Lisa L. Flowers | Strategist | Speaker | Educator

NEW: The National Weather Service has confirmed a 119 mile-long EF4 tornado occurred on the night of March 14, 2025 in Arkansas and Missouri! It lasted 1 hour and 45 minutes! That makes it the longest-tracking tornado since the night of the Mayfield, Kentucky tornadoes on December 11, 2021. Multiple tornadoes caused damage along paths of 168.53 and 122.62 miles respectively. It's also Arkansas's longest-tracking tornado since 2008. It's also in the top 0.1% of tornado path lengths! The tornado touched down near Alco in Stone County, Arkansas, then trekked northeast near Highway 14 and eventually Highway 5. An automated weather station reported a 151 mph wind gust! In Larkin and Franklin, Ark., three houses suffered "catastrophic" damage, indicative of EF4 winds. Eventually, it moved into the National Weather Service Paducah's area of responsibility, impacting damage in Ripley and Butler Counties in Missouri and causing EF2 damage there. Initially, the damage was believed to be from two different tornadoes. But satellite imagery revealed a continuous damage path, though more significant damage was intermittent since the tornado likely skipped at times. Since the same funnel (and not a re-cycling of the storm) was responsible for both damage tracks, NWS Little Rock and NWS Paducah have worked together to confirm a single 118.95 mile-long tornado path. Maximum winds were estimated at 170 mph. There were 4 injuries and no fatalities.