January 21
January 21, 1999 C.Arkansas Tornadoes - Brian
Stertz's ChaseI left
Tulsa around 11:30 am for my target area, Little Rock. After consulting with
Jeff on today's prime chase areas, I continued on to Fort Smith Arkansas along
I-40. The entire state of Arkansas looked to be primed for severe storms, but the
area east of a Conway to Texarkana line appeared to be the hot zone for severe
storms later. Temperatures were warming into the mid 70's and dew points were
in the 60-65 degree range. Also , increasing mid-level winds were expected to
punch into this area by evening as an intense mid-level disturbance approached
from the west and southwest. Incredible shear profiles were already in place, so
the tornado potential would only grow stronger with time. I really did not have a
specific area I liked in particular; I had to rely on later developments to guide me
to the supercell hot spot. I reached the Conway AR area around 2:30pm, and the
days first supercells were developing around Texarkana in SW Arkansas.
By the time I reached the northwest
suburbs of Little Rock, a tornado watch was
issued for much of C and E Arkansas, as well as for portions of N. Louisiana and
N. Mississippi. The supercells over SW Arkansas were already indicating hook
echoes/circulations on radar. Other new severe storms were also firing further
north around the Hot Springs area. These were the storms I was closest to, so I
plotted their projected track and how/where I could intercept the storms. I needed
film badly so I decided to head down I-30 to Benton. As I headed south on I-430,
a severe t-storm warning was issued for Garland and Saline counties. Hail up to
quarter sized was reported just west of Hot Springs. The storm was racing n-ne
at 40-45 mph so chasing this storm was going to be a real chore. I finally found
the Benton Wal-Mart and picked up film and a new camera battery. The only
bad thing about this day was that I only had a 35 mm camera. My video camera
had some connector problems which rendered it useless. I guess I've got to be
prepared at all times, regardless what the calendar shows!!
I stayed put in Benton and let the
storm 25 miles to my southwest work closer to
me. Laminar banding was already present about the storm tower approaching,
and occasional cloud-ground lightning was seen to my distant southwest. The
storm was highly sheared looking and was also continuing to race to the n-ne.
Hail was growing larger and was now reported to be in the golfball sized range.
I decided to at least attempt to see the updraft region of the storm. Topography
was not too cooperative for viewing, but I did catch a glimpse of the very large
tower with the supercell. The base was very low and dark as it was heading into
W. Saline Co., and very quickly the severe t-storm warning was upgraded to a
tornado warning. A tornado was indicated south of Paron AR moving n-ne at an
unchasable 50 mph. No way could I keep up with this storm in this area of windy
roads, trees, and hilly terrain. I reached the small town of Congo when a tornado
was reported on the ground 20 miles to my northwest near Paron. I decided to
let this speedy supercell move on. A new supercell erupted very close to the Hot
Springs area once again so I decided to wait for this one to track my way. The
supercell to my north by now was now producing cyclic tornadoes as it was in
the Mayflower AR area racing northeast. The storm by Hot Springs also started to
rotate as it headed n-ne at 40 mph. A little more chasable for me!!
Hail reports of up to tennis ball
sized were broadcast with the storm now entering
Saline Co. shortly before 4pm. I pulled over on the west side of Little Rock along
I-430 and watched the supercell track northwards into SW Pulaski Co. Tornado
warnings were quickly extended into Pulaski Co. as the storm approached me
from the southwest very quickly. I did not want to get into any of the nasty hail
that was being reported to the immediate north of the circulation, so I headed on
to the north. As I crossed the Arkansas River bridge on I-430, one of the most
menacing wall clouds I've ever seen passed over the ridge top to my southwest
about 10 miles. Incredible vertical motion was seen with the very low wall cloud
which by now was southeast of the town of Ferndale. The wall cloud appeared
to be rotating violently, and I plotted the track to very near Maumelle and quite
possibly into the N. Little Rock area. Since the speed of the circulation was still
quite rapid, I wanted to get out far enough ahead of the wall cloud so I wouldn't
be left in the dust this time. I knew that rush hour traffic was also going to be thick
in the area, especially with a tornado warning in effect in Pulaski Co. I decided
to head for U.S. 67/167 to get ahead of the huge circulation. Extremely large hail
was being reported once again in areas hit by huge hail not more than a 30 min.
earlier. Spotter reports had the circulation near the Camp Robinson area at 4:30.
I could see the huge wall cloud (very
low to the ground) as it was approaching
the Lonoke Co. line about 4 miles to the west of Cabot. Unfortunately the super-
cell continued to race to the northeast. This made committing to the west a really
hard decision. Numerous funnel cloud and tornado touchdowns were reported
in N.Pulaski Co. as the storm raked this area between 4:30 and 5pm. I was about
4-5 miles to the northest of the circulation when funnel cloud reports were called
in by numerous spotters in the Cabot and Ward areas. I had started back on the
highway, but quickly pulled over when I heard the report. My location at 5 pm
was 3 miles northeast of Cabot on U.S. 67/167. I immediately saw the funnel and
it quickly touched down very near the Cabot area. The tornado was small but
very pronounced from my location. Several local residents/commuters pulled over
to my south to watch the tornado. A Searcy resident pulled in behind my car to
witness the F0-F1 tornado. This was the first tornado he had ever seen, but he
had been through some close calls with tornadoes in the past. We watched the
tornado from 5:02-5:10 pm. The impressive circulation continued to track to the
n-ne, so I decided to head on to the north towards Searcy, where I could reach
good road options to the west. Before I could get back into the car, yet another
tornado touched down to my northwest about 5 miles nw of Ward. This tornado
may have been a continuance of the earlier tornado, but the visible funnel came
back into view around 5:12pm.
F1
Tornado.....3 SW Cabot AR
I reached Searcy around
5:30 pm, and the circulation continued very strong to
my southwest. It was approaching sunset, so I figured I had one last shot to inter-
cept the supercell. I headed west on Highway 36 towards the town of Center Hill
which had an earlier encounter with a deadly F-2 tornado. I could see the large
and very dangerous circulation to my west, but chasing it was going to be quite
scary. The circulation was very much rain-wrapped and occasional quarter sized
hail started to pelt my location near Center Hill. Safety was very much a concern
at this time. The wall cloud was extremely large and rain/hail obscured the base
under the wall cloud. A tornado was soon reported in the small community of Joy
at 6:50 pm. I had decided to pull over by now, and the tornado was tracking n-ne
just 8 miles to my northwest. The sun had set, so I headed back into Searcy. The
town's tornado sirens remained on as I reached the business strip. I pulled over
at a local gas station and tried to reach Jeff who was somewhere in E.Arkansas I
thought. After several tries, I finally reached Jeff who was watching a supercell
track northward along the Mississippi River. He indicated that several/numerous
supercells still were heading my direction. He gave me a briefing of the strongest
circulations he had on radar. There was a mean supercell tracking towards the
Pine Bluff area. Also he said there was an isolated and intensifying supercell very
close to I-40 near the town of Hazen. This was the next storm I would attempt to
intercept.
Although it was dark now, I figured I might as well give at a shot since the storm
was isolated from the major tornado axis that had setup parallel to U.S. 67/167.
The Beebe storm was in it's early stages at this time by the way!! The supercell
I was targeting now had a very strong circulation that I saw on tv at a conv. store
in Bald Knob. A tornado warning was issued for Prairie Co. with a tornado located
northeast of Hazen. This storm was not moving nearly as fast as the storms back
to the west, so I knew I had a very good chance to intercept the storm. I got some
gas and some more "go-juice" and headed east towards Woodruff Co. which was in
the path of the supercell near Hazen.
As I approached the White/Woodruff Co.
line, a tornado warning was issued for
Woodruff Co.. The tornado was located near the town of Little Dixie and was on a
n-ne track at 35 mph. The towns of Patterson and McCrory were listed as being in
the path of the tornado. I hurried on to the east and passed on the north side of
Patterson. Moderate rain and cloud-ground lightning was now being observed
as the circulation approached town from the southwest. I decided to get ahead of
the rain, so I continued east into the north section of McCrory. No rain here, just
east winds at 30 mph and some patchy fog. I knew something was about to
happen!! I pulled over at a grocery store just south of U.S. 64, and tried to reach
Jeff on his cell phone, but was unable to reach him. The time was now 6:50 pm,
and I was getting a little nervous. I went back east on U.S. 64 to see if I could
maybe make out the circulation. Rain cutains soon greeted me as I approached
Patterson. The rain curtains abruptly ended!! OH-NO!! The circulation was near,
but the main question was how near? I turned back to the east and returned to
the grocery store. I tried to call in to the NWS but could not get through. A couple
of the store employees came out to see what I was doing. I told them to get ready
to head for the meat locker. The winds started to get gusty and fog formed from
time to time. I really was starting to get nervous now!! My ears started to pop, and
the 30 mph east winds quickly went to calm. Tornado time was very near!!
I watched the skies very closely to my
west. I could now see that McCrory was
underneath the leading edge of the circulation. The edge of the bowl shaped
wall cloud was overhead. The power flickered several times as I stood out in the
parking lot, and fog started to appear again-this time much thicker. I knew it was
not a matter of if a tornado was about to happen, but when. I looked hard to the
west and now saw the central rotation to my west or just north of Patterson. Winds
became extremely gusty once again from the east. I was convinced the tornado
was about to touch down to my west now. I told the grocery employees to take
cover anyway. I headed west on U.S.64 about a half mile when I was forced to
stop. The dense fog abruptly dissipated, and the large wall cloud came into view.
A tornado was on the ground!! At 7pm, I was finally able to see the tornado get
organized about 4 miles to my west-northwest. The tornado transformed from a
dust swirl state to multiple vortex as it tracked to the north-northeast at 35 mph. I
was in a state of awe and depression at the same time. Depressed because my
video camera was not working, but definitely in awe watching the tornado make
a transformation to multiple vortex structure. Lightning was very helpful to allow
for almost continuous viewing of the tornado. The tornado reached maximum
intensity between 7:05 and 7:10pm. A large cone tornado was seen to the north,
and there were 2 smaller cone tornadoes rotating about the larger cone. Large
amounts of debris were drawn up around the funnel with time, and multiple
vortex structure was seen up until the tornado dissipated about 4 miles south of
Tupelo Ar. The tornado was officially classified as an F-0 as it crossed open fields
in N.Woodruff Co. From a visual stand-point, the tornado may have reached F-2
maximum intensity. I headed north on Highway 17 with an Arkansas State Police
officer who was tracking the storm behind me. The tornado dissipated at 7:12 pm
as it approached Highway 17 about 3 miles to my north. Just minor damage was
seen along and east of Highway 17. I continued to follow the circulation into
Jackson Co. past Tupelo. I did witness yet another brief tornado in S.Jackson Co.
at 7:15 pm about 2 miles northeast of Tupelo. The circulation was leaving me
behind so I headed back to the west.
Local radio reported that a listener
from Ward Ar called in advising he "heard"
something loud on the east side of town heading towards Beebe. He was very
concerned that the noise was a tornado. A tornado warning had already been
issued for this circulation in Lonoke Co., so this probably was a tornado!! I knew
I would not be able to make it that far, so I planned a final intercept near or south
of Searcy. When I reached the town of Bald Knob, I quickly went into the conv.
store I went into earlier hoping that there was a radar update on tv. Sure enough,
the station was showing the doppler velocity display. The area around Mc Rae
was being circled as the affected area and it was tracking n-ne. I decided to head
down U.S.67/167 towards that area. I reached the south section of Searcy only
encountering heavy rain and small hail. As I continued on I found myself getting
deeper into the core of the Beebe/McRae supercell. Wind gusts of well over 70
mph and blinding rainfall slowed my progress. About 7:50 pm, I was near the
edge of the circulation. Hail increased to larger than quarter sized and I was
starting to believe that the circulation was rain-wrapped. I pulled under an over-
pass to wait the hail out. Very quickly the winds that were gusting out of the
north, now switched to west-southwest winds. A power flash was seen to my
immediate south as winds increased to 75-80 mph. Hail was blown well under
the overpass and some of the hail was approaching golfball sized. Misty rain
also was swirling about. The occluded circulation must have passed just to my
east!! I headed on towards Little Rock once the core subsided.
On the way, I saw
numerous emergency vehicles heading towards Beebe and McRae.
I knew right away that something bad had happened. Later local radio verified this. A
report was broadcast that Beebe took a direct hit and that there were possible
fatalities. I pulled over in Jacksonville for some dinner ( finally!!) I
listened to more tornado coverage of the Beebe/Mc Rae damage, and heard a
new tornadic supercell was tracking right for Little Rock. I was pretty spent from
earlier chasing so I decided to call it a night. Later as I was heading into Little
Rock I heard that a tornado damage was reported very close to downtown. I had
to work the next day so I ended my chase and headed back to Tulsa. Before I
got to I-40, I called Jeff to let him know about the Beebe tornado. He was on I-40
about 20 miles east of Little Rock at the scene of flipped tractor-trailer rigs. He
was going to do a damage survey later. Not bad for my first chase of 1999 , and
my first January chase ever!!
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