US Southern states hit again by tornadoes – lesser ones

Marble-sized hail, up to about 30mm in diameter, fell in the Dallas suburbs and winds gusting regularly to 130 kilometres per hour swept across Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas.

At least one tornado, EF1 on the strength scale that goes up to 5, touched down in northern Louisiana with one damage track over 10km long, north of the town of Vivian. Trees were snapped and weak buildings were damaged as winds of 170km/h were measured.

Similar damage was recorded again near Springhill, close to the Arkansas border. This may well be multiple touchdowns of the same tornado.

Power lines were shorted out southeast of Little Rock, Arkansas, by a reported EF1 tornado which destroyed two mobile homes. Following a line eastwards, large hail and two more tornado sightings were reported near Memphis, Tennessee, which looked like the same thunderstorm cluster.

Winds of 160km/h were reported in eastern Tennessee in Great Smoky Mountains National Park but after this, the violent weather seemed to ease. No more tornadoes were seen nor were there any major casualties, beyond minor injuries, a relatively happy contrast to the tornadoes last Tuesday in Alabama that killed 23.