Tornadoes · United States · Arkansas

2017 tornadoes in Arkansas

37 tornadoes touched down in Arkansas in 2017, 35 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

2016 2018 The whole country in 2017

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 2017

January 21 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
January 21	7:04 PM CST	EF1	Union	2.9	75	$10,000
January 21	7:38 PM CST	EF0	Union	0.6	50	$25,000
January 21	8:45 PM CST	EF0	Ashley	0.7	50	$3,000

February 28 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
February 28	7:03 PM CST	EF1	White	1.4	120		4	$50,000
February 28	7:07 PM CST	EF2	White	1.1	250		1	$70,000

March 1 6 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
March 1	1:29 AM CST	EF1	Johnson	0.1	200	$20,000
March 1	2:16 AM CST	EF1	Conway	1.0	250	$30,000
March 1	2:18 AM CST	EF0	Conway	1.1	50	$40,000
March 1	2:33 AM CST	EF1	Cleburne	3.9	250	$20,000
March 1	3:13 AM CST	EF1	Jackson	4.2	200	$30,000
March 1	3:20 AM CST	EF1	Jackson	1.6	125	$100,000

March 6 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 6	10:51 PM CST	EF1	Washington	6.4	400			$40,000
March 6	11:38 PM CST	EF2	Newton	36.6	700		1	$400,000

March 7 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 7	2:37 AM CST	EF0	Lawrence	0.3	100			$60,000

March 24 6 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
March 24	9:58 PM CDT	EF0	Garland	0.3	150
March 24	10:31 PM CDT	EF0	Hot Spring	0.1	100
March 24	10:32 PM CDT	EF2	Saline	1.1	150		$400,000
March 24	10:33 PM CDT	EF1	Saline	1.9	200		$300,000
March 24	11:20 PM CDT	EF2	Pulaski	2.1	100	6	$360,000
March 24	11:23 PM CDT	EF1	Pulaski	2.2	100		$100,000

March 25 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 25	1:34 AM CDT	EF0	Greene	0.8	120			$250,000

March 29 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 29	7:23 PM CDT	EF1	Pope	2.4	150

April 4 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 4	9:34 PM CDT	EF1	Boone	5.0	200			$80,000

April 26 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 26	1:22 AM CDT	EF1	Carroll to MO	15.7	1,500			$185,000
April 26	10:04 AM CDT	EF0	Yell	0.5	50			$200,000

April 29 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
April 29	3:16 PM CDT	EF1	Boone	1.9	100	1	$400,000
April 29	4:57 PM CDT	EF1	Crawford	5.5	300		$50,000
April 29	12:37 AM CDT	EF1	White	5.9	100		$80,000
April 29	12:57 AM CDT	EF1	Woodruff	0.8	80		$5,000

April 30 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
April 30	1:25 AM CDT	EF1	Clay	2.8	100	$100,000
April 30	1:56 AM CDT	EF1	Dunklin to MO	2.0	50	$20,000
April 30	2:07 AM CDT	EF1	Mississippi	5.6	150	$300,000
April 30	2:15 AM CDT	EF1	Lonoke	5.1	400	$10,000
April 30	5:50 AM CDT	EF0	Drew	1.1	75	$50,000

May 18 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 18	12:07 AM CDT	EF0	Benton	2.0	225			$40,000

July 3 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 3	6:28 AM CDT	EF1	Craighead	0.1	75			$750,000

August 31 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 31	8:19 AM CDT	EF0	Phillips	1.7	50			$15,000

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)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 27	11:45 PM CDT	EF1	Crawford, OK to AR	11.2	700			$30,000

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.