Tornado, Baxter
- When
- March 1, 2:10 PM CST to 2:13 PM CST
- Where
- Baxter County, Norfork to 3 mi N of Jordan
- Rating
- F1
- Path length
- 5 mi
- Path width
- 200 yd
- Property damage
- $25,000
- Coordinates
- 36.250, -92.280
Tornado in Arkansas, March 1, 1997
An F1 tornado touched down just to the west of Salesville. The tornado tracked northeastward, crossing State Highway 5 and then passed just to the north of Salesville.
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
- $25,000
- 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.
An F1 tornado touched down just to the west of Salesville. The tornado tracked northeastward, crossing State Highway 5 and then passed just to the north of Salesville. From there, the tornado tracked near Norfork Dam, across Norfork Lake and then to the Lakeview Estates area, or 3 miles north of Jordan, before lifting. There was mostly tree damage noted along the path of the tornado, but there was some roof and automobile damage noted in and around Salesville. A storage building was detroyed and a mobile home was overturned. It appeared that the tornado was aloft at times, with the tops of some trees removed.
The radar
The Springfield radar (KSGF), 148 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:08 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, March 1, 1997
- Tornado in Arkansas, March 1, 1997
- Tornado in Arkansas, March 1, 1997
- Flood in Kentucky, March 1 to 6, 1997
- Tornado in Arkansas, March 1, 1997
- Tornadoes in Tennessee, March 1, 1997
- Tornado in Arkansas, March 1, 1997
- Flooding in Tennessee, March 1 to 11, 1997
- Tornado in Arkansas, March 1, 1997
- Tornadoes in Arkansas, March 1, 1997
- Flash Flood in Ohio, March 1 to 2, 1997
- Tornadoes in Mississippi, March 1, 1997
More
Every storm in Arkansas in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Arkansas, 1997Warnings in Arkansas, March 1997
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: 5592917.