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Ashley County, Arkansas severe weather history spans 485 recorded events between 1953 and 2026. The dominant hazard is thunderstorm wind, accounting for 49.7% of all recorded events. It ranks #928 nationally and #33 in Arkansas.
485
Recorded events
6
Direct deaths
55
Direct injuries
$61.0M
Property damage
The record
What the Ashley County, Arkansas severe weather history record shows
Across the archive, Ashley County, Arkansas severe weather history averages 6.6 recorded events a year. The busiest stretch on record is the 2010s, with 150 events logged in that decade alone. Roughly 64 events fall before 1990 and 421 from 1990 onward — a gap that reflects the expansion of NOAA reporting practice as much as the weather itself.
The deadliest hazard in the Ashley County, Arkansas record is tornado, responsible for 6 direct deaths. The costliest is tornado, with $46.0M in reported property damage. In total, 6 distinct hazard types appear in this county archive, each listed with its own dated record below.
By hazard type
Every hazard type recorded in Ashley County
| Hazard | Events | Deaths | Damage | Max | Span |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 241 | 0 | $5.5M | 85 | 1956–2026 |
| Hail | 129 | 0 | $2.4M | 2.75 | 1961–2026 |
| Flash Flood | 56 | 0 | $6.5M | 0 | 1999–2025 |
| Tornado | 45 | 6 | $46.0M | F3 | 1953–2026 |
| Flood | 9 | 0 | $605K | 0 | 2009–2024 |
| Funnel Cloud | 5 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 2003–2024 |
Decade by decade
Ashley County, Arkansas severe weather history by decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
43 mapped tornado paths intersect this county: 37 touched down inside it and 6 crossed in from a neighbouring county. This comes from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
| Date | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Path length | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001-11-24 | EF3 | 3 | 11 | 30.0 mi | Crossed in |
| 1979-04-08 | EF3 | 0 | 13 | 17.7 mi | Touched down here |
| 1976-02-17 | EF2 | 3 | 46 | 29.5 mi | Touched down here |
| 2023-01-02 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 42.8 mi | Touched down here |
| 2020-01-11 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 20.5 mi | Touched down here |
| 2019-04-25 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 16.0 mi | Crossed in |
| 2018-04-14 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 8.9 mi | Touched down here |
| 2011-05-25 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 6.3 mi | Touched down here |
| 2009-04-09 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 13.6 mi | Touched down here |
| 1990-12-30 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 10.0 mi | Touched down here |
Significant events
Deadliest events on record in Ashley County
| Date | Type | Location | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 24, 2001 | Tornado | WILMOT | 3 | 11 | $2.0M |
| Feb 18, 1976 | Tornado | 3 | 10 | $250K | |
| Jan 19, 1988 | Tornado | 0 | 13 | $2.5M | |
| Apr 9, 1979 | Tornado | 0 | 13 | $25.0M | |
| May 4, 1989 | Thunderstorm Wind | 0 | 4 | $0 | |
| Apr 18, 1978 | Tornado | 0 | 3 | $250K | |
| Apr 2, 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | CROSSETT | 0 | 1 | $75K |
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
A supercell thunderstorm produced a tornado that moved out of Morehouse Parish, Louisiana into Ashley County, Arkansas, 6 miles southwest of Wilmot. The tornado then moved to the south end of Lake Enterprise, just west of Wilmot. The tornado strengthened and widened as it approached the Wilmot area and was rated as an F3 with a maximum width of one half mile. The tornado destroyed 14 mobile homes and houses and caused extensive damage to five other homes in the vicinity of Wilmot. A church on the north side of Wilmot was completely destroyed. Additionally, a tractor shed housing farm equipment was destroyed, and the equipment inside was also destroyed. As the tornado tracked northeast toward Parkdale, it damaged or destroyed several cotton pickers, trailers, and tractors. The tornado lifted 2.5 miles east-northeast of Parkdale. The total estimated damage of the tornado was $2.0 million. The tornado caused the deaths of three people in the vicinity of Wilmot. Additionally, a total of eleven people sustained injuries.
Persistent heavy rains occurred from weakening Hurricane Gustav and dumped 8 to 12 inches of rain across the county. This heavy rainfall caused many roads to flood along with several homes taking in water.||Agriculture was especially hard hit as all of the farmland was flooded. In some cases, entire crops were lost or were substantially damaged where yields were very low.
A destructive thunderstorm complex produced widespread damaging winds across Ashley County. While much of the county experienced severe wind gusts at or above 60 mph, a corridor of higher gusts in the 70 to 100 mph range occurred along a swath from near Crossett and Hamburg to the southeast. Most trees sustained some degree of damage, and many were uprooted or snapped. Approximately 20 to 30 homes were damaged or destroyed by fallen trees, and some residences and businesses lost some shingles and roof covering. Treefall also resulted in numerous power line and power pole failures. A tree also fell onto a substation in Hamburg. Between Crossett and Hamburg, tubular steel power transmission towers were collapsed. This area is where the winds likely reached maximum intensity, estimated to be near 100 mph. The damaging wind complex carried east and southeast toward Wilmot where winds weakened below 70 mph. Wind damage continued farther east into Chicot county, but was this was not as intense as that in central Ashley County.
Context
Risk, population and federal disasters
Relatively Low
FEMA NRI risk rating
18,429
Population (ACS)
$92K
Median home value
15
Federal declarations
| Declared | Incident | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 24, 2026 | Winter Storm | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM |
| Apr 5, 2025 | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | EM |
| Aug 27, 2020 | Hurricane | HURRICANE LAURA | EM |
| Apr 3, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR |
| Mar 13, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 | EM |
| May 6, 2016 | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | DR |
Within the county
Most affected places
- Hamburg 119
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many severe weather events have been recorded in Ashley County, Arkansas?
485 events are on record between 1953 and 2026, causing 6 direct deaths and $61.0M in property damage.
What is the most common severe weather hazard in Ashley County?
Thunderstorm Wind, with 241 recorded events — 49.7% of everything in the archive for this county.
How many tornadoes have crossed Ashley County?
43 mapped tornado paths intersect the county boundary; 37 of them touched down inside it. This is derived from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
How many federal disaster declarations cover Ashley County?
15 federal disaster declarations from FEMA include Ashley County, each tied to a specific incident period.
How risky is Ashley County compared with the rest of the country?
FEMA's National Risk Index rates Ashley County as relatively low risk, placing it in the 54 percentile of its state for expected annual loss.
Where does the Ashley County, Arkansas severe weather history data come from?
Every figure is drawn from United States federal public-domain records: NOAA/NCEI Storm Events for the event archive, NOAA SPC SVRGIS for mapped tornado paths, FEMA for disaster declarations and risk ratings, and the U.S. Census for population context. Dates are shown in UTC and recent entries may still be revised by NOAA.
Nearby
Neighbouring counties
- Arkansas County 477
- Baxter County 558
- Benton County 1,224
- Boone County 467
- Bradley County 269
- Calhoun County 279
Cite this page
“Ashley County, Arkansas.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/arkansas/ashley-county/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.