Tornadoes · United States · Arkansas

1971 tornadoes in Arkansas

15 tornadoes touched down in Arkansas in 1971, 45 percent below the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

1970 1972 The whole country in 1971

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.

F040 to 72 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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 1971

January 3 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
January 3	3:30 PM CST	F2	Clark	10.3	200		10	$5,000 to $50,000

February 21 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
February 21	3:00 PM CST	F2	Drew	17.1	300			$50,000 to $500,000
February 21	5:00 PM CST	F2	St. Francis	4.6	100			$5,000 to $50,000

March 12 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 12	7:45 PM CST	F1	Little River	0.1	10			$500 to $5,000

April 27 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 27	5:30 PM CDT	F1	Clay	5.6	100			$5,000 to $50,000

May 10 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 10	2:22 AM CDT	F3	Hempstead	20.3	300		3	$50,000 to $500,000

May 23 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
May 23	7:30 PM CDT	F2	Johnson	14.9	200		$5,000 to $50,000
May 23	8:30 PM CDT	F2	Polk	26.7	600		$50,000 to $500,000
May 23	10:00 PM CDT	F3	Conway	5.6	400	4	$5,000 to $50,000

July 26 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 26	6:20 PM CDT	F0	St. Francis	0.1	10

September 1 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 1	3:45 PM CDT	F0	Lonoke	0.1	10
September 1	3:45 PM CDT	F0	Lonoke	0.1	10

December 14 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
December 14	9:30 PM CST	F1	Sebastian	2.0	10		1	$50,000 to $500,000
December 14	11:30 PM CST	F3	Marion	23.6	880		10	$50,000 to $500,000

December 15 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
December 15	1:20 AM CST	F2	Poinsett	3.4	300		1	$50,000 to $500,000

Nearby

Every tornado in Arkansas since 1950 Warnings in force in Arkansas The 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.