Tornadoes · United States · Arkansas · 1957

F4 tornado, Columbia and Ouachita counties, Arkansas, December 19, 1957

This F4 tornado ran 17.7 miles across Columbia and Ouachita counties on December 19, 1957, touching down at 12:44 PM GMT-6 and reaching 10 yards wide. It killed 2 people and injured 9, and did $5,000 to $50,000 of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. F040 to 72 mph

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. F173 to 112 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. F2113 to 157 mph

    Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

  4. F3158 to 206 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. F4207 to 260 mphthis tornado

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. F5261 to 318 mph

    Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

  7. Unrated

    The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

The record

Rating
F4
Date
December 19, 1957
Touchdown
12:44 PM GMT-6 (18:44 UTC)
Path length
17.7 miles (28.5 km)
Path width
10 yards (9 m)
Deaths
2
Injuries
9
Property damage
$5,000 to $50,000
Counties
Columbia and Ouachita counties
Touchdown point
33.350, -93.250
Lift-off point
33.520, -93.020
Record number
847

The air that afternoon

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Shreveport, LA (KSHV), 12:00Z

6.7 hours before the tornado, 121 km from the path. December 19, 1957.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Shreveport, LA at 12:00Z on 1957-12-19Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 195 joules per kilogram, CIN -141, lifted condensation level 757 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Shreveport, LA at 12:00Z on 1957-12-19The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 231 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 55 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
195 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-141 J/kg
Surface CAPE
385 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
757 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
55 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
231 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
284 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
0.9
0-3 km lapse rate
4.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Shreveport, LA (KSHV), 00:00Z

5.3 hours after it, 121 km from the path. December 20, 1957.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Shreveport, LA at 00:00Z on 1957-12-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 13 joules per kilogram, CIN -55, lifted condensation level 2324 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Shreveport, LA at 00:00Z on 1957-12-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -61 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 74 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
13 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-55 J/kg
Surface CAPE
39 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2324 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
74 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-61 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-1 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
8.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1957 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of December 19, 1957

9 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
December 193:00 PM GMT-6F1Gibson, TN0.110$5,000 to $50,000
December 193:40 PM GMT-6F3Jefferson, AR3.8100$5,000 to $50,000
December 194:10 PM GMT-6F2Dade, MO6.6100$5,000 to $50,000
December 195:50 PM GMT-6F2Jefferson, IL1.067$5,000 to $50,000
December 199:00 PM GMT-6F2Saline, IL0.5100$5,000 to $50,000
December 199:15 PM GMT-6F2Gibson, TN0.510$5,000 to $50,000
December 199:20 PM GMT-6F1Gibson, TN0.1102$5,000 to $50,000
December 1910:30 PM GMT-6F1Fayette, AL0.110$500 to $5,000
December 1911:15 PM GMT-6F2Colbert, AL0.1107$5,000 to $50,000

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.