Here a couple of trees were blown down on a mobile home. On the southern side of the path, at the intersection of Ashley 492 Road, several homes sustained roof damage with tin and insulation thrown. Trees were down here as well. The tornado continued across a wooded area where it crossed Ashley 491 Road, then Highway 425 before dissipating just east of Highway 425. There was one indirect injury which occurred during clean up after the tornado. Maximum peak winds were estimated at 105 mph.

This tornado started just off Highway 133 and continued just east of north where it dissipated just before reaching Highway 8, southeast of Hamburg. At the start, just a few trees were uprooted, some of which took a power line down along Highway 133. The tornado increased in intensity and width as it crossed Binnis Loop Rd. More trees were uprooted or snapped and a couple of homes sustained some roof damage. One large shed was destroyed with fragments of the roof thrown across the road. The tornado traveled along Highway 52 for quite a while. Along this part of the path, numerous trees were uprooted and snapped. Some power lines and poles were down as well. Quite a bit of uprooted trees were noted on the south side of the country club. The tornado moved over the airport where one large hangar had roof damage and the back wall had panels blown out. As the tornado neared Highway 425, the center was to the north side of Highway 52 and continued to snap and uproot trees. As it crossed Highway 425, numerous trees were snapped and uprooted. Moving east-northeast, the tornado began to weaken and dissipated just after crossing Ashley 312 Road. Maximum peak winds were estimated at 100 mph.

This tornado started just northeast of Hamburg along Ashley 70 Road and tracked roughly 20 miles to just east of Montrose in Chicot County. Thousands of trees were uprooted and snapped along the path along with numerous power lines and poles downed. Some of the heaviest damage was to a mobile home just off Ashley 129 Road. The home was thrown 15 to 20 feet and destroyed. Another mobile home was destroyed along Ashley 128 Road. The tornado then crossed Highway 82 near Ashley 301 Road. Power poles were broken here and a tractor shed was heavily damaged. From this point, the tornado mostly paralleled Highway 82 or tracked along it. Many power lines were down along with poles. Just east of Ashley 912 Road, one wooden high tension segment had the top broken out. In the Snyder community, some homes sustained roof damage and had trees down on them. North of Highway 82, near Horseshoe Lake, a lot of hardwood trees were heavily damaged and there were three segments of the wooden high tension poles and lines taken out. The tornado continued roughly along Highway 82 toward Montrose. The strongest core of the tornado remained north of the highway and downed two more wooden high tension segments before Montrose and two more just north of town to the west of Highway 165. In the town of Montrose, numerous trees were damaged along with many homes having some degree of roof damage or a handful more with a tree on the home. Just east of Montrose, near the Chicot County line and north of Highway 82, a metal high tension pole segment was taken down which supported the highest wind estimate of 130 mph. The tornado dissipated near County Road 293 on the north side of Highway 82. Maximum width was 1000 yards. Total path length was 20.51 miles. Max winds were 130 mph.

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

4 minutes of warning. NWS JAN issued a tornado warning for this county at 08:51 UTC, 4 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 09:35 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 05:58 UTC and running to 11:51 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 Marginal Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 05:38 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 Little Rock radar (KLZK), 188 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 08:55 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 2020 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are

62 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 63 of them

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.