Storms did not take a break on Monday despite the holiday as a storm diving out of the Rockies intensified while it blew into the anomalously-warm South, which provided the perfect ingredients for large hail, strong winds, flooding rains and tornadoes.
Severe thunderstorms bubbled up Monday afternoon across Arkansas in the afternoon after record high temperatures and high dew points primed the region for storms.
Trees came down in El Dorado, Arkansas. Nearby, in Norphlet a trained spotter reported more trees down and structural damage on buildings from possible tornado. The NWS will conduct a survey to either verify a tornado or confirm the damage was caused by straight line winds.
In Jessieville, Arkansas which is outside of Little Rock, many residents reported damage to homes.
The high school football stadium and adjacent rooms took a beating too.
Winds pulled off the roof of the Jessieville band building. Insulation from the structure blew across the field and knitted itself into the fence.
Just as the sun set an unconfirmed tornado touched down 3 miles east of Jonesboro, Louisiana. It felled a number of large trees. The NWS commented in the local storm report that this was likely a tornado based on the tornado debris signature on radar.
FOX Weather’s Marissa Torres tracked the possible twister with radar from the studio. Storm Chaser Brett Adair chased the same storm from the ground. He caught the damage seen at the top of this page, shortly after the potential tornado passed.
Nashville was not in the Tornado Watch but take a look at the light show. FOX Weather’s Will Nunley took cover in the Music City while the lightning and thunder passed overhead.