Tornadoes · United States · Arkansas · 2022

EF1 tornado, Scranton to Dublin, Arkansas, April 11, 2022

From Scranton to Dublin, this EF1 tornado ran 3.4 miles across Logan County on April 11, 2022, touching down at 6:33 PM CDT and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $85,000 of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  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.

The record

Rating
EF1
Date
April 11, 2022
Touchdown
6:33 PM CDT (23:33 UTC)
Lifted
6:44 PM CDT (23:44 UTC)
On the ground
11 minutes
Path length
3.4 miles (5.4 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$85,000
County
Logan County
Touchdown point
35.360, -93.510
Lift-off point
35.395, -93.468
Record number
2204111733-01

The damage survey

11 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 110 mph.

  • A very large , well-built barn had its roof and two walls completely removed and blown downwind
  • Very unhealthy tree uprooted.
  • Trees here were strafed with debris , many of the limbs snapped and debarked.
  • Two rows of chicken houses and several small grain/feed silos blown down.

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

What the Weather Service recorded

A strong storm system brought multiple rounds of severe weather that led to fairly widespread rainfall and eventually river flooding. One round of severe weather occurred on Monday, April 11th. Large, individual thunderstorms known as supercells developed along the Arkansas River valley of western Arkansas. As these storms slowly drifted east, they produced four tornadoes across Sebastian, Franklin and Logan Counties and hail as large as 4.5 in diameter across Logan County. Later in the evening, storms began to develop across central Arkansas and move generally eastward. Two storms caused the most widespread severe weather across central into eastern Arkansas during the evening hours of the 11th. The main storm of interest developed across Perry and Faulkner Counties and moved east southeastward toward Lonoke County. As this storm intensified it produced a tornado as well as 3 hail near Cabot. The other main storm developed over portions of Garland County and moved east across Saline County. Before weakening, it produced a swath of hail as large as golf balls from Hot Springs Village to Bryant. ||Ahead of a cold front that moved across the state on the 13th, additional rain and thunderstorms developed and moved across the state. Fairly widespread rain, some of which was heavy and led to flash flooding, and thunderstorms shifted east across the area on the 13th. A swath of heavy rain in excess of 2-4 inches occurred from portions of southwest to east central Arkansas as well as across northwest sections of the state. Sadly, one person died after a tree fell on a mobile home in Cleveland County on April 13th. On the same day, flash flooding claimed the life of a 70 year old woman in Carroll County when she attempted to cross a flooded low water crossing.

This tornado started east of Scranton, just southwest of the intersection of AR Hwy. 197 and Stoney Point Rd. Significant damage was observed to a metal barn building (worst damage here), along with roof damage to a mobile home. Several trees were snapped or uprooted in this area and just northeast. More tree damage was noted as the tornado moved northeast through some forest, snapping or uprooting many trees, crossing Cane Creek Recreation Rd. A small outbuilding was destroyed as the tornado crossed Tokalon Rd. The rest of the track was mainly tree damage until the tornado lifted just north of Dublin Rd. west of the Jones Rd. intersection.

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

The warnings

35 minutes of warning. NWS LZK issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:58 UTC, 35 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:31 UTC and running to 04:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
20:31 UTC04:00 UTCTornado WatchLZK
22:19 UTC23:00 UTCTornado WarningLZK
22:58 UTC23:45 UTCTornado WarningLZK
23:08 UTC00:00 UTCTornado WarningLZK
23:39 UTC00:12 UTCTornado WarningLZK
23:49 UTC00:30 UTCTornado WarningLZK
00:26 UTC00:53 UTCTornado WarningLZK

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 forecast that day

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 19:43 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 radar

The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 80 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:32 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.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
22:16 UTCHAIL 1.75CharlestonFranklin, ARRELAYED BY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT.
22:17 UTCTSTM WND DMGBloomerSebastian, ARROOF DAMAGE TO A RESIDENCE. MAY BE ASSOCIATED WITH A TORNADO.
22:17 UTCTORNADOBloomerSebastian, ARSTORM CHASER VIDEO OF A TORNADO NEAR BLOOMER. SOME EVIDENCE OF DEBRIS IN SAME LOCATION ON KSRX RADAR. TIME ESTIMATED VIA RADAR.
22:21 UTCHAIL 2.252 Se UrsulaFranklin, ARREPORT FROM MPING: HEN EGG+ (2.25 IN.).
22:22 UTCHAIL 2BloomerSebastian, ARTIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR. PIC RELAYED VIA TWITTER.
22:28 UTCHAIL 1.751 W RatcliffLogan, ARGOLFBALL SIZED HAIL WAS REPORTED ON THE LOGAN/FRANKLIN COUNTY LINE WEST OF RATCLIFF.
22:28 UTCHAIL 1.752 E BranchFranklin, ARRELAYED BY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT. REPORT FROM BRANCH FD ON HIGHWAY 22 AT THE FRANKLIN/LOGAN COUNTY LINE.
22:28 UTCHAIL 2.75BranchFranklin, ARPHOTO OF BASEBALL SIZED HAIL IN BRANCH RELAYED BY BROADCAST MEDIA.
22:29 UTCTORNADO2 E CharlestonFranklin, ARA TORNADO DAMAGED SEVERAL OUTBUILDINGS, DAMAGED A HOME, AND UPROOTED OR SNAPPED TREES.
22:30 UTCHAIL 2.75CharlestonFranklin, ARPHOTO RELAYED VIA TWITTER. HAIL POSED NEXT TO AN ACTUAL BASEBALL.
22:30 UTCHAIL 3CharlestonFranklin, ARPHOTO RELAYED VIA SOCIAL MEDIA. TIME ESTIMATED FROM EARLIER REPORTS.
22:44 UTCHAIL 1CaulksvilleLogan, ARQUARTER SIZED HAIL WAS REPORTED NORTH OF CAULKSVILLE.
22:44 UTCHAIL 13 Sse MegFranklin, ARPHOTO RELAYED VIA TWITTER. 4 MILES NORTH OF CAULKSVILLE.
22:46 UTCWALL CLOUDCaulksvilleLogan, AR
22:48 UTCHAIL 0.753 Nw VestaSebastian, ARREPORT FROM MPING: DIME (0.75 IN.).
23:20 UTCTORNADO2 Ssw CaulksvilleLogan, ARA BRIEF TORNADO WAS REPORTED SOUTHWEST OF CAULKSVILLE AND NORTHEAST OF CHISMVILLE. THE REPORT WAS RELAYED BY FRANKLIN COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT.
23:24 UTCHAIL 1.25CaulksvilleLogan, ARQUARTER TO HALF DOLLAR SIZED HAIL WAS REPORTED AT CAULKSVILLE. REPORT RELAYED BY FRANKLIN COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT.
23:31 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Sse ScrantonLogan, ARTREES WERE BLOWN DOWN ON HIGHWAY 109 NORTH OF HILLCREST LANE. POSSIBLE TORNADO.
23:32 UTCTORNADOScrantonLogan, ARA TORNADO WAS REPORTED AT SCRANTON. REPORT RELAYED BY LOGAN COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGER.
23:33 UTCTORNADO2 E ScrantonLogan, ARNWS SURVEY REVEALED THIS TORNADO STARTED EAST OF SCRANTON, JUST SW OF THE INTERSECTION OF AR HWY 197 AND STONEY POINT RD. SIG. DAMAGE WAS OBSERVED TO A METAL BARN, ALONG WITH ROOF DAMAGE TO A MOBILE HOME. SEVERAL TREES W
23:51 UTCHAIL 0.75SubiacoLogan, AR
23:54 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD1 Wsw HickeytownJohnson, ARA JOHNSON COUNTY DEPUTY REPORTED A FUNNEL CLOUD OVER THE WATER AT PINEY BAY.
00:03 UTCHAIL 1.75MidwayLogan, AR
00:08 UTCHAIL 2.57 W DelawareLogan, ARA STORM CHASER REPORTED TENNIS BALL SIZED HAIL. MULTIPLE STORM CHASERS HAD WINDSHIELDS DAMAGED.
00:15 UTCHAIL 4.5New BlaineLogan, ARBASEBALL TO SOFTBALL SIZED HAIL WAS REPORTED AT NEW BLAINE.
00:21 UTCHAIL 2.751 W DelawareLogan, AR

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2022 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 11, 2022

4 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 115:12 PM CDTEF1Sebastian, AR1.0140
April 115:23 PM CDTEF1Franklin, AR2.4200$25,000
April 117:11 PM CDTUnratedLeFlore, OK0.8100
April 118:07 PM CDTEF1Pulaski, AR7.8100

What this means

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.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.