Howard County, Arkansas

What hazards hit Howard County most?

The most frequent records are severe thunderstorm wind events: 254 since 1958. The rank column places the county among Arkansas's counties by days with a record per 1,000 square miles of land over each hazard's complete period.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database (county and forecast-zone records attributed to the county; a zone record shows its own totals on each county it covers). Days: dates with at least one record of the hazard in the county. Ranks: days with a record per 1,000 square miles of land (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer), since 1950 for tornadoes, 1955 for hail and thunderstorm wind, 1996 for the rest.

How many tornadoes has Howard County had?

NOAA records 35 tornadoes in Howard County from 1952 to 2022, the strongest rated F4, with 12 deaths and 51 injuries recorded in the county. That is 12th of 75 Arkansas counties by days with tornadoes per 1,000 square miles since 1950. A tornado that crossed a county line is counted in each county it touched, with the length of its path inside the county.

Counted as whole tornadoes rather than county records, the Storm Prediction Center's database holds 34 tornadoes whose track touched Howard County since 1950 (NOAA's county records number 35: they file a crossing tornado once per county segment, and the two databases differ on some tracks); along their whole tracks they killed 12 people.

Map of the strongest tornado tracks in Arkansas.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, tornado records by county (path length in the county, maximum width); ratings as published: F scale before February 1, 2007, EF scale after. Whole-track figures: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database (1950-2025). SPC severe weather database.

When was the last damaging storm in Howard County?

The most recent record with damage, injuries or deaths is the November 4, 2022 tornado ($202,000 in damage in 2025 dollars).

An EF-2 tornado with estimated maximum winds near 115 mph touched down near the intersection of Possum Hollow Road and Highway 26 just southwest of the Center Point community, where a metal outbuilding was destroyed and numerous trees were snapped or uprooted. The tornado continued northeast damaging chicken houses near Madison Street and significantly damaged a mobile home off of Billings Road and Highway 278. The tornado continued to snap and uproot trees in a heavily forested area southwest of Briar before lifting just north of Muddy Fork Road.
National Weather Service event narrative, NOAA Storm Events Database (search the full record, event 1057258)

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database; every record of 2025-2026 is listed, earlier ones when they caused deaths, injuries or $250,000 of damage (2025 dollars), and every tornado.

The deadliest and costliest records

A damage figure marked "step" is a record from before 1993: NOAA then filed damage by category, and the figure is the category as entered, in the dollars of that year, not an estimate of the loss.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: deaths and injuries direct and indirect; damage is property plus crops as estimated by the National Weather Service, converted to 2025 dollars.

Is it getting more frequent?

Records per decade for Howard County's most frequent hazards. Counts rose everywhere after 1996, when NOAA began recording every event type, so compare decades within a hazard's complete period only (the shaded cells come before it).

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records per calendar decade; zone records from the CZ_TYPE field (Z).

What time of year?

Records by month in Howard County. The two busiest months are in violet.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records by the month they began.

Federal disaster declarations for Howard County

FEMA's register lists 22 declarations that include Howard County: 15 major disasters, 7 emergencies and 0 fire management assistance declarations. Most were for severe storm (7) and tornado (4).

Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries (v2), declarations through October 2, 2026; one declaration is counted once however many areas it names. OpenFEMA dataset page.

How many floods has Howard County had?

NOAA's Storm Events Database holds 50 flood or flash flood records for Howard County from 1996 to 2026, on 27 days, with 0 deaths. By flood insurance claims since 1978 (OpenFEMA, as of September 8, 2026), Howard County ranks 1976th of 2,942 U.S. counties.

The National Flood Insurance Program has paid $162,000 on 26 claims filed in Howard County; the most in one year was 4 in 1983. Claims count insured losses only: uninsured flood damage is not in this file.

Source: FEMA OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims, as of September 8, 2026; claims by year of loss, payments in the dollars of the year paid. OpenFEMA dataset page.

FEMA's modeled risk for Howard County

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Howard County Relatively Low overall, with an expected annual loss of $9.9 million. These are FEMA's model estimates of future loss from 18 hazards, not a count of what happened; they can differ from the record above.

Source: FEMA National Risk Index, county table, December 2025 release. FEMA's National Risk Index map.

Counties that share a border with Howard County

1. Howard County 783
2. Hempstead County 730
3. Polk County 703
4. Sevier County 656
5. Little River County 614
6. Montgomery County 586
7. Pike County 546

Source: U.S. Census Bureau county adjacency file; NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records since 1950. The Census Bureau's adjacency file.

Next

• Tornadoes in ArkansasEvery Arkansas tornado since 1950 and the counties with the most per square mile
• Severe thunderstorm wind in ArkansasThe state's severe thunderstorm wind events, by county, year and month
• The Arkansas recordEvery hazard in the state, its deadliest events and its federal declarations
• FEMA's risk rating for each hazard in Howard CountyThe hazard risk calculator: 18 hazards beside the county's record
• Download Howard County's FEMA declarations (CSV)22 rows: every declaration that named the county, for your own analysis