Name: Tornado in Arkansas, March 1, 1997
Start: 1997-03-01T15:25
End: 1997-03-01T15:41
Location: Arkansas

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

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The toll

Deaths: 10
Injuries: 40
Property damage: $25 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.

The radar

The Little Rock radar (KLZK), 42 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:23 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Saline

When: March 1, 3:25 PM CST to 3:41 PM CST
Where: Saline County, Benton to 5 mi ENE of Bryant
Rating: F4
Path length: 14 mi
Path width: 1,408 yd
Deaths: 10 direct, 0 indirect
Injuries: 40 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $25 million
Coordinates: 34.520, -92.520

The thunderstorm that produced the tornado across Clark and Hot Spring County earlier spawned another tornado in Saline County. The tornado touched down 5 miles southeast of Benton and traveled northeastward, damaging a number of homes and downing numerous trees and power lines. As the tornado approached Shannon Hills, the tornado expanded to 0.8 mile wide. Dozens of homes were either damaged or destroyed in the area around the Shannon Hills, Vimy Ridge and Sardis communities. 10 people were killed, with most victims inside their homes when the storm hit.The tornado exhibited characteristics of F2 to F3 strength prior to moving into the Shannon Hills area. After that, the tornado reached F4 intensity as it moved across the Shannon Hills area and eventually into Pulaski County.

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

Event	Date	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
Tornado, Saline	1997-03-01	55	Male	Outside/Open Areas	Direct
Tornado, Saline	1997-03-01	52	Female	Outside/Open Areas	Direct
Tornado, Saline	1997-03-01	15	Male	Mobile/Trailer Home	Direct
Tornado, Saline	1997-03-01	49	Male	Mobile/Trailer Home	Direct
Tornado, Saline	1997-03-01	72	Male	Outside/Open Areas	Direct
Tornado, Saline	1997-03-01	64	Male	Permanent Home	Direct
Tornado, Saline	1997-03-01	60	Female	Permanent Home	Direct
Tornado, Saline	1997-03-01	23	Female	Mobile/Trailer Home	Direct
Tornado, Saline	1997-03-01	55	Female	Permanent Home	Direct
Tornado, Saline	1997-03-01	35	Female	Permanent Home	Direct

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

More

Every storm in Arkansas in 1997 Every state in 1997 This day in weather history The tornado archive for Arkansas, 1997 Warnings 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: 5592927.