Tornadoes · United States · Arkansas

1960 tornadoes in Arkansas

28 tornadoes touched down in Arkansas in 1960, about the average of the record for the state. They killed 1 people and injured 58.

1959 1961 The whole country in 1960

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 mph

    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.

Every tornado in Arkansas in 1960

January 14 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
January 1412:15 PM GMT-6F1Faulkner6.117$500 to $5,000

February 4 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
February 47:15 PM GMT-6F1White6.4832$5,000 to $50,000

February 9 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
February 97:25 PM GMT-6F0Clark2.0250$500 to $5,000
February 98:45 PM GMT-6F3Woodruff3.810010$5,000 to $50,000

April 14 3 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 144:40 PM GMT-6F1Montgomery7.9600$5,000 to $50,000
April 145:45 PM GMT-6F3Crawford13.68333$50,000 to $500,000
April 149:00 PM GMT-6F3Johnson2.0100$5,000 to $50,000

May 4 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 410:00 PM GMT-5F2Jackson1.0417$5,000 to $50,000

May 5 4 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 55:00 AM GMT-5F2Faulkner0.8417$5,000 to $50,000
May 510:30 PM GMT-5F2Washington16.9101$50,000 to $500,000
May 511:45 PM GMT-5F2Madison13.21671$5,000 to $50,000
May 512:30 AM GMT-5F2Johnson2.01002$5,000 to $50,000

May 6 8 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 62:00 AM GMT-5F3Conway26.7300130$500,000 to $5 million
May 62:30 AM GMT-5F2Van Buren8.23334$500 to $5,000
May 62:35 AM GMT-5F1Pulaski3.3500$5,000 to $50,000
May 63:00 AM GMT-5F2Pulaski10.3200$5,000 to $50,000
May 63:15 AM GMT-5F2Nevada2.63202$50,000 to $500,000
May 64:15 AM GMT-5F2Cleveland19.310$5,000 to $50,000
May 63:00 PM GMT-5F2White14.65003$500,000 to $5 million
May 65:00 PM GMT-5F1Mississippi14.0100$5,000 to $50,000

May 16 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 1611:00 AM GMT-5F1Benton5.4500$5,000 to $50,000

May 18 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 1810:00 PM GMT-5F2Johnson3.81,760

May 19 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 192:00 AM GMT-5F1Conway8.7417$5,000 to $50,000

June 10 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 104:05 PM GMT-5F2Hempstead3.0833$50 to $500

June 26 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 265:00 PM GMT-5F1Garland1.5200

July 24 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 242:00 PM GMT-5F1Arkansas2.71,500$50,000 to $500,000

August 8 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 84:06 PM GMT-5F1Independence0.110$500 to $5,000

November 15 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
November 158:00 PM GMT-6F1Scott0.110$5,000 to $50,000

Nearby

Every tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in ArkansasThe live radar over Arkansas

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.