NWS confirms EF-1 tornado caused damage to Devil’s Den State Park

WASHINGTON COUNTY, Ark. – Officials with the National Weather Service in Tulsa confirmed on Thursday that an early June tornado caused damage to an Arkansas State Park and displaced many trees in northwest Arkansas.

Officials with the NWS said that a tornado rated as an EF-1 with an estimated wind speed of 105 mph developed shortly before 6 a.m. on June 7, west of Bug Scuffle Road. NWS officials said that it started three miles east of Odell and ended 1.4 miles northwest of Banyard.

A survey revealed that the tornado had a maximum path width of 900 yards and length of eight miles, and it uprooted and snapped several trees before moving east where they said it uprooted trees on Strickler Road.

Officials said that the tornado then approached Devil’s Den State Park where it snapped and uprooted trees, some of which fell onto buildings. Officials said the tornado then dissipated in rugged terrain east of Devil’s Den Road.

This tornado was the state’s 59th of the year and comes one day after the NWS identified the state’s 58th tornado of the year which damaged outbuildings, uprooted trees and snapped numerous large tree limbs in Washington, Arkansas.

According to weather.gov, the most active year for tornadoes in Arkansas history was 1999 when 107 tornadoes spawned. The second most active year was 2008 which saw 81 tornadoes, both years are considered “La Niña” years where there was cooler than normal water in the equatorial region of the Pacific Ocean.

According to KARK 4 News Chief Meteorologist Todd Yakoubian, an average amount of tornadoes in a year for Arkansas is 37.