EF1 tornado, Cosgrove to Leland, 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

3:36 AM CST (09:36 UTC)

Lifted

3:37 AM CST (09:37 UTC)

On the ground

1 minutes

Path length

0.2 miles (0.3 km)

Path width

15 yards (14 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$110,000

County

Chicot County

Touchdown point

33.303, -91.284

Lift-off point

33.302, -91.282

Record number

2001110336-01

55 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS JAN and NWS LZK, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 120 mph.

• I have no way to explain what happened here, damage to only one silo, ripped out of the ground, surrounding buildings largely untouched... brief tornado?
• Debris lifted and blown downwind several hundred yards.
• small tornado through the tree line.
• 5 poles broken, more tilted. Lines down on a wider swath.

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 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 in Ashley County. Total path length was 20.51 miles. Maximum estimated winds in Chicot County were 88 mph, but 130 mph winds were estimated in Ashley County.

This tornado began on the southeast side of the Lake Village Municipal Airport on Airport Road where it rolled and almost destroyed a manufactured home. It is at Airport Road where one injury was reported due to a tree falling on a home. It then moved east-northeast to US Highway 278, breaking 8 to 10 wooden electrical poles. It moved to the northeast of the Lake Village community where it continued to knock down wooden electrical poles and began to uproot and snap large branches from softwood trees along North Lakeshore Drive and along the shore of Lake Chicot. The Lake Village Country Club along North Lakeshore Drive took damage to its roof on the backside. In addition, on the backside of the Country Club, a nearby forested area had multiple snapped large hardwood tree limbs in addition to the tin roof of a metal storage building peeled completely off. Also along North Lakeshore Drive, multiple trees were uprooted and snapped at a trailer park, where one trailer was blown across the street to near the bottom of Lake Chicot. As the tornado continued to track northeast, it moved along AR Highway 144, uprooting trees and snapping large hardwood limbs. Five electrical power poles were downed along Highway 144, as well as another trailer getting rolled to near the bottom of Lake Chicot. The tornado continued to snap large limbs and uproot hardwood trees as it moved across Pecan Ridge Drive. The tornado continued to just north of Levee Road where it lifted, but not before a few uprooting hardwood trees and snapping small to medium sized limbs. It is important to note that a large swath of severe wind speeds resulted in widespread downed trees on Lakehall Road, Sunnyside Road, Stuart Island Road and at the Lake Chicot State Park. Several of these trees fell on power lines causing outages to a large portion of the Lake Village community. This tornado then continued east-northeast across the MS River to across Lake Ferguson in Washington County, where the second floor was blown off of a lake house on South Ferguson Road. In addition, a high concentration of snapped and uprooted hardwood trees was noted on the backside of the lakehouse on South Ferguson Road, thus resulting in the upgraded EF-2 rating. It continued to move east to Highway 1 North where it snapped small to large hardwood tree limbs before dissipating. Estimated peak wind with this tornado was 127 mph. Max width was 850 yards. Total path length was 17.81 miles.

A brief tornado developed near US Highway 65/US Highway 278 near Arkansas Highway 159. It collapsed the center of a metal building where only one side and the front of the building were left standing. On the backside, a shed was completely destroyed. The tornado then moved east across the highway to the Delta Spindle Building, a metal warehouse building. Here, some windows were blown out and portions of the tin roof were peeled off and blew into the tree line on the backside of the business. In addition, the tornado broke a wooden power pole in the parking lot of the Delta Spindle Building before lifting. Maximum peak winds were estimated at 99 mph.

This tornado began on the southeast side of the Lake Village Municipal Airport on Airport Road where it rolled and almost destroyed a manufactured home. It is at Airport Road where one injury was reported due to a tree falling on a home. It then moved east-northeast to US Highway 278, breaking 8 to 10 wooden electrical poles. It moved to the northeast of the Lake Village community where it continued to knock down wooden electrical poles and began to uproot and snap large branches from softwood trees along North Lakeshore Drive and along the shore of Lake Chicot. The Lake Village Country Club along North Lakeshore Drive took damage to its roof on the backside. In addition, on the backside of the Country Club, a nearby forested area had multiple snapped large hardwood tree limbs in addition to the tin roof of a metal storage building peeled completely off. Also along North Lakeshore Drive, multiple trees were uprooted and snapped at a trailer park, where one trailer was blown across the street to near the bottom of Lake Chicot. As the tornado continued to track northeast, it moved along AR Highway 144, uprooting trees and snapping large hardwood limbs. Five electrical power poles were downed along Highway 144, as well as another trailer getting rolled to near the bottom of Lake Chicot. The tornado continued to snap large limbs and uproot hardwood trees as it moved across Pecan Ridge Drive. The tornado continued to just north of Levee Road where it lifted, but not before a few uprooting hardwood trees and snapping small to medium sized limbs. It is important to note that a large swath of severe wind speeds resulted in widespread downed trees on Lakehall Road, Sunnyside Road, Stuart Island Road and at the Lake Chicot State Park. Several of these trees fell on power lines causing outages to a large portion of the Lake Village community. This tornado then continued east-northeast across the MS River to across Lake Ferguson in Washington County, where the second floor was blown off of a lake house on South Ferguson Road. In addition, a high concentration of snapped and uprooted hardwood trees was noted on the backside of the lakehouse on South Ferguson Road, thus resulting in the upgraded EF-2 rating. It continued to move east to Highway 1 North where it snapped small to large hardwood tree limbs before dissipating. Estimated peak wind with this tornado was 127 mph. Max width was 850 yards. Total path length was 17.81 miles.

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

45 minutes of warning. NWS JAN issued a tornado warning for this county at 08:51 UTC, 45 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 09:45 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. 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 Jackson/Brandon,MS radar (KDGX), 166 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 09:34 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.