43
Recorded events
16
Direct deaths
334
Direct injuries
$163.4M
Property damage
Tornado in Sebastian County, Arkansas: 43 recorded events between 1954 and 2025. The strongest on record measured F4. That places the county #537 nationally and #16 statewide for this hazard.
Decade by decade
Tornado in Sebastian County, Arkansas: events per decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
The busiest decade for tornado in Sebastian County is the 1990s, when 10 of the county's 43 recorded events were logged. Comparing decades is useful for spotting active periods, but the earliest years are thin because systematic reporting for this hazard began later.
Within the Sebastian County archive, tornado makes up 4.1% of all recorded severe weather across 8 hazard types. Nationally the county sits at #537 for this hazard and #16 within Arkansas, putting it in the 81.4 percentile of all U.S. counties.
Seasonality
Events by month
May is the peak month for tornado in Sebastian County with 14 recorded events, while Aug is the quietest. Seasonality here is a property of the archive as much as the climate: reports cluster where population and spotter networks are densest.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
| Date | Scale | Path length | Max width | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1968-04-19 | EF4 | 2.0 mi | 300 yd | Touched down here |
| 1996-04-21 | EF3 | 10.1 mi | 1,050 yd | Crossed in |
| 1980-04-07 | EF2 | 5.4 mi | 100 yd | Touched down here |
| 1967-12-21 | EF2 | 3.8 mi | 833 yd | Touched down here |
| 1965-05-08 | EF2 | 5.1 mi | 100 yd | Touched down here |
| 1954-02-19 | EF2 | 1.0 mi | 33 yd | Touched down here |
| 2025-05-19 | EF1 | 21.4 mi | 1,000 yd | Crossed in |
| 2023-07-14 | EF1 | 3.4 mi | 550 yd | Touched down here |
| 2022-11-04 | EF1 | 5.8 mi | 1,000 yd | Touched down here |
| 2022-04-11 | EF1 | 1.0 mi | 140 yd | Touched down here |
Significant events
Deadliest on record
| Date | Location | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 19, 1968 | F4 | 14 | 270 | $2.5M | |
| Apr 22, 1996 | FT SMITH | F2 | 2 | 40 | $150.0M |
| Apr 7, 1980 | F2 | 0 | 8 | $250K | |
| May 9, 1965 | F2 | 0 | 8 | $250K | |
| Dec 21, 1967 | F2 | 0 | 6 | $25K | |
| Mar 22, 1991 | F1 | 0 | 1 | $25K | |
| Dec 15, 1971 | F1 | 0 | 1 | $250K |
Most recent
Latest recorded events
| Date | Location | Magnitude | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 6, 2025 | FT SMITH TWIN CITY A | EFU | $0 |
| May 20, 2025 | ENTERPRISE | EF1 | $1.5M |
| Jul 14, 2023 | HUNTINGTON | EF1 | $100K |
| Nov 5, 2022 | FT CHAFFEE | EFU | $0 |
| Nov 4, 2022 | HUNTINGTON | EF1 | $400K |
| Apr 11, 2022 | BLOOMER | EF1 | $0 |
| May 4, 2021 | FT SMITH | EF1 | $1.0M |
| May 25, 2020 | WEST HARTFORD | EFU | $0 |
| May 18, 2019 | BLOOMER | EF1 | $0 |
| May 18, 2019 | BARLING | EF1 | $50K |
Other hazards here
More from Sebastian County
- Thunderstorm Wind 470
- Hail 386
- Flash Flood 106
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
A gustnado occurred at 122 am near Phoenix and 46th street in Fort Smith and was on the ground for approximately 20 seconds. 3 warehouses and 2 office buildings were heavily damaged. A motor home,construction trailer and cessna airplane were also destroyed. There was also damage to a hangar at the Fort Smith airport and minor damage was done to 2 commuter planes.
This is the second segment of a two segment tornado. The tornado moved into Sebastian County west of Bonanza and moved northeast toward White Bluff. It was weak between Highway 112, across the north side of Bonanza, to just west of Highway 71, with mostly small trees uprooted and large tree limbs snapped in that segment of the path. It strengthened as it approached Highway 71, where trees were uprooted or snapped. The tornado then moved across Fort Chaffee, where 40 buildings were damaged, and trees were snapped or uprooted, and then turned east-northeast, dissipating before crossing Highway 22. It produced a tornadic debris signature from the KSRX WSR-88D. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in this segment of the tornado was 100 to 110 mph.
This is the third segment of a four segment tornado. The tornado moved across the Arkansas River and into Sebastian County, uprooting numerous trees before moving across the northern portion of the City of Fort Smith. Numerous homes and businesses were damaged by this large tornado, numerous power poles were snapped, and many trees were uprooted before the tornado crossed the Arkansas River again, moving back into Crawford County. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in this segment of the tornado was 95 to 105 mph.
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many tornado events are on record in Sebastian County, Arkansas?
43 tornado events are recorded in Sebastian County between 1954 and 2025, causing 16 direct deaths.
What is the strongest tornado recorded in Sebastian County?
The strongest tornado on record in Sebastian County measured F4.
Where does the tornado data for Sebastian County come from?
All events come from the NOAA/NCEI Storm Events Database, the federal public-domain archive of severe weather reports. Dates are UTC, damage is as reported and not inflation-adjusted, and the most recent entries may still be revised.
Cite this page
“Tornado in Sebastian County, Arkansas.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/arkansas/sebastian-county/tornado/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.