On march 1, 1997, approximately nine tornadoes originating from two separate thunderstorms swept across arkansas, from hempstead county in the southwest to clay county in the northeast approximately 260 miles. A devastating tornado killed at least four people and destroyed dozens of homes and businesses when it. Jan 11, 1898, fort smith, arkansas, 1898 fort smith, arkansas tornado. Rainfall sufficient to produce a flood at fort smith may occur any month of the year, although there is no record of floods in september. They do get them, but they are generally weaker and more shortlived than the ones to the west in oklahoma or to the east in dixie alley. Damage prior to 1996, this is a range by dollar amount. Fort smith, arkansas, is located in sebastian county, is the secondlargest city in arkansas, and has a total estimated population of 87,700 people. Tornado warning, high winds hit northwest arkansas counties.
Storm, hail, reported tornadoes pummel parts of south. Covering fort smith, fayetteville, bentonville, and all of northwest arkansas and the river valley. The ef3 tornado struck april 21, 1996, touching down at 11. Fort smith is the secondlargest city in arkansas and one of the two county seats of sebastian county. Tornado shelters in fort smith, ar are found in the local home depot where the twister pod and extreme models are on display by surviveastorm shelters. Monday, april 16, 2001 haunting reminders remain tornado was blessing in disguise for downtown. Smith and van buren, arkansas, tornado of april 21, 1996 unknown.
Arkansas averages 26 tornados per year, resulting in an average of 6 fatalities. The commashaped swirl from the cirrus top of a large supercell thunderstorm can be seen just north of the white arrow in this. With an estimated population of 88,037 in 2017, it is the principal city of the fort smith, arkansas oklahoma metropolitan statistical area, a region of 298,592 residents that encompasses the arkansas counties of crawford, franklin, and. A different drummer, little rock, arkansas condition.
April 21st, 1996 the fort smith and van buren area was unaware that a tornado would strike. The 1898 fort smith, arkansas tornado was a tornado which struck the city of fort smith, arkansas during the night of tuesday, january 11, 1898. Get accuweather alerts as they happen with our browser notifications. This image might not be in the public domain outside of the united states.
Weather service forecast offices, such as the one in little rock, arkansas, when a tornado is either on. The fort smith, ar area has had 15 reports of ontheground hail by trained spotters, and has been under severe weather warnings 115 times during the past 12 months. Forecasters issued a tornado watch for northeastern texas, southeastern oklahoma, eastern arkansas, southeastern illinois. The deadliest tornado in fort smith history struck the town on january 11, 1898. Tornado maps and statistics for all tornadoes in arkansas. Find local weather forecasts for fort smith, united states throughout the world. The twister ripped through fort smiths historic district and the suburb of van buren, sweeping some. Of the 26 fatalities, 25 perished in arkansas and 1 was killed in tennessee. For humorous effect and to make somewhat good use of the literary device of irony, i really should start this tale out with the fact that on the evening of friday, the 19th of april, while i was on the phone with mark holtz in sacramento, i told him that the river deflects just. Heavy rains over oklahoma and southeastern kansas are the only flood producing factor, which refutes deeprooted tradition, snows in the.
Lead times for all counties in which death or injury occurred ranged from 18 to 32 minutes nws, unpublished data, 1997. The national weather service has issued tornado warnings in parts of arkansas, and a tornado watch is in effect for much of the rest of the state until 8 p. Tornado maps and statistics for all tornadoes in arkansas in 1996. The largest tornado on record occurred on 03211952, measuring a 4. You can see beforeandafter photos of several of these sites here touchdown an actual hard copy from the tulsa weather services radar of the moment downtown fort smith was transformed into rubble. All hail reports near fort smith, arkansas on 06302017 fort smith 06302017 hail summary. Fort smith tornado journal scribblings from the public. The boreham library at the university of arkansas fort smith, enabled 72 copies of the university yearbooks to be digitized and made freely available online, 19292003. Some papers come from arkansas while others come from neighboring states. Uca archives newspaper collection various newspapers collected and donated to the archives covering a range of topics and dates. Cure compassionate utilization of resources is a taxexempt, nonprofit corporation formed in 1996 for charitable purposes. Fort smith, ar weather conditions weather underground.
In a 1996 tornado event, over 1,900 homes and 200 commercial properties were destroyed or. The yearbooks during this period was known as the pioneer and nuna. Travel through the history of this great city from the early, wild frontier days to the strong, diversified economic area it has become today. According to records, the largest tornado in the fort smith area was an f5 in 1976 that caused 64 injuries and 2 deaths. Rudy ray moore was born on march 17, 1927 in fort smith, arkansas, usa. A climate graph showing rainfall, temperatures and normals. Smith and van buren, arkansas, tornado of april 21. With an estimated population of 87,845 in 2018, it is the principal city of the fort smith, arkansasoklahoma metropolitan statistical area, a region of 298,592 residents that encompasses the arkansas counties of crawford, franklin, and. It destroyed a number of historic buildings then moved to residential areas on both sides of the arkansas river in fort smith and van buren.
Storms in fort smith, arkansas developing into mountainburg, arkansas tornado 418 no sound duration. It touched down about 100 miles to the southwest, and struck the city around midnight, killing 55 people and injuring 1. See a list of all of the official weather advisories, warnings, and severe weather alerts for fort smith, ar. Monthly temperature, precipitation and hours of sunshine. Smith and van buren, arkansas, tornado of april 21, 1996 was prepared by a nws disaster survey team dst. Smith and van buren, arkansas, tornado of april 21, 1996 represents a specific, individual, material embodiment of a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in indiana state library. Fort smith, arkansas cnn rhonda wheeler stood amid the ruins of her home. The dst conducted the field survey over a period of four days. Fort smith is somewhat sheltered from tornadoes due to being between the ozarks and the ouachitas in the river valley. On the day of the tornadoes, the nws issued storm warnings to 55 arkansas counties, including tornado warnings in 33 counties. Smith and van buren, arkansas, tornado of april 21, 1996. Weather for fort smith, arkansas, usa time and date. During the spring of 1996 the cities of van buren and ft. These photos and images are intended to accompany my 1996 tornado article.
Climate fort smith arkansas and weather averages fort smith. Rare newspaper collection university of central arkansas. Com two downtown businessmen who suffered large losses as a result of the april 21, 1996, tornado in fort smith have seen renewal on garrison avenue since the violent storm demolished a few blocks of fort smiths. Arkansas tornado shelter initiative for residences and schools tornadoes. For 1996 and later, actual damage estimates are in millions. In fort smith, a 2yearold girl and a 5yearold boy were killed. United states, national weather service, description. The historical fort smith volcano and tornado information also included. Find more disaster articles and obituaries in these old arkansas newspapers. Tornado warning, high winds hit northwest arkansas. A tornado rated as f0 is the least damaging, while an f5 is the most damaging. The twister nearly destroyed the citys newly constructed fort smith high school that opened in fall 1897.
An fort smith in usa ka syudad han arkansas, estados unidos. Weather service forecast offices, such as the one in little rock, arkansas, when a. Fort smith arkansas, on the arkansas river, the starting point of the lt a. Doppler radar has detected hail at or near fort smith, ar on 98 occasions, including 3 occasions during the past year. The tornado outbreak sequence of april 1996 was a series of tornado outbreaks that occurred. This report, while providing a general overview of the severe weather event, focuses on the fort smith metropolitan area of northwest arkansas, where a strong. Current weather in fort smith and forecast for today, tomorrow, and next 14 days. Below is information, photos, and articles about the tornado that hit fort smith and van buren, arkansas. There were reports of hail and winds reaching 80 mph near fort smith. Tornado information for harrison, arkansas homefacts. Counties in a high risk tornado area include faulkner county, ar, pulaski county, ar and conway county, ar.
An wikimedia commons mayda media nga nahahanungod han. An ef1 tornado touched down in the rocky branch area near beaver lake during mondays storms, while another ef1 tornado hit the rural areas south of siloam springs in northwest washington county. Response to needs created by the april 1996 tornado in the fort smith, arkansas, area resulted in the formation of cure for continuing regional crisis or disaster relief, support of medical missions and other activities providing for those in need. Cnn arkansas storms leave mounds of debris april 23, 1996. Arkansas nature photographer randy forrester 8,643 views. The creator and year of publication are essential information and must be provided. View the latest weather forecasts, maps, news and alerts on yahoo weather. Fort smith weather averages and climate fort smith, arkansas. Fort smith and van buren, arkansas, tornado of april 21, 1996 corporate authors. Lead time between warning issuance and tornado touchdown was 15 minutes for most affected counties. Two confirmed tornadoes hit northwest arkansas fort. The tornado outbreak sequence of april 1996 was a series of tornado outbreaks that occurred over a threeday period between april 19 to april 21, 1996 across a large area of eastern north america. Tornado risk is calculated from the destruction path that has occured within 30 miles of the location. He was an actor, known for dolemite 1975, the human tornado 1976 and disco godfather.
Tornado shelters in fort smith, ar at phoenix avenue. The fujita scale is used to assess the intensity and damage caused by a tornado. Fort smith, ar natural disasters and weather extremes. Fort smith, ar tornado causes death and damage, jan 1898. The tornado touched down on the west side of downtown fort smith at 11. According to records, the largest tornado in the harrison area was an f3 in 1982 that caused 5 injuries and 0 deaths. All hail reports near fort smith, arkansas on 06302017.
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