EF1 tornado, Lake Conway to Olmstead, Arkansas, April 11, 2022

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

April 11, 2022

Touchdown

8:07 PM CDT (01:07 UTC)

Lifted

8:18 PM CDT (01:18 UTC)

On the ground

11 minutes

Path length

7.8 miles (12.6 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Crop damage

$7,000

Counties

Pulaski and Faulkner counties

Touchdown point

34.955, -92.349

Lift-off point

34.932, -92.215

Record number

2204111907-01

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 EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 94 mph.

• Tree trunk split off main tree.
• Small tree limbs down, some which knocked down powerline
• Tree limb fell onto a truck. A trampoline blew across Batesville Pike into a ditch.
• Tree uprooted, facing north.

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

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 in the northern edge of Camp Robinson Army Base just southeast of the intersection of AR Hwy 89 and Clinton Rd., evident in areal footage. The tornado traveled generally east-southeast, mainly uprooting trees and blowing down tree limbs. This tornado crossed Cato Rd. north of the community of Cato, uprooting more trees. The tornado lifted near the intersection of Batesville Pike and Fortson Rd. Sporadic wind damage was noted south of this tornado, likely due to the rear flank downdraft winds over 60 mph.

This tornado continued into Pulaski county from Faulkner county causing mainly tree damage. The tornado crossed Cato Rd. north of the Community of Cato, uprooting trees. The tornado lifted near the intersection of Batesville Pike and Fortson Rd. Sporadic wind damage was noted south of this tornado, likely due to rear flank downdraft winds over 60 mph. Also, the Little Rock Air Force Base Observer reported a tornado northwest of the base and their surface observation included three quarter inch hail.

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

9 minutes of warning. NWS LZK issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:58 UTC, 9 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:31 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 00:59 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.

The Little Rock radar (KLZK), 12 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:04 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 2022 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are

4 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.