EF2 tornado, Rose Hill, Arkansas, March 27, 2021

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 mph

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

3. EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

March 27, 2021

Touchdown

10:22 PM CDT (03:22 UTC)

Lifted

10:25 PM CDT (03:25 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

1.6 miles (2.6 km)

Path width

400 yards (366 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$300,000

County

Drew County

Touchdown point

33.666, -91.808

Lift-off point

33.677, -91.785

Record number

2103272122-01

17 damage points were recorded along this path by 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.

• The beginning of the damage path.
• Several large trees uprooted onto a home.
• Several trees uprooted, some upon homes
• Uprooted tree fell onto and destroyed a well built outbuilding.

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

It was was repeat performance on March 25th. Just like the 17th, there was another high risk of severe storms, with a tornado outbreak expected just to the east of Arkansas. We dealt with hail from southwest into central portions of the state from the evening of the 24th into the wee hours of the 25th. Golf ball size hail was reported near Dierks (Howard County), with half dollar size stones at Foreman (Little River County) and west of Lono (Hot Spring County). After the hail, here came areas of heavy rain.||On the 27th, it was our turn. It sure felt like tornadoes by 400 pm CDT, with temperatures well into the 70s to lower 80s (warm) in southern and eastern Arkansas. Dewpoints were in the mid and upper 60s (moist). By that time, thunderstorms were just starting to flare up in the south/east. From there, storms took off and continued well into the evening.||Between 530 pm and 730 pm CDT, there was three inch diameter hail (slightly larger than baseballs) at South Bend (Lonoke County), baseball size hail at Gurdon and Whelen Springs (both in Clark County), lime size hail at Newport (Jackson County) and Stuttgart (Arkansas County), golf ball size hail at Galloway (Pulaski County), and half dollar size hail at Furlow (Lonoke County). Ping pong balls pelted Camden (Ouachita County) at 900 pm CDT.||Trees were downed by thunderstorm winds near Princeton (Dallas County), Stephens (Ouachita County), and Woodberry (Calhoun County).||Two storms in the southeast were monitored closely as both exhibited strong rotation. One of the storms dropped a tornado (rated EF2/19 mile track) from Reydell (Jefferson County) to four miles east-southeast of DeWitt (Arkansas County). The tornado lasted for a half hour (823 pm to 854 pm CDT).||Witnesses reported the tornado, and video was captured and shared through social media. The National Weather Service visited the affected area, with the most damage at a rice production plant. Metal was torn off of buildings and grain bins, a roof collapsed, and a shop was destroyed. Thirty or so utility poles were snapped.||Just before 1030 pm CDT, a short-lived tornado (rated EF2) hit a few miles north of Monticello (Drew County). Several structures had roof damage, and multiple trucks at a construction company were tossed into a nearby field. Big trees were also uprooted.

The tornado started just southwest of the intersection of US-425 and state highway 35 off of Kays Lane where some tree limbs were snapped or trees uprooted. Damage to roofs was also noted in this neighborhood. The most significant damage was on the east side of US-425, where multiple construction company trucks were tossed into a field. The tornado continued northeast uprooting additional trees, then lifting near the intersection of Rose Hill Cutoff Road and State Highway 83.

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

25 minutes of warning. NWS LZK issued a tornado warning for this county at 02:57 UTC, 25 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:25 UTC and running to 04:00 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 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 01:04 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.

Monticello (LLQ), 6 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), 136 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:20 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 2021 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are

18 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.