EF1 tornado, Ravenden Spgs to Pocahontas Muni Arpt, 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

6:24 AM CDT (11:24 UTC)

Lifted

6:30 AM CDT (11:30 UTC)

On the ground

6 minutes

Path length

5.0 miles (8.0 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Randolph County

Touchdown point

36.328, -91.022

Lift-off point

36.352, -90.937

Record number

2405260524-01

51 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LZK and NWS PAH and NWS SGF, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 115 mph.

• Tree and light roof damage.
• Tree branches bent towards a convergent path, extremely narrow swath of damage, but appears to be tornado with signs of convergence and uplift. Nearby drain cover was lifted off of its resting place and moved, no evident strikes to drive this movement.
• Truck at least slightly lofted and rotated 90° and flipped before landing on its roof, crumbling the cab. No one in the vehicle when this happened. Left a few gouge marks in the parking lot surface.
• No additional damage found downstream of this point indicating the end of this tornado.

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

A couple long-tracked supercells moved across the northern two to three rows of counties during the predawn hours of the Memorial Day weekend. These storms triggered numerous tornadoes, some of which strong and long-lived, in addition to widespread straight-line wind damage.

The Ravenden Springs Tornado continued into Randolph County from Sharp |County, entering a heavily wooded forested area before crossing Bradford|Cemetery Road and entering another heavily forested area. The|tornado crossed near Baily Road and Upper James Creek Road|northwest of Ravenden Springs. The tornado snapped and twisted|many trees along an eastward path, crossing Lower James Creek|Road and Oak Ridge Road. The tornado dissipated east of Oak|Ridge Road in a forested area. This tornado tracked across mainly|rural and forested land. Tornado path was increased in length due|to additional reports and high resolution satellite imagery. This|tornado tracked across two counties was rated an EF1 with maximum estimated winds of 100 mph.

The Elevenpoint Tornado begin to the southeast of the|intersection at Oak Ridge Road and CC Road in a heavily forested|area. This tornado tracked to southeast before turning eastward,|crossing Lower Guntharp Road, then crossing Haas Cemetery Road.|The tornado snapped and uprooted numerous trees along the path.|Structural damage was limited to a few homes along Haas Cemetery|Road. The tornado dissipated just before reaching Highway 90 W|approximately 1.5 miles to the west of Elevenpoint. This tornado|was rated an EF1 with maximum estimated winds of 100 mph.

The Attica Tornado began west of the intersection of Clearview|Road and Mill Road 2 miles to the southwest of Attica. Numerous|trees were uprooted and snapped along the path as the tornado|tracked northeast, paralleling portions of Country Club Road, and|crossing Highway 251 just south of Attica by less than 1 mile.|The tornado entered a heavily forested area, downing many trees|east of Highway 251, before crossing Bellview Road. Several|outbuildings were heavily damaged or destroyed. The tornado|continued eastward across some farm land before downing more|trees as the tornado began to dissipate east of Highway 115 less|than 0.5 miles south of Stokes. This tornado was rated an|EF1 with maximum estimated winds of 105 mph.

The Pocahontas Tornado began near the Imperial Dinner Theater|just south of the Pocahontas Municipal Airport. This tornado|tracked east north east along Highway 304 East before dissipating|near Industrial Drive. Significant roof loss and other damage was|noted to small professional building. Several other nearby|buildings sustained damage. A truck lofted and rotated 90 degrees|and flipped before landing on its roof, crumbling the cab. No one|was in the vehicle when this happened, but the truck left a few|gouge marks in the parking lot surface. A number of electrical|poles were either snapped or broken off, as well as some nearby|trees. This tornado was rated an EF1 with maximum estimated winds|of 110 mph.

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

46 minutes of warning. NWS LZK issued a tornado warning for this county at 10:38 UTC, 46 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 11:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 07:35 UTC and running to 12:11 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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 06:00 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.

Walnut Ridge (Awos) (ARG), 24 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 149 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 11:22 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.