EF1 tornado, Finch to Schug, Arkansas, May 26, 2024

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

May 26, 2024

Touchdown

11:24 PM CDT (04:24 UTC)

Lifted

11:27 PM CDT (04:27 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

1.3 miles (2.0 km)

Path width

75 yards (69 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$100,000

County

Greene County

Touchdown point

35.967, -90.472

Lift-off point

35.963, -90.450

Record number

2405262224-01

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

• Part of stockade fence down
• Fiberglass light pole snapped at the base.
• Fiberglass light pole snapped and privacy fence was removed from property
• Nearby power lines not damaged.

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

A shortwave trough pushed into the Mid-South during the early morning hours. A very moist and unstable air mass provided plenty of fuel for the trough to initiate convection. The atmosphere harnessed steep mid-level lapse rates, plentiful instability, around 50 kts of effective shear. and decent helicity. This type of atmosphere supported all weather hazards. Recent heavy rainfall events also heightened a flood threat. The severe threat continued into the next day as a line of storms rolled through just after midnight into the next day.

The tornado began along County Road 735 in Paragould, AR, resulting in a few trees uprooted and snapped. Damage was also noted to a carport which had fallen on a vehicle with only minor roof damage to the home. The tornado continued to move east, crossing Highway 412 and producing additional tree damage. Wind speeds within the tornado intensified as it approached Spring Grove Road where the first signs of significant structural damage were noted to a home. A couple of homes suffered minor roof damage along Pruetts Chapel Road with further intensification noted on Rockingchair Road and Sandy Lane where significant roof damage occurred to a residence and a couple of outbuildings were completely destroyed. Damage became more sporadic as the tornado moved east along Pruetts Chapel Road, but additional significant damage to homes and trees was noted on South 34th Street and Sandwedge Drive, along Enclave Circle, and on Carroll Road. The maximum intensity of the tornado was likely in this area. One home lost its entire roof and widespread tree damage with a clear path was noted nearby. The tornado quickly weakened as it moved to the east with the last damage noted just to the west of Highway 49 north of Mockingbird Lane. Peak winds were estimated at 120 mph.

This tornado developed in far southern Greene County, AR, just east of the intersection of County Road 931 and Craighead County Road 989 on the Greene-Craighead County line. The first sign of damage was some farm equipment blown into an open field. Two homes were damaged just north of County Road 931, one significantly. The first home along County Road 931 suffered minor exterior damage and a tree was snapped in its front yard. More significant damage occurred to the house just to the east near the intersection of 931 and Craighead County Road 991, where much of the roof was removed and a nearby outbuilding was completely destroyed. In addition, exterior walls from an add-on room partially collapsed. Several power lines were also down along County Road 931 as the tornado crossed into extreme northern Craighead County. Mostly tree damage was noted in Craighead County just south of Route 931 with the tornado lifting in an open field to the west of Highway 135. Peak winds were estimated at 105 mph.

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

18 minutes of warning. NWS MEG issued a tornado warning for this county at 04:06 UTC, 18 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 04:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 03:39 UTC and running to 04:51 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 00:57 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.

Jonesboro (JBR), 22 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 87 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 04:24 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 2024 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are

69 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 70 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.