Tornadoes · United States · Arkansas · 2024

Unrated tornado, Waldron Muni Arpt, Arkansas, November 3, 2024

This Unrated tornado ran 0.2 miles across Scott County on November 3, 2024, touching down at 8:35 AM CST and reaching 30 yards wide. It killed nobody.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  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 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. Unratedthis tornado

    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.

The record

Rating
Unrated
Date
November 3, 2024
Touchdown
8:35 AM CST (14:35 UTC)
Lifted
8:36 AM CST (14:36 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.2 miles (0.3 km)
Path width
30 yards (27 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Scott County
Touchdown point
34.890, -94.110
Lift-off point
34.892, -94.108
Record number
2411030835-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A stationary front began retreating back northward as a warm front and led to a few brief tornadoes forming along this boundary that occurred in remote areas of west-central Arkansas and were extremely weak in intensity.

This tornado was caught on video and sent to local media, who forwarded this video to NWS meteorologists. The time stamps come from the video and the location is estimated based on radar and the video. The tornado began just north of Jarvis Drive tracking over a field with limited vegetation and only a couple of farm buildings. Due to no damage reported and lack of vegetation along with no structures being hit, the tornado has been rated EF-unknown (EF-U). The tornado lifted just before crossing Highway 71.

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

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
00:00 UTC18:00 UTCFlood WatchLZK

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 forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Marginal Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 12:49 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 air that afternoon

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.

Springfield, MO (KSGF), 12:00Z

2.6 hours before the tornado, 225 km from the path. November 3, 2024.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2024-11-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -35192, lifted condensation level 715 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2024-11-03The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 482 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 43 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-35192 J/kg
Surface CAPE
25 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
715 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
43 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
49 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
482 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
522 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Springfield, MO (KSGF), 00:00Z

9.4 hours after it, 225 km from the path. November 4, 2024.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 2024-11-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 11 joules per kilogram, CIN -190, lifted condensation level 939 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 2024-11-04The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 260 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 78 knots.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
11 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-190 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
939 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
78 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
260 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
228 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Mena Intermountain Municipal (MEZ), 39 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
12:35 UTC6968 4 kt1012.5
12:55 UTC68.768.4 6 kt1012.5
13:15 UTC68.568.5 3 kt1013.2
13:35 UTC67.667.6 4 kt1013.2-RA BR
13:55 UTC67.367.3 3 kt1013.5-RA BR
14:15 UTC67.667.5 4 kt1013.5-RA BR
14:35 UTC67.667.6 3 kt1013.5-RA BR
14:55 UTC68.468.40° 0 kt1013.2-RA BR
15:15 UTC68.568.50° 0 kt1013.9VCTS
15:35 UTC64.864.8300° 10 kt1014.2-RA BR VCTS
15:55 UTC6363280° 5 kt1014.9-RA BR VCTS
16:15 UTC6262260° 3 kt1014.9-RA BR

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

The radar

The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 50 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 14:35 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.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
14:35 UTCTORNADO1 Wsw WaldronScott, ARThis is a delayed report. This tornado was caught on video and sent to local media, who forwarded the video to NWS meteorologists. The time stamps come from the video and location is estimated based on radar and the vide

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2024 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of November 3, 2024

15 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
November 31:20 AM CDTEF3Cleveland, OK2.44006$16 million
November 31:33 AM CDTEF1Clay, TX8.4250
November 31:37 AM CDTUnratedOklahoma, OK0.110
November 31:05 AM CSTEF3Stephens, OK21.75006$5.0 million
November 31:11 AM CSTEF1McClain, OK7.0200$5.0 million
November 31:28 AM CSTEF1Stephens, OK1.350$50,000
November 31:45 AM CSTEF2Stephens, OK4.8300$250,000
November 31:57 AM CSTEF3Oklahoma, OK25.11,0007$40 million
November 31:58 AM CSTEF0Cleveland, OK1.130$5,000
November 32:17 AM CSTEF1Garvin, OK0.850$10,000
November 32:22 AM CSTEF1Garvin, OK2.5300$50,000
November 33:04 AM CSTEF1Seminole, OK1.030$20,000
November 33:46 AM CSTEF0Creek, OK4.6400$25,000
November 35:15 PM CSTUnratedCoal, OK0.330
November 36:39 PM CSTUnratedCoal, OK0.550

What this means

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.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.