Tornadoes · United States · Arkansas · 1961

F2 tornado, Jackson, Poinsett and Craighead counties, Arkansas, March 5, 1961

This F2 tornado ran 30.0 miles across Jackson, Poinsett and Craighead counties on March 5, 1961, touching down at 4:00 PM GMT-6 and reaching 10 yards wide. It killed nobody, 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 mphthis tornado

    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.

The record

Rating
F2
Date
March 5, 1961
Touchdown
4:00 PM GMT-6 (22:00 UTC)
Path length
30.0 miles (48.3 km)
Path width
10 yards (9 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$5,000 to $50,000
Counties
Jackson, Poinsett and Craighead counties
Touchdown point
35.400, -91.230
Lift-off point
35.720, -90.870
Record number
39

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.

Little Rock, AR (KBYH), 12:00Z

10.0 hours before the tornado, 129 km from the path. March 5, 1961.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Little Rock, AR at 12:00Z on 1961-03-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -3637, lifted condensation level 1143 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 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, Little Rock, AR at 12:00Z on 1961-03-05The 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 67 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 36 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-3637 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1143 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
36 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
67 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
26 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Little Rock, AR (KBYH), 00:00Z

2.0 hours after it, 129 km from the path. March 6, 1961.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Little Rock, AR at 00:00Z on 1961-03-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1533 joules per kilogram, CIN -2, lifted condensation level 624 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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, Little Rock, AR at 00:00Z on 1961-03-06The 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 192 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 41 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
1533 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-2 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1970 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
624 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
41 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
192 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
206 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.6
Supercell composite
9.2
0-3 km lapse rate
6.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1961 tornado in ArkansasEvery tornado in Arkansas since 1950Warnings in force in Arkansas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of March 5, 1961

12 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 53:00 PM GMT-6F1Howell, MO1.0100$500 to $5,000
March 54:05 PM GMT-6F1Lonoke, AR2.3417$5,000 to $50,000
March 54:45 PM GMT-6F0Lincoln, OK0.110
March 55:15 PM GMT-6F2Garvin, OK1.01001$50,000 to $500,000
March 55:45 PM GMT-6F1Wilson, KS2.010under $50
March 56:30 PM GMT-6F0Johnston, OK0.110
March 59:00 PM GMT-6F1Cedar, MO2.550$500 to $5,000
March 59:15 PM GMT-6F2Choctaw, OK3.850$500 to $5,000
March 59:30 PM GMT-6F1Cedar, MO0.217$500 to $5,000
March 510:30 PM GMT-6F2Morgan, MO9.650$50,000 to $500,000
March 510:45 PM GMT-6F1Moniteau, MO0.210$500 to $5,000
March 510:45 PM GMT-6F1Moniteau, MO0.210$500 to $5,000

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.