EF1 tornado, Shibley to Graphic, Arkansas, May 7, 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 7, 2024

Touchdown

2:43 AM CDT (07:43 UTC)

Lifted

2:50 AM CDT (07:50 UTC)

On the ground

7 minutes

Path length

5.7 miles (9.2 km)

Path width

900 yards (823 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$30,000

County

Crawford County

Touchdown point

35.586, -94.237

Lift-off point

35.615, -94.144

Record number

2405070143-01

42 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS TSA, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 107 mph.

• A tree was uprooted onto home. Photo courtesy of KNWA.
• A tree was uprooted onto a home. Photo courtesy of KNWA.

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

Severe thunderstorms developed over western Oklahoma during the afternoon of the 6th, as a dry line sharpened over the area. These storms developed eastward across central and eastern Oklahoma during the late afternoon through evening hours, and evolved into a squall line before moving through northwestern Arkansas during the early morning hours of the 7th. The combination of strong instability ahead of the line of thunderstorms, and very strong deep-layer and low-level wind shear resulted in several tornadoes developing as the thunderstorm line moved through the area. One of the tornadoes became strong as it moved across portions of Washington County. Damaging wind gusts and large hail to quarter size also occurred with the squall line.

This tornado developed just south of I-40, and north of Highway 64. It moved east, crossing Highway 64 snapping and uprooting trees, and damaging homes. Numerous trees were snapped or uprooted, and numerous homes were damaged as the tornado continued to move generally east, crossing Highway 162, and then dissipating east of Sharp Chapel Road. A tornadic debris signature was detected by the KSRX WSR-88D with this tornado. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in the tornado was 100 to 110 mph.

This tornado developed east of County Road 27, and moved east-northeast across I-49, Highway 282, and Highway 71, where trees were snapped and uprooted, and an outbuilding was destroyed. The tornado dissipated south of Highway 348. A tornadic debris signature was detected by the KSRX WSR-88D with this tornado. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in the tornado was 105 to 110 mph.

This tornado uprooted trees, a couple of which fell onto homes, and snapped large tree limbs. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in the tornado was 90 to 100 mph.

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

17 minutes of warning. NWS TSA issued a tornado warning for this county at 07:26 UTC, 17 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 08:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 03:15 UTC and running to 09:09 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 Marginal Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 05:10 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.

Fort Smith Municipal (FSM), 33 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 38 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 07:45 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

52 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.