EF0 tornado, Five Forks to Wabbaseka, Arkansas, March 3, 2023

1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

   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 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

EF0

Date

March 3, 2023

Touchdown

1:57 AM CST (07:57 UTC)

Lifted

1:58 AM CST (07:58 UTC)

On the ground

1 minutes

Path length

0.7 miles (1.1 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Jefferson County

Touchdown point

34.305, -91.770

Lift-off point

34.313, -91.762

Record number

2303030157-01

March certainly roared in like a lion across the state with back to back severe weather events on March 1st and 2nd into the 3rd. Storms on these days led to a few tornadoes as well as hail as large as 3 inches in diameter. Very heavy rainfall was noted across the area as well which led to flash flooding and widespread river flooding. One fatality occurred because of the flooding in Scott County on March 2nd. ||As the air heated up, and the atmosphere destabilized, severe thunderstorms were triggered by the front during the late afternoon and evening. The storms produced very large hail, and also caused spotty wind damage. Hail slightly larger than baseballs was reported at Woodlawn (Cleveland County), with ping pong ball size stones near Benton (Saline County) and west of Stuttgart (Arkansas County), and half dollar size hail a few miles north of Norman (Montgomery County). At Rison (Cleveland County), wind gusts up to 85 mph ripped the roof off of a church and a strip mall. Part of a brick facade was removed from latter structure. Trees were also toppled, with one tree blocking Highway 79.||The front on the 1st advanced toward the Louisiana border and stalled. The front was followed by cooler air. On the 2nd, all eyes were on a powerful storm system in the southern Rockies. In response to the approaching system, the front began lifting back to the north. By 400 pm CST, the front cleared the southern counties, and temperatures warmed into the 70s. However, readings north of Little Rock (Pulaski County) were mostly in the 50s.||As the system neared in the late afternoon, it interacted with the front and round two of thunderstorms commenced from central/northeast Texas into southeast Oklahoma. Eventually, storms congealed into a line and raced toward Arkansas. As the storms progressed into the state after dark, it was clear that severe weather (including tornadoes) was most likely south of the front (in mild air), with mainly heavy to excessive rain farther north (where cooler conditions existed).||Between 900 pm and 1000 pm CST, trees were pushed over by straight-line winds west of Y City (Scott County). About this time, rain was coming down in buckets across Scott and Yell Counties, and numerous roads were flooded/about to flood. At Boles (Scott County), there was a report of people surrounded by water and unable to leave their home.||As the night wore on, the Poteau River at Cauthron (Scott County) rose 15 feet in a hurry. The same swollen river swept a pickup truck off of Highway 80 on the east side of Waldron (Scott County). Tragically, the driver (a grandfather trying to visit his grandson) drowned. A traffic camera (provided by the Arkansas Department of Transportation) along Highway 71 south of Boles (Scott County) showed the Fourche La Fave River almost as high as the bridge over the tributary. Eventually, the pavement was inundated and became impassible. As roads turned into lakes, a vehicle stalled at Parks (Scott County), and two individuals were rescued. Similar rescues were ongoing in Yell County, and one person was transported from Corinth to a hospital in Danville (both in Yell County).||Shortly before 1100 pm CST, a tornado (rated EF2) was spawned just to the north of Kirby (Pike County). A few mobile homes were heavily damaged (resulting in three injuries). One mobile home was rolled and obliterated. Miraculously, two of the four occupants only had minor injuries. Several homes suffered roof damage, and two chicken houses were destroyed.||A couple of hours later, thunderstorm winds downed/snapped trees along Highway 229 about four miles north of Carthage (Dallas County). A few minutes before 200 am CST on the 3rd, a brief weak tornado (rated EF0) touched down in open fields east of Altheimer (Jefferson County). The tornado took out some trees along Highway 58.||Elsewhere, a weak tornado (rated EF1) was identified west of Fouke (Miller County). More trees were blown down southwest of Hope (Hempstead County) and northeast of Nashville (Howard County). Wind gusts as high as 70 to 80 mph roughed up barns, outbuildings, and signs between Damascus (Faulkner/Van Buren Counties) and Rose Bud (White County). A recreational vehicle was crushed by a fallen tree at Enola (Faulkner County).||As far as rain, there was a lot of it. Two to more than four inches of rain was common across the northern half of the state in the twenty four hour period ending at 600 am CST on the 3rd. Waldron (Scott County) had 4.90 inches of precipitation, with 4.88 inches at Blue Mountain Dam (Yell County), 4.72 inches at Danville (Yell County), 4.45 inches at Abbott (Scott County), 4.22 inches at Dardanelle (Yell County), 3.87 inches at Booneville (Logan County), 3.70 inches at Mountain View (Stone County), 3.65 inches at Gilbert (Searcy County), 3.57 inches at Calico Rock (Izard County), 3.54 inches at Mena (Polk County), 3.50 inches at Damascus (Van Buren County), 3.47 inches at Marshall (Searcy County) and Morrilton (Conway County), and 3.40 inches at Conway (Faulkner County).||Given so much rain, there was a landslide near the intersection of Highways 103 and 215 west of Oark (Johnson County). Before dawn on the 3rd, the Spring River at Hardy (Sharp County) went up six feet in two hours, was in danger of reaching a level of 14 feet (four feet above the flood stage). As a precaution, folks in homes near the river were asked to evacuate. ||The rain on the 2nd/early on the 3rd was in addition to the precipitation that fell on the 1st, especially from central into southeast Arkansas. In this part of the state, two or more inches of liquid was measured in places. This included Cane Creek State Park (Lincoln County), Keo (Lonoke County), Marianna (Lee County), Pine Bluff (Jefferson County), Sheridan (Grant County), and Stuttgart (Arkansas County).||On the 3rd, there was moderate to major flooding on the Petit Jean River, and minor to moderate flooding on the Black, Cache, Fourche La Fave, Little Red, Ouachita, Saline, Spring, and White Rivers. Concerns were growing that river levels could go even higher if a wet pattern continued into early spring.

The tornado mostly occurred over open fields, but there was|tree damage along Highway 58 east of Altheimer. This tornado|was rated an EF0 with estimated peak winds of 75 mph.

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

8 minutes of warning. NWS LZK issued a tornado warning for this county at 07:49 UTC, 8 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 08:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 05:51 UTC and running to 09:30 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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 05:39 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.

Pine Bluff/Grider (PBF), 21 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), 74 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 07:56 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 2023 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are

21 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.