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| About This Page |
| Several historic events (Severe and Winter weather)
have occurred in Arkansas since this website was started in 1996. These events are
documented below. |
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The F5 Tornado of April 10, 1929 |
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| Late on the afternoon of April 10th
1929, a tornado ranked as F5 (the maximum intensity on the Fujita
scale of tornado intensity) struck northern Jackson County. This is the only
F5 tornado ever documented in Arkansas. It
has come to be known as the "Sneed Tornado". The death toll was listed as
23, with at least another 59 people
injured. Some of the injuries were quite severe, including skull fractures. A number of other tornadoes struck the northeast quarter of
Arkansas that day, and separating one damage path from another
was difficult since storm surveys were not done in those days by the U.S.
Weather Bureau. |
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However, it is believed that the
tornado began in Independence County about 3 miles south of Batesville.
The tornado then crossed into Jackson County in the Black River bottoms,
likely in the area north of Centerville. |
| In the picture: The only documented F5 tornado in Arkansas
tracked through northeast sections of the state on April 10, 1929. The
tornado killed 23 people.
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| The tornado reached its maximum intensity in Jackson
County around Pleasant Valley, also known locally as Possum Trot, and then on through the community of
Sneed. Both of these communities, located about 2 1/2 to 3 miles north of
Swifton, were virtually destroyed. Historical accounts, as well as the report of
an eyewitness who is still alive today, indicated that the tornado was 1/2 mile wide at this point.
The tornado then began to weaken
and passed on just to the south and east of Alicia (Lawrence County).
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| Pleasant
Valley was located on what is now Jackson County Road 72, also known as
Ollie Smith Road. Sneed was located on what is now Jackson County Road
630, also known as Sneed Road or Tavern Road. |
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| In the picture: The
Pleasant Valley community used to be located along what is now
Jackson County Road 72. The Pleasant Valley School was located near the
tree to the left of the road, with the school destroyed by the F5
tornado on April 10, 1929. |
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A Red Cross survey completed several days
after the tornado indicated 75 families, including a total of 450 people,
were affected by the tornado. Forty homes were destroyed and another 40 were damaged.
Thirty-six barns were destroyed. In addition, a number of farm animals were killed.
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| In the picture: Victims
of the F5 tornado on April 10, 1929 included Mr. Cleo Nicholson, a beloved teacher at the
Pleasant Valley School, and his wife Lessie. Accounts stress that Mr. Nicholson's students
were moved to tears when they heard of his passing. |
Some of the historical accounts included...
1 - The devastating storm made a clean sweep of the area.
2 - Homes were left in splinters...very little salvage was left.
3 - The twister went through timber places as though nothing was in
the way, tearing up or breaking off huge trees and laying everything flat that happened to be in its path.
4 - Only the pillars of one house remained. The ground was swept
clean. A woman and her daughter had hurried to a nearby home for
protection, and were entering it when the storm caught the dwelling
and carried it with its occupants through the air for 75 yards...before dropping them in a drainage ditch.
5 - The home of one man in Sneed was reduced to kindling.
6 - At the home of another family, the mother, father, and seven
children were at home. When the tornado struck, the family members were scattered for 200 yards.
Fatalities included the father, and
three of the children (ages 6 years, 22 months and 11 months). All the other family members were injured.
7 - The Pleasant Valley School, also known as the Possum Trot School,
was destroyed.
8 - The engineer of a Missouri Pacific
passenger train spotted the tornado as the train was traveling from Little
Rock (Pulaski County) to Hoxie (Lawrence County). The
engineer sped the train up and outran the tornado, but not before the train reached speeds up to 75 mph.
/This is not meant to imply
that the tornado itself was traveling that fast. Rather, it was approaching at an angle to the railroad tracks and the engineer was
trying to judge how fast he would have to go to remain ahead of the
tornado./9 - Rescue efforts were hindered by roads made very muddy by heavy
rain after the tornado passed, and by large timbers and other debris blocking roads.
10 - Very little tornado insurance was carried by owners of property.
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| A large number of people saw the tornado coming and took shelter in
various places. There were several storm cellars in the area, and many people headed for these.
According to one account, about 25
people gathered in one cellar alone. One of the storm cellars still exists
today (as of 2003), although in a deteriorated condition. Others sought
shelter under a road bridge, in a barn, and in a chicken house. |
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| In the picture: Several storm
cellars, including this one (located about a quarter mile north of Jackson County Road 630
near where Sneed used to be), were used to hide from the F5 tornado on April 10, 1929. |
| One survivor of the storm, who was a boy at the time, spotted the tornado and warned his mother. In his account of that
day, the man noted that he remembered from science and geography books how a tornado looked. Pictures taken after the storm bear out the destruction that
occurred. Some of the photos show debris scattered around so badly that it was impossible to determine exactly what type of structure
had been destroyed.
The Fujita Scale of tornado intensities was devised by T. Theodore Fujita in the early 1970s.
As part of a research project for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Fujita studied and ranked tornadoes
from the past. Thomas Grazulis later followed up on the work of Fujita and restudied the events.
These studies are the basis for the
ranking of the Sneed Tornado as an F5. According to the scale, F5 tornadoes would have winds of 261-318 mph.
Other tornadoes that struck on April 10th, 1929 included an F4 tornado that struck Guion (Izard County) and another F4 tornado that traveled from 4 miles southwest of
Wynne through Smiths Chapel and Princedale to north of Parkin (all in Cross County).
Sources used for information on the Sneed Tornado included...
| Interviews with residents of the area
affected |
| Monthly Weather Review from
April, 1929 |
| Swifton Centennial |
| Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991 by
Thomas P. Grazulis |
| U.S. Tornadoes by T.
Theodore Fujita |
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Newport Daily Independent
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Newport Weekly Independent
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The Tuckerman Record
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Arkansas Gazette
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| Arkansas Democrat |
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www.weather.gov
