Tornadoes · United States · Arkansas

2020 tornadoes in Arkansas

42 tornadoes touched down in Arkansas in 2020, 53 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

2019 2021 The whole country in 2020

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 2020

January 10 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
January 10	7:44 PM CST	EF2	Logan	13.6	250			$500,000
January 10	7:45 PM CST	EF1	Franklin	3.9	400			$35,000

January 11 8 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
January 11	12:58 AM CST	EF1	Lonoke	0.4	130		$40,000
January 11	2:45 AM CST	EF1	Ashley	4.5	650		$600,000
January 11	2:54 AM CST	EF1	Ashley	9.1	800		$800,000
January 11	2:55 AM CST	EF1	Ashley	10.3	800		$400,000
January 11	3:07 AM CST	EF2	Ashley	20.5	1,000		$3.0 million
January 11	3:24 AM CST	EF0	Drew	0.8	150		$100,000
January 11	3:33 AM CST	EF2	Chicot to MS	17.7	850	1	$1.1 million
January 11	3:36 AM CST	EF1	Chicot	0.2	15		$110,000

March 19 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
March 19	6:50 PM CDT	EF2	Boone	12.5	500	1	$275,000
March 19	7:30 PM CDT	EF1	Baxter	2.2	600		$120,000
March 19	8:09 PM CDT	EF1	Pope	0.8	300
March 19	8:23 PM CDT	EF1	Pope	2.8	200		$20,000
March 19	10:07 PM CDT	EF1	Sharp	5.7	400		$20,000

March 28 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
March 28	4:18 PM CDT	EF1	Jackson	5.3	200		$200,000
March 28	4:58 PM CDT	EF3	Jonesboro tornado	12.5	600	22	$300 million
March 28	5:25 PM CDT	EF1	Greene	3.0	100		$300,000

April 8 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 8	7:47 PM CDT	EF0	Craighead	0.9	30			$8,000
April 8	8:05 PM CDT	EF2	Poinsett	9.3	75		2	$250,000

April 24 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 24	9:09 PM CDT	EF1	Franklin	0.5	75

May 16 6 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 16	2:35 PM CDT	Unrated	Little River to OK	2.2	20
May 16	5:16 PM CDT	EF1	Miller	2.2	30	$50,000
May 16	5:36 PM CDT	EF0	Little River	0.1	20	$2,000
May 16	5:39 PM CDT	EF1	Columbia	2.6	50	$25,000
May 16	5:56 PM CDT	EF1	Nevada	1.9	40	$50,000
May 16	6:46 PM CDT	EF0	Hempstead	0.5	20

May 25 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 25	5:38 PM CDT	EF1	Lafayette	0.3	40			$200,000
May 25	5:58 PM CDT	Unrated	Sebastian	1.3	75

July 1 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 1	12:50 PM CDT	EF0	Greene	0.1	25

August 27 8 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
August 27	6:29 PM CDT	EF0	St. Francis	2.1	60	$3,000
August 27	6:45 PM CDT	EF0	Woodruff	1.3	50	$20,000
August 27	7:13 PM CDT	EF1	Cross	2.1	80	$30,000
August 27	8:31 PM CDT	EF1	Craighead	3.6	70	$15,000
August 27	8:55 PM CDT	EF0	Poinsett	0.9	60
August 27	9:13 PM CDT	EF1	Craighead	4.5	120	$50,000
August 27	9:24 PM CDT	EF1	Craighead	0.9	50	$35,000
August 27	10:07 PM CDT	EF2	Randolph	14.0	100	$200,000

September 1 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
September 1	1:59 PM CDT	EF1	Conway	3.2	100	$100,000
September 1	2:13 PM CDT	EF0	Faulkner	3.2	50
September 1	3:07 PM CDT	EF2	Cleburne	5.3	150	$50,000

November 15 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
November 15	1:15 AM CST	EF1	White	2.0	150		4	$40,000

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
April 28	10:20 PM CDT	EF2	McCurtain, OK to AR	19.4	350			$700,000

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.