User:TBKS1/Tornado outbreak of January 3, 1949

Tornado outbreak of January 3, 1949

Type	Tornado outbreak
Duration	January 3, 1949
Tornadoes confirmed	12 confirmed (Grazulis)
Max. rating1	F4 tornado
Duration of tornado outbreak2	Five hours
Fatalities	60+ fatalities, 500+ injuries (Deadliest tornado outbreak in January)
Damage	$1,543,000 (1949 USD), ~$18 million (2021 USD)
Areas affected	Southern United States
1Most severe tornado damage; see Fujita scale 2Time from first tornado to last tornado

Confirmed tornadoes

Confirmed tornadoes by Fujita rating

FU	F0	F1	F2	F3	F4	F5	Total
0	?	?	6	5	1	0	12

January 3 event

List of confirmed tornadoes – Monday, January 3, 1949

EF#	Location	County / Parish	State	Start Coord.	Time (UTC)	Path length	Max width	Summary	Refs
F3	NE of Altoona to SW of Petrolia	Wilson, Neosho	KS	37.56°N 95.61°W / 37.56; -95.61 (Altoona, KS (January 3, F3))	20:00-?	18 mi (29 km)	150 yd (140 m)	The tornado directly hit Vilas, destroying at least six homes there.
F3	NE of Iola to E of Bush City	Allen, Anderson	KS	37.98°N 95.35°W / 37.98; -95.35 (Lone Elm, KS (January 3, F3))	20:30-?	25 mi (40 km)	150 yd (140 m)	This tornado directly hit two rural homes and killed many cattle. Damage estimates are around $45,000 (1949 USD)
F2	Near Dixie to near Sarepta	Caddo, Bossier, Webster	LA	32.69°N 93.83°W / 32.69; -93.83 (Sarepta, LA (January 3, F2))	20:45-?	25 mi (40 km)	100 yd (91 m)	The most significant damage occurred near Sarepta. 14 injuries were directly tied to the tornado, almost all of them occurring there. This tornado is directly tied to a long tracked supercell which also produced tornadoes in Arkansas.
F3	Near Cotton Valley to E of Haynesville	Webster, Claiborne	LA	32.82°N 93.41°W / 32.82; -93.41 (Haynesville-Gordon, LA (January 3, F3))	21:15-?	25 mi (40 km)	300 yd (270 m)	1 death - Significant tornado damage occurred south of Haynesville, with one death directly tied to the tornado occurring at Gordon. This tornado followed an almost identical track to an F4 tornado on December 31, 1947 which killed 18 people.
F2	Bunn, Farindale and Grapevine	Dallas, Cleveland, Grant	AR	33.99°N 92.51°W / 33.99; -92.51 (Grapevine, AR (January 3, F2))	22:00-?	18 mi (29 km)	150 yd (140 m)	1 death - One death occurred in Grapevine.
F2	Bismarck to near Magnet Cove	Hot Spring	AR	34.32°N 93.17°W / 34.32; -93.17 (Bismarck, AR (January 3, F2))	22:00-?	20 mi (32 km)	200 yd (180 m)
F3	W of El Dorado to near Norphlet	Union	AR	33.21°N 92.86°W / 33.21; -92.86 (El Dorado, AR (January 3, F3))	22:00-?	Unknown	Unknown	2 deaths - This may have been part of the Warren tornado itself, or a family of tornadoes from the same storm. Two people died west of El Dorado, near the origin of the tornado.
F4	Warren area	Columbia, Union, Calhoun, Bradley	AR	Unknown	22:15-?	40–70 mi (64–113 km)	500 yd (460 m)	55 deaths - See section on this tornado. Tied as the deadliest single tornado in Arkansas history.
F2	Near Malvern	Hot Spring	AR	Unknown	22:20-?	5 mi (8.0 km)	100 yd (91 m)
F2	Kentucky to near Salem	Saline	AR	34.60°N 92.65°W / 34.60; -92.65 (Salem, AR (January 3, F2))	22:30-?	5 mi (8.0 km)	100 yd (91 m)
F2	Choudrant to E of Farmersville	Lincoln, Union	LA	32.53°N 92.49°W / 32.53; -92.49 (Choudrant-Downsville, LA (January 3, F3))	00:30-?	20 mi (32 km)	Unknown	1 death - At least 30 buildings were destroyed between Choudrant and Downsville
F2	S of Gould	Lincoln, Desha	AR	Unknown	01:00-?	5 mi (8.0 km)	100 yd (91 m)	A school bus was wrapped around a tree about five miles south of Gould.

Warren, Arkansas tornado

Warren, Arkansas

F4 tornado
Max. rating1	F4 tornado
Fatalities	55 fatalities, 435 injuries (Deadliest tornado in Arkansas history)
Damage	$1.3 million (1949 USD)
Areas affected	Southern Arkansas
1Most severe tornado damage; see Fujita scale

This was almost certainly a tornado family. The origin point isn't exactly clear, but it's believed to have been part of the same supercell that also produced the F3 tornado north of El Dorado, which caused two fatalities there. It may have also continuously had a tornado on the ground all the way back when it started north of Shreveport, Louisiana, but there's no way to fully determine it.

The tornado significantly gained strength shortly before entering Warren at around 5:45 PM CST. A violent tornado was heading right for downtown, and just started to enter the city from the southwest. Extreme damage occurred to many buildings in the city of Warren, such as houses, businesses (especially in downtown), and heavy damage to a sawmill. Extensive ground scouring also occurred in the city, which can be seen very clearly in aerial photos of the tornado damage. The tornado dissipated north of Wilmar shortly after it struck Warren.

By the time the tornado passed, 55 people were dead in Warren, with an additional 435 significantly injured. The population of Warren was about 2,600 people at the time. Makeshift hospitals were created in Warren shortly after the tornado hit to assist the significantly injured, while some of the survivors were also taken to hospitals in neighboring cities (such as Monticello and Pine Bluff). Almost all of the dead were taken to a single funeral home that wasn't affected by the tornado, completely overflowing the morgue with over 45 bodies. Power lines were down, and gas leaks were everywhere, leading to several fires breaking out in the city. The tornado caused about $1.3 million in damages (1949 USD), which is close to $18 million in 2021 USD.

This wouldn't be the last violent tornado to hit Warren. Another F4 tornado directly hit Warren on March 28th, 1975 killing seven people.

Records and statistics

The Warren tornado is often regarded as the deadliest tornado in Arkansas history. With 55 fatalities, it's tied with the 1898 Fort Smith tornado as the deadliest single tornado in Arkansas. The 1898 Fort Smith tornado occurred on January 11th of that year, which also makes it tied with the same tornado as the deadliest single tornadoes recorded in the month of January. Five fatalities tied to different tornadoes also occurred on the same day, which makes it the deadliest tornado outbreak ever recorded in the month of January with 60 fatalities in total, beating the previous record of 56 fatalities from the January 11, 1898 tornado outbreak (55 of those being from the Fort Smith tornado itself). It was the deadliest tornado recorded in the United States since the 1947 Glazier-Higgins-Woodward tornadoes, which killed 181 people. The next tornado to record over 50 fatalities occurred on May 11, 1953 when an F5 tornado hit Waco, Texas, which caused 114 fatalities.

It was the fifth deadliest tornado recorded in the 1940s, between the Northern Mississippi F4 tornado (63 deaths), and an F4 tornado that struck Pryor, Oklahoma on April 27, 1942, which caused 52 deaths.