Most of Sunday's Deadly Tornadoes Came With Plenty of Warning

The violent, long-lasting and deadly tornadoes that struck northern Arkansas on Sunday were, by and large, well-forecast, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In fact, if forecasters erred in any respect, it was in thinking that more tornadoes would form than actually did touch down in the end.

The hard-hit town of Mayflower, located about 17 miles northwest of Little Rock, had about 30 minutes of lead time between when the tornado warning was issued to when the town was hit, according to John Ferree of the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) in Norman, Okla. This was well above the national average tornado warning lead time of 13 minutes Read more...