SPC Stats
Path length: 17.7 miles
Width: 10 yards
Fatalities: 2
Injuries: 9
Rating: F4
County: Columbia, Ouachita
The strongest tornado that occurred on December 19, 1957 was later rated F4. It moved through parts of Southern Arkansas from near Waldo and McNeil, northeast to near Stephens and ending NW of Buena Vista. The worst damage was near the beginning of the path. Five homes and three other buildings were destroyed. Five other homes were damaged. At the end of the path, a car was picked up and rolled 600 yards. There were nine injuries and two women were killed.
Tornado Path
SPC coordinates: Start: 33.35 / -93.25 End: 33.52 / -93.02
Note: Exact tornado path may not be straight and/or continuous.
Newspaper Clippings
Discrepancies:
We gathered information for this event from the SPC & NCDC Databases, the December 1957 Climatological Data National Summary (CDNS) and Thomas Grazulis in Significant Tornadoes and found the following differences:
Path Length:
- SPC/NCDC have a 17.7 mile path length.
- Grazulis and CDNS have a length at 15 miles.
Width:
- SPC has a width of 10 yards and NCDC at 33 yards. They use these values when the width is not known.
- CDNS has no width listed.
- Grazulis has a width of 300 yards.
Sources:
December 1957 Climatological Data National Summary
Grazulis, Thomas P. (1993). Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991: A Chronology and Analysis of Events. St. Johnsbury, VT: The Tornado Project of Environmental Films. Page 1013.
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