Tornadoes · United States · Arkansas

2011 tornadoes in Arkansas

72 tornadoes touched down in Arkansas in 2011, 162 percent above the average of the record for the state. They killed 12 people and injured 97. 1 were rated F4 or EF4 and above.

2010 2012 The whole country in 2011

The rating scale

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

EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
EF2111 to 135 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.
EF3136 to 165 mph
Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
EF5over 200 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 2011

February 24 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
February 24	3:53 PM CST	EF1	Perry	11.1	80	$165,000
February 24	4:56 PM CST	EF1	Lonoke	2.3	100	$75,000
February 24	5:03 PM CST	EF1	Lonoke	1.6	235	$400,000

April 4 7 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
April 4	8:10 AM CDT	EF1	Little River	4.8	150		$25,000
April 4	8:38 AM CDT	EF1	Hempstead	3.9	100		$300,000
April 4	8:40 AM CDT	EF2	Hempstead	1.8	200	2	$500,000
April 4	8:50 AM CDT	EF1	Miller	2.6	150		$100,000
April 4	9:08 AM CDT	EF1	Clark	4.0	200		$50,000
April 4	9:28 AM CDT	EF1	Columbia	0.9	75		$75,000
April 4	10:12 AM CDT	EF1	Union	1.3	100		$150,000

April 14 7 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
April 14	10:10 PM CDT	EF1	Sebastian	0.5	150		$100,000
April 14	10:35 PM CDT	EF1	Crawford	3.0	250		$15,000
April 14	11:07 PM CDT	EF1	Polk	0.5	75		$350,000
April 14	11:08 PM CDT	EF1	Franklin	4.8	350	2	$30,000
April 14	11:12 PM CDT	EF1	Yell	0.8	25		$25,000
April 14	11:35 PM CDT	EF1	Yell	2.1	75		$75,000
April 14	12:10 AM CDT	EF1	Madison	0.5	100		$15,000

April 15 7 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 15	1:13 AM CDT	EF1	Garland	7.3	250			$240,000
April 15	1:38 AM CDT	EF1	Saline	3.0	250			$40,000
April 15	1:47 AM CDT	EF1	Saline	16.9	350			$775,000
April 15	1:57 AM CDT	EF1	Pulaski	3.9	475	2	2	$39 million
April 15	2:01 AM CDT	EF1	Pulaski	6.6	200			$2.0 million
April 15	2:09 AM CDT	EF1	Pulaski	6.8	200		1	$455,000
April 15	2:17 AM CDT	EF2	Lonoke	7.0	200			$20 million

April 22 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
April 22	6:41 PM CDT	EF0	Benton	0.1	50
April 22	7:05 PM CDT	EF0	Benton	0.1	50
April 22	7:21 PM CDT	EF0	Benton	0.1	50

April 23 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 23	7:58 PM CDT	EF1	Madison	28.3	880			$500,000

April 24 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 24	10:54 PM CDT	EF1	Howard	3.4	75			$70,000

April 25 18 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 25	9:05 AM CDT	EF0	Hempstead	7.6	100
April 25	2:55 PM CDT	EF1	Polk	5.8	50			$250,000
April 25	4:24 PM CDT	EF1	Garland	9.3	300			$600,000
April 25	4:35 PM CDT	EF1	Pike	11.6	800			$290,000
April 25	4:56 PM CDT	EF2	Garland	5.9	200		9	$3.0 million
April 25	5:00 PM CDT	EF1	Pike	4.3	300			$200,000
April 25	5:02 PM CDT	EF2	Garland	14.4	300		10	$5.0 million
April 25	5:37 PM CDT	EF0	Sevier	7.4	70
April 25	6:07 PM CDT	EF3	Garland	16.8	300	1	20	$23 million
April 25	6:21 PM CDT	EF1	Perry	6.0	300			$700,000
April 25	6:29 PM CDT	EF1	Pike	4.2	250			$100,000
April 25	6:48 PM CDT	EF1	Pulaski	1.6	400			$250,000
April 25	6:48 PM CDT	EF2	Pulaski	51.3	2,900	4	16	$53 million
April 25	7:06 PM CDT	EF1	Faulkner	1.1	50			$100,000
April 25	7:46 PM CDT	EF2	Pulaski	5.2	350		4	$125 million
April 25	7:53 PM CDT	EF1	Lonoke	21.9	800			$390,000
April 25	8:15 PM CDT	EF1	Prairie	6.2	100			$25,000
April 25	8:24 PM CDT	EF1	White	8.9	100			$1.0 million

April 26 6 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
April 26	5:14 PM CDT	EF1	Lonoke	8.3	800	$1.8 million
April 26	5:55 PM CDT	EF0	Crawford	0.2	75
April 26	6:10 PM CDT	EF0	Phillips to MS	27.9	200	$92,000
April 26	6:29 PM CDT	EF0	Phillips to MS	30.8	200	$75,000
April 26	6:32 PM CDT	EF1	Faulkner	12.9	200	$40,000
April 26	7:17 PM CDT	EF1	Polk	0.8	50	$20,000

April 27 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
April 27	2:55 PM CDT	EF0	Craighead	0.3	50	$25,000
April 27	3:01 PM CDT	EF2	Craighead	1.2	200	$10,000
April 27	3:08 PM CDT	EF1	Craighead	1.6	250	$250,000
April 27	3:17 PM CDT	EF0	Craighead	0.6	75	$30,000

May 1 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 1	7:13 PM CDT	EF1	Conway	1.0	75			$35,000

May 20 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 20	8:20 AM CDT	EF0	Washington	0.5	50			$1,000
May 20	5:48 PM CDT	EF0	Hot Spring	3.1	100			$25,000

May 22 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 22	8:54 PM CDT	EF1	Benton	2.8	450			$25,000

May 24 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 24	11:53 PM CDT	EF4	Etna–Centerpoint tornado	45.7	2,200	4	27	$9.1 million
May 24	12:25 AM CDT	EF3	Johnson	29.0	1,430	1	4	$13 million

May 25 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 25	4:13 PM CDT	EF1	Jackson	5.5	500	$40,000
May 25	6:18 PM CDT	EF0	St. Francis	1.1	100
May 25	6:48 PM CDT	EF1	Crittenden	2.5	100	$500,000
May 25	8:37 PM CDT	EF2	Ashley	6.3	352	$100,000

June 13 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 13	12:10 PM CDT	EF1	Greene	3.3	150			$120,000

June 16 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 16	1:49 PM CDT	EF0	Desha	0.3	20

September 25 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 25	6:30 PM CDT	EF0	Arkansas	1.9	50			$15,000

October 12 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 12	7:03 PM CDT	EF0	Carroll	0.1	50

November 21 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
November 21	9:12 PM CST	EF0	Sevier	2.7	75			$1,000

Crossed into Arkansas

Tornadoes that touched down in a neighboring state and ran into Arkansas. They are counted under the state they began in.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
April 26	9:45 PM CDT	EF1	Claiborne Parish, LA to AR	26.5	100		$20,000
April 26	10:45 PM CDT	EF1	Morehouse Parish, LA to AR	12.0	440	1	$60,000
May 24	11:37 PM CDT	EF1	Crawford, OK to AR	5.2	800		$50,000

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.