Tornado, Clark
- When
- May 27, 1:25 PM CST to 2:15 PM CST
- Where
- Clark County, Okolona to 3 mi SE of Griffithtown
- Rating
- F3
- Path length
- 26 mi
- Path width
- 440 yd
- Property damage
- $1.8 million
- Coordinates
- 33.970, -93.350
Tornado in Arkansas, May 27, 1996
The tornado first touched down 2 1/2 miles south-southwest of Okolona. It first moved in an easterly direction, passing near the town of Center Point and across several county roads where a total of 17 homes and 3 outbuildings were either damaged or destroyed.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $1.8 million
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
What happened
The episode as NWS LZK wrote it up.
The tornado first touched down 2 1/2 miles south-southwest of Okolona. It first moved in an easterly direction, passing near the town of Center Point and across several county roads where a total of 17 homes and 3 outbuildings were either damaged or destroyed. A large amount of trees and power lines were also downed. The storm then travelled more in an east-northeast direction, touching down intermittently. A large amount of timber was blown down in the eastern part of the county several miles southeast of Griffithtown. The storm moved out of Clark County at around 315 pm CDT. No injuries were reported along the track of the tornado. Initial estimates place the amount of damage at around $1,800,000, with $1,300,000 of that in timber damage alone.
The radar
The Little Rock radar (KLZK), 139 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:26 UTC.
Event by event
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Tornado
- A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Tornado in Arkansas, May 27, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Illinois, May 27, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Arkansas, May 27, 1996
- Lightning Strike in Tennessee, May 27, 1996
- Flood in Nebraska, May 27 to 29, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Georgia, May 27, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Georgia, May 27, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Missouri, May 27, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Illinois, May 27, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Illinois, May 27, 1996
- Tornado in Iowa, May 27, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Missouri, May 27, 1996
More
Every storm in Arkansas in 1996Every state in 1996This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Arkansas, 1996Warnings in Arkansas, May 1996
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5554186.