Franklin County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Franklin County: 3.
2. Weak tornadoes were under-recorded before Doppler radar coverage became national in the early 1990s, so earlier decades read low. Ratings use the Fujita scale before February 2007 and the Enhanced Fujita scale after.

Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, 1950 to 2025.

Every storm within 100 miles

1. Tropical storms and hurricanes (34 kt or more, still tropical) at closest approach. Post-tropical remnants with gale-force winds are listed but not counted. Direct: track within 50 miles; near: within 100 miles. Distance is measured to the county boundary for counties and to the city centre for cities, using positions interpolated hourly between HURDAT2 fixes.

National Hurricane Center HURDAT2, 1851 to 2025.

Every large fire

1. Large fires mapped by the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity program since 1984: 1,000 acres or more in the West, 500 or more in the East. Prescribed burns are excluded. Acres here are the part of each perimeter inside this place.

Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service), 1984 to 2026.

Smoke overhead

1. A smoke day is a date on which a smoke plume traced by NOAA Hazard Mapping System analysts from satellite imagery covered this place's point (the county's population centre or the city centre). Counts here are of medium or heavy smoke. Since 2018 analysts have often drawn light smoke as one area over most of the continent, so light-smoke counts are not comparable from year to year. The plumes show smoke anywhere in the air above, not air quality at the ground, and smoke hidden by cloud is missed.

NOAA Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, 2011 to 2026, retrieved October 30, 2026.

Claims by ZIP code

This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026. NOAA Storm Events through 2026.

River crests

River gauges

1. Crests are the highest and the recent crests the National Weather Service lists for each river gauge in the county that has a flood stage, not every flood. Flood categories use each gauge's current flood stages; crests from before levees, dams or channel changes may not be comparable. Crests measured on an old datum are left out of the rankings.

NOAA National Water Prediction Service gauge records, retrieved October 30, 2026.

1. The Palmer Drought Severity Index is computed by NOAA each month from the county's average temperature and precipitation, relative to the county's own climate. Zero is normal; -3 or lower is severe drought and -4 or lower extreme drought. It describes the long-term balance of moisture, not water supply or crop losses.

NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, 1895 to September 2026, issued October 6, 2026.

Every earthquake of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles

1. Earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more in the USGS Comprehensive Catalog since 1900. Within 50 miles means the epicentre lies within 50 miles of the county boundary (or inside the county).
2. Small earthquakes were under-recorded before the modern seismic networks of the 1970s and are still missed in remote areas, so early decades read low. Magnitudes are as the catalogue reports them and mix scales (moment, local and body-wave).

USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, 1900 to present, retrieved October 30, 2026.

Mapped landslides

Mapped by NASA (2).

1. Landslides mapped in the USGS compilation of landslide inventories across the United States (version 3.0, 2025), rated probable or better. The compilation joins inventories made by federal and state agencies for different purposes and areas, so the number mapped in a county reflects how closely it has been surveyed as much as how often its slopes fail. An area with few records may simply not have been mapped. Deaths are as recorded in the inventories; a slide listed in two inventories is counted once.

USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0, retrieved October 27, 2026.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Nov 23, 2001Tornado$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An F1 tornado touched down 1 mile west of Altus and crossed the Johnson County border 6 miles northeast of Altus. The tornado first began doing damage just southwest of Highway 64. The strongest intensity began just south of Interstate 40, just east of Wiederkerh Village and continued across Interstate 40 into Philpott Valley where most of the property damage occurred. The tornado resulted in F1 damage to several houses. Several mobile homes, numerous barns, outbuildings, and other weaker structures were destroyed, including two long turkey houses.

2. May 24, 2011Tornado$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This is the fifth of six segments of this tornado. The tornado crossed the Arkansas River, moving back into Franklin County from Logan County. The tornado crossed Carbon Plant Road and W Creek Road, destroying a mobile home and killing another person. It continued northeast across the town of Denning where it destroyed numerous permanent homes and mobile homes. At least 10 injuries occurred in Denning as the mile-wide tornado moved through the town. Several of these injuries were serious or critical and one of the victims died from her injuries on June 14th. She was in one of the many mobile homes that were destroyed in town. Ten 100-foot metal power poles were bent over at the…

3. May 24, 2011Tornado$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This is the third of six segments of this tornado. The tornado snapped or uprooted a number of large trees as it moved back into Franklin County from Logan County. The damage path widened considerably to about 3/4 of a mile as the tornado moved north of Highway 398 and approached Etna. In and near Etna, the tornado destroyed a number of permanent homes, destroyed mobile homes, destroyed a metal building, destroyed a number of outbuildings, snapped numerous power poles, and snapped or uprooted many large trees. One of the three tornado-related fatalities in Franklin County occurred when a double-wide mobile home was destroyed in Etna. At least six serious injuries occurred in this…

4. Dec 5, 2013Ice Storm, Franklin$810,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Arctic air spread across northwestern Arkansas on the 4th as a strong storm system developed across the western United States. Several upper level disturbances moved through the south central part of the country on the 5th through the 6th, resulting in widespread wintry precipitation across the region beginning during the morning hours of the 5th. The precipitation fell as mainly freezing rain across west central Arkansas and as snow and sleet across northwestern Arkansas. The precipitation changed to all snow by the time it ended on the 6th. By the end of the storm, portions of west central Arkansas received over an inch of ice. Power outages were widespread across Sebastian,…

5. Mar 5, 1999Hail$600,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Just south of Ozark, golfball to baseball-sized hail fell, while quarter to golfball-sized hail fell and covered the ground just north of Ozark.There were widespread reports of damage to vehicles and to roofs on homes and other structures.

6. Apr 21, 1996Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado touched down just to the southwest of Fern. It moved northeastward, through the town of Fern, where 7 homes were destroyed and a number of other buildings were damaged. The tornado continued moving northeastward and lifted 3 miles northeast of Fern. A number of trees were blown down along the tornado's path. 2 people sustained minor injuries from the storm. Initial estimates place the amount of damage at around $500,000.

7. Jun 22, 2026Tornado$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado developed just south of Highway 64 and west of Woodland W Road. It moved east-northeast, crossing Woodland W Road and Highway 64, where numerous trees were snapped or uprooted, some fell onto homes, power poles were snapped, and outbuildings were destroyed. The tornado then moved east across two neighborhoods just north of Highway 64. Numerous trees were uprooted or snapped in these neighborhoods and some homes were damaged when trees or large limbs fell onto them. The tornado then turned southeast and crossed Highway 64 near the Highway 23 intersection, where large tree limbs were snapped and signs were damaged. It then crossed the Arkansas River and then Highway 23,…

8. Jul 18, 2021Flash Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flood water caused minor damage to twenty homes in Ozark, and damaged portions of several roads in southwestern Franklin County.

9. Jun 17, 2023Thunderstorm Wind$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong thunderstorm wind destroyed four poultry barns, uprooted numerous large trees, and blew down power poles.

10. Oct 5, 2000Hail$250,000

1. Storm Events records before 1996 cover only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail. Damage figures are as reported by the National Weather Service at the time, not adjusted for inflation.

NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, 1950 to 2026, issued October 26, 2026.

All-time high

117°FAug 10, 1936

All-time low

−17°FFeb 12, 1899

Warmest night

90°FJul 10, 1944

Coldest day

9°F2 times, most recently Jan 12, 1918

Wettest day

7.36 inSep 22, 2025

Snowiest day

24.0 inFeb 19, 1921

Hottest year

1927mean 65.8°F

Coldest year

2014mean 57.8°F

Wettest year

201969.51 in

Driest year

196324.17 in

Station Subiaco (USC00036928), 500 ft elevation, 17.3 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1897 to October 27, 2026; 98.7% of days in the last 30 years are complete. Records at a single station can differ from a city’s official threaded record, which may combine several stations.

NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily.

This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries, retrieved October 30, 2026. Statewide declarations are not listed.

Neighbouring counties

• Tornadoes NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, through 2025.
• Tropical cyclones NOAA National Hurricane Center HURDAT2 (Atlantic; Northeast and Central Pacific), through 2025.
• Wildfire USGS/USFS Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity, through 2026.
• Storm events NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, through 2026.
• Flood insurance OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026.
• Declarations OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Weather records NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily, station USC00036928.
• River crests NOAA National Weather Service, National Water Prediction Service river gauges, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Drought NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, through September 2026.
• Smoke NOAA NESDIS Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Landslides USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0 (2025).
• Earthquakes USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog (ComCat), retrieved October 30, 2026.

Joins, thresholds and known limits are set out in the methodology. Found an error? Report it. Page built October 30, 2026.