The quiet 2014 severe weather season turned grimly violent over the weekend, as multiple deadly tornadoes ended our record-long start to a year without a tornado fatality. Media reports put Sunday's death toll at 16, with 164of deaths in Arkansas, one in Iowa, and one in Oklahoma. Hardest-hit were Mayflower and Vilonia, Arkansas, located about fifteen miles north of Little Rock.
A large and powerful tornado that had been on the ground nearly an hour carved through the region near sunset, killing at least ten people. Damage photos appeared to show at least EF-3 type damage, and there was a report from relayed from amateur radio to the NWS that two homes in Vilonia had been “wiped clean to the foundation”, which would imply higher than EF-3 damage.
There has been only one known F5 tornado in Arkansas history, on April 10, 1929. Vilonia was hit just three years ago, on April 25, 2011, by an EF-2 tornado that killed four people. The Arkansas Department of Emergency Management said three people also died in Arkansas’ Pulaski County and one in White County from tornadoes on Sunday. NOAA's Storm Prediction Center (SPC) had put much of Arkansas in their “High Risk” area for potential severe weather yesterday. It was the first “High Risk” outlook issued by SPC in 2014. According to The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture, the deadliest outbreak in Arkansas history occurred on March 21, 1952, when 112 people lost their lives.
The most deadly recent outbreak was on March 1, 1997, which resulted in 25 Arkansas fatalities. Outside of Arkansas, a tornado hit Quapaw, OK on Sunday, killing one person and destroying the fire station. In Kansas, the governor declared a state of emergency for Baxter Springs, where a tornado destroyed 70 homes and 20 businesses. In all, SPC logged 31 preliminary tornado reports from five states on Sunday, 107 reports of damaging winds, and 118 reports of hail. Also on Sunday, an 11-month old died from injuries suffered during a tornado on Friday in Chowan County, North Carolina. It was the first U.S. tornado death of 2014.
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2671
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