Tornadoes · United States · Arkansas

2004 tornadoes in Arkansas

48 tornadoes touched down in Arkansas in 2004, 75 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

2003 2005 The whole country in 2004

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 2004

March 4 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 4	6:12 PM CST	F0	Crawford	0.2	25

April 9 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
April 9	7:40 PM CDT	F0	Polk	0.2	25
April 9	8:36 PM CDT	F0	Montgomery	2.4	25
April 9	9:00 PM CDT	F0	Pike	2.5	25
April 9	9:24 PM CDT	F1	Pike	10.8	40

April 21 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 21	4:13 PM CDT	F1	Logan	12.5	50
April 21	4:41 PM CDT	F1	Yell	11.5	50

April 22 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 22	7:22 PM CDT	F1	Washington	0.5	75
April 22	10:26 PM CDT	F0	Johnson	13.1	40

April 23 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 23	1:30 AM CDT	F0	Van Buren	4.1	25

April 24 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
April 24	12:00 PM CDT	F0	Conway	1.2	25
April 24	12:17 PM CDT	F0	Van Buren	2.8	25
April 24	4:12 PM CDT	F0	Lonoke	2.3	25

April 29 6 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
April 29	12:52 PM CDT	F1	Union	9.0	150	$200,000
April 29	1:58 PM CDT	F0	Calhoun	7.5	50
April 29	2:16 PM CDT	F0	Bradley	2.2	25
April 29	2:34 PM CDT	F1	Bradley	7.8	60
April 29	3:02 PM CDT	F1	Dallas	2.0	75
April 29	3:15 PM CDT	F0	Dallas	4.2	40

May 1 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 1	1:00 AM CDT	F0	Boone	3.5	25

May 30 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 30	7:00 PM CDT	F1	Nevada	10.0	100	$80,000
May 30	7:47 PM CDT	F0	Ouachita	1.8	25
May 30	8:05 PM CDT	F2	Cross	0.5	150	$70,000

June 2 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 2	5:50 PM CDT	F0	Mississippi	0.3	50			$1,000

October 18 13 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
October 18	8:59 AM CDT	F1	Saline	2.0	300
October 18	9:20 AM CDT	F2	Saline	24.0	800	11
October 18	10:07 AM CDT	F0	Lonoke	3.3	50
October 18	10:42 AM CDT	F2	Lonoke	19.0	600		$12 million
October 18	4:50 PM CDT	F0	Randolph	2.0	25		$10,000
October 18	5:05 PM CDT	F1	Randolph	13.0	75		$70,000
October 18	5:10 PM CDT	F0	Greene	8.0	25		$1,000
October 18	5:16 PM CDT	F0	Randolph	0.5	25		$1,000
October 18	5:25 PM CDT	F0	Clay	0.5	25		$1,000
October 18	6:00 PM CDT	F0	Clay	4.0	25		$1,000
October 18	6:35 PM CDT	F0	Lawrence	23.0	100		$150,000
October 18	7:10 PM CDT	F0	Greene	0.3	25		$1,000
October 18	7:34 PM CDT	F0	Dallas	0.2	25

November 1 9 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
November 1	6:58 AM CST	F0	Johnson	0.5	30
November 1	8:50 AM CST	F1	Ouachita	6.0	200
November 1	9:55 AM CST	F0	Sharp	1.8	40
November 1	10:05 AM CST	F0	Dallas	3.5	30
November 1	10:20 AM CST	F0	Grant	6.0	100
November 1	12:05 PM CST	F0	Lonoke	8.6	100
November 1	12:55 PM CST	F1	Calhoun	2.3	50
November 1	1:55 PM CST	F1	Cleveland	0.7	40
November 1	2:35 PM CST	F0	Jefferson	1.3	30

November 11 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
November 11	1:05 AM CST	F0	Johnson	0.3	30

November 23 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
November 23	4:10 PM CST	F0	Chicot	1.0	50			$2,000

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.