The 1898 Fort Smith tornado was a tornado which struck the city of Fort Smith, Arkansas, during the night of Tuesday, January 11, 1898. It touched down about 100 miles to the southwest, and struck the city around midnight, killing 55 people and injuring 113. The twister nearly destroyed the newly constructed Fort Smith High School that had opened in fall 1897. Another tornado was also reported that night in Alma, Arkansas.[1]
The Fort Smith tornado is tied with one that struck Warren in 1949 for the deadliest tornado to strike Arkansas.[2] Both tornadoes were estimated to be rated F4 on the Fujita scale.[3][4]
^Grazulis, Thomas P. (July 1993). Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991. A Chronology and Analysis of Events. St. Johnsbury, VT: The Tornado Project of Environmental Films. pp. 681–682, 941. ISBN 1-879362-03-1.
† Alaska, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Rhode Island and Vermont are excluded from this list because they have no recorded tornadic deaths. ‡Only includes deaths in the specified state; some tornadoes caused additional deaths across state lines.
