The Ark-La-Tex (a portmanteau of the abbreviations for Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas; also stylized as Arklatex or ArkLaTex) is a socioeconomic region where the Southern U.S. states of Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Texas join. The region contains portions of Northwest Louisiana, Northeast Texas, and South Arkansas, as well as Oklahoma's southeasternmost county, McCurtain County (part of Choctaw Country).
The population of the 40-county core region as of 2020 is 1,469,860 people, down from 1,515,056 in 2010. Shreveport, Louisiana, with 187,593 people in 2020, is the largest city, economic and geographic center of the region, and principal hub for both the Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area and Northwestern Louisiana. Longview, Texas, with a population of 81,683 people in 2020, is the second-largest city, as well as a principal city of the Tyler–Longview metropolitan conurbation and Greater Longview metropolitan area. The twin cities of Texarkana, Texas, and Texarkana, Arkansas, are the fourth- and sixth-largest cities, respectively, but collectively make up the region's third-largest metropolitan area (with a combined population exceeding 140,000 residents) as the center of the Texarkana metropolitan area encompassing Miller County, Arkansas, and Bowie County, Texas. Other cities in the Ark-La-Tex with 20,000 or more residents include Bossier City, Louisiana; Nacogdoches, Texas; Marshall, Texas; and Ruston, Louisiana.
The counties in the area's western section are largely part of the East Texas region (except for McCurtain County, Oklahoma, which is part of the Choctaw Country tourist region) and mainly encompass the Tyler–Longview–Lufkin–Nacogdoches television market area, while the counties and parishes in the eastern half of the region are included in the Shreveport–Texarkana television market. However, some Arkansas counties—under certain, looser definitions of the Ark-La-Tex region—in northwesternmost areas of the southwestern section of the state are included in the Little Rock viewing area.
Etymology Although use of the term to refer to the tri-state region dates back to the early 1900s, the name "Ark-La-Tex" was popularized regionally by a Shreveport Chamber of Commerce promotional campaign developed in 1932–33 to increase tourism in the area.
The campaign, dubbing the area as "The Land of Arklatex", was based on the idea that "the interests of all the people in the Tri-state area of South Arkansas, North Louisiana and East Texas are practically identical in matters pertaining to agriculture, industry, commerce and trade, and education." The region is alternatively, although seldom in most media and promotional parlance, referred to as "Arklatexoma" or "Ark-La-Texoma", which more inclusively encompasses McCurtain County and other parts of extreme Southeastern Oklahoma that lie along the Red River.
Geography The Ark-La-Tex covers over across the four-state area; if the Ark-La-Tex were a U.S. state, it would be larger than Maryland. Most of the Ark-La-Tex is located in the Piney Woods, an ecoregion of dense forests of mixed deciduous and conifer flora. The forests are periodically punctuated by sloughs and bayous that are linked to larger bodies of water such as Caddo Lake or the Red River. Three of the four National Forests located within the Piney Woods of East Texas are wholly or partially within the Ark-La-Tex boundaries: Angelina National Forest (spanning Angelina, Nacogdoches, San Augustine and Jasper Counties), Sabine National Forest (near Hemphill) and Davy Crockett National Forest (between Lufkin and Crockett).
The Red River is the principal mainstem waterway in the region, exiting from the eastern end of Lake Texoma and running generally east along the Oklahoma–Texas border towards Southwestern Arkansas (entering it near the state line between Little River County, Arkansas, and Bowie County, Texas) before turning southward northeast of Texarkana (in so doing, forming the eastern border of Miller County) and passing into Northwestern Louisiana. The bordering Louisiana cities of Shreveport and Bossier City were developed along the river bank; its span within the Ark-La-Tex ends in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana (where the Red River spans to the adjacent northwest of the parish's namesake county seat), at its intersection with Grant and Rapides Parishes.
Definition As with all vernacular regions, the Ark-La-Tex has no official boundaries or status and is defined differently by various sources. Most definitions of the Ark-La-Tex delineate the region as encompassing 40 parishes and counties, and most weather radars suggest a 40-county or -parish area.
Louisiana (13 parishes) Bienville Bossier Caddo Claiborne DeSoto Jackson Lincoln Natchitoches Red River Sabine Union Webster Winn
Arkansas (10 counties) Columbia Hempstead Howard Lafayette Little River Miller Nevada Ouachita Sevier Union
Oklahoma (one county) McCurtain
Texas (16 counties) Bowie Camp Cass Gregg Harrison Marion Morris Nacogdoches Panola Red River Rusk Sabine San Augustine Shelby Titus Upshur
Alternate definitions can include eight additional Texas counties (Lamar, Delta, Hopkins, Franklin, Wood, Smith, Cherokee, and Angelina), include the Monroe, Louisiana metropolitan area and Ouachita Parish, Louisiana (which is considered part of the Ark-La-Miss region), exclude the counties encompassing the El Dorado, Arkansas micropolitan area, or exclude McCurtain County, Oklahoma. McCurtain County is usually included in the region's areal definition, primarily for media distribution purposes, even though the Oklahoma Department of Tourism and Recreation formally defines it as being part of its Choctaw Country tourism region. Another alternate definition is solely the vicinity of the Ark-La-Tex region's three principal cities, Shreveport, Longview, and Texarkana.
Climate The Ark-La-Tex is situated in a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cfa) typical of the Southeastern United States, albeit occasionally interrupted by intrusions of cold air during the winter months. Rainfall is abundant, with the normal annual precipitation averaging over in some areas (such as Shreveport), with monthly averages ranging from less than in August to more than in June. Portions of East Texas within the region receive more rainfall, , than the rest of the state. Due to the flat topography of some areas and the prominence of smaller waterways that are prone to backwater flooding from the Red River, communities occasionally experience severe flooding events. A notable occurrence of severe flooding occurred in March 2016, after torrential rains caused a rapid rise of many local waterways, displacing upwards of 3,500 people from their homes across Caddo and Bossier parishes and adjacent areas of Northwest Louisiana that lie along the Red River. Freezing rain and ice storms occasionally occur during the winter months.
Severe thunderstorms with heavy rain, hail, damaging winds and tornadoes occur in the area during the spring and summer months, although severe weather can also occur during the winter months. The region is in the western section of the "Dixie Alley" tornado climatology region, where tornadogenesis is most often attributed by high precipitation supercell thunderstorms—within which tornadoes are often partially or fully wrapped in curtains of heavy rain, impairing them from being seen by storm spotters and chasers, law enforcement, and the public—due to an increase of moisture from proximity to the nearby Gulf of Mexico. Some areas of the region, such as Bossier City, average a slightly above normal rate of tornadoes when compared to the national average. The winter months are normally mild; Shreveport, in particular, averages 35 days of freezing or below-freezing temperatures per year. Ice and sleet storms occasionally occur during this timeframe. The summer months are hot and humid, with high to very high relative average humidity, often as a result of moisture being advected from the Gulf of Mexico; in Shreveport, maximum temperatures exceed an average of 91 days per year.
The National Weather Service operates a Weather Forecast Office in Shreveport, which provides local weather forecasts and warnings, watches and advisories for hazardous weather conditions for 39 counties and parishes within the greater Ark-La-Tex region.
Communities Largest cities List of cities with over 3,500 people (in 2020): Louisiana City Parish Population Blanchard Caddo 3,538 Bossier City Bossier 62,701 Eastwood Bossier 4,390 Grambling Lincoln 5,239 Haughton Bossier 4,539 Jonesboro Jackson 4,106 Mansfield DeSoto 4,714 Minden Webster 11,928 Natchitoches Natchitoches 18,039 Red Chute Bossier 7,065 Ruston Lincoln 22,166 Shreveport Caddo, Bossier 187,593 Springhill Webster 4,801 Winnfield Winn 4,153
Texas City County Population Atlanta Cass 5,433 Carthage Panola 6,569 Center Shelby 5,221 Gilmer Upshur 4,843 Gladewater Gregg, Upshur 6,134 Hallsville Harrison 4,277 Henderson Rusk 13,271 Kilgore Gregg, Rusk 13,376 Longview Gregg, Harrison 105,184 Marshall Harrison 55,446 Mount Pleasant Titus 16,047 Nacogdoches Nacogdoches 32,147 Nash Bowie 3,814 New Boston Bowie 4,612 Pittsburg Camp 4,335 Texarkana Bowie 60,113 Wake Village Bowie 5,945 White Oak Gregg 6,225
Arkansas City County Population Ashdown Little River 4,261 Camden Ouachita 10,612 De Queen Sevier 6,105 El Dorado Union 17,755 Hope Hempstead 8,952 Magnolia Columbia 11,162 Nashville Howard 4,153 Texarkana Miller 29,387
Oklahoma City County Population Broken Bow McCurtain 4,228 Idabel McCurtain 6,961
Metropolitan and micropolitan areas Metropolitan statistical areas MSA Primary city/cities State(s) Countiesor parishes Total area Population (2023) Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area ShreveportBossier CityMansfield Louisiana BossierCaddoDeSoto 383,295 Greater Longview metropolitan area Longview Texas GreggHarrisonRuskUpshur 705,231 Greater Texarkana metropolitan area Texarkana, ARTexarkana, TX TexasArkansas Bowie, TXLittle River, ARMiller, AR 145,907
Micropolitan statistical areas μSA Primary city/cities State(s) Countiesor parishes Total area Population (2023) Nacogdoches, TX Micropolitan Statistical Area Nacogdoches Texas Nacogdoches 65,375 Mount Pleasant, TX Micropolitan Statistical Area Mount Pleasant Texas CampMorrisTitus 56,423 Ruston, LA Micropolitan Statistical Area RustonGrambling Louisiana Lincoln 47,962 El Dorado, AR Micropolitan Statistical Area El Dorado Arkansas Union 37,397 Natchitoches, LA Micropolitan Statistical Area Natchitoches Louisiana Natchitoches 36,291 Minden, LA Micropolitan Statistical Area Minden Louisiana Webster 35,238 Camden, AR Micropolitan Statistical Area Camden Arkansas CalhounOuachita 26,434 Magnolia, AR Micropolitan Statistical Area Magnolia Arkansas Columbia 22,150
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