Arkansas-Tennessee tornado outbreak of 1952

Infobox tornado outbreak|name=Arkansas-Tennessee tornado outbreak of 1952
date=March 21-22, 1952
image location=


duration=~24 hours
fujitascale=F4
tornadoes=31
total damages (USD)= unknown
total fatalities=209
areas affected= Southern United States

The Arkansas-Tennessee tornado outbreak of 1952 was a deadly tornado outbreak that hit the southern United States on March 21-22 1952. Particularly hard hit was the state of Arkansas where two of the deadliest tornadoes since records are kept occurred. These struck White and Woodruff Counties with the town of Judsonia being the worst hit area. The entire outbreak killed 209 people across 5 states and was the deadliest outbreak since the Tupelo-Gainesville tornado outbreak where over 450 were killed across Georgia and Mississippi. Its toll was only surpassed after 1952 by the Flint-Worcester tornado outbreak sequence in 1953, the Palm Sunday tornado outbreak of 1965 and the Super Outbreak in 1974.

Meteorological synopsis

Historical perspective

The 1950s were particularly active and deadly with a very high number of fatalities in 1952, 1953, 1956 and 1957 and several deadly F5 tornadoes. Several of the deadliest tornadoes and tornado outbreaks on history occurred during the decade. In 1953, 3 of the 25 deadliest tornadoes took place in Waco, Flint and Worcester. At that time, predicting and forecasting tornado activity was much more difficult due to less advanced technology making the country more vulnerable to strong and violent tornadoes than today. After other deadly outbreaks struck in the 1950s as well as in 1965, 1967 and 1974, weather agencies and officials were forced to improve tornado warning systems and severe weather forecasts. In addition, numerous Civil Defense tornado sirens were installed across many areas of the Dixie Alley, across much of the traditional Tornado Alley, and the Great Lakes/Midwest region.

ee also

*List of North American tornadoes and tornado outbreaks

References

External links

* [http://jamesmskipper.tripod.com/jamesmskipper/tornado.html Judsonia tornado damage photos]