Alert archive / Arkansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 101, NWS Memphis, TN

April 22, 1996Craighead County, Arkansas

NWS Memphis, TN issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 22, 1996, 7:29 AM CDT for Craighead County, Arkansas. It was in force for 46 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Apr 22, 1996, 7:29 AM CDT (12:29 UTC)
Expired
Apr 22, 1996, 8:15 AM CDT
In force
46 min
Issued by
NWS Memphis, TN
Area
Whole counties

County Craighead County, AR

The radar

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 87 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 12:33 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The nearest sounding before it

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 12:00Z, 0.5 hours before the alert went out and 127 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Little Rock, AR at 12:00Z on 1996-04-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 714 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Little Rock, AR at 12:00Z on 1996-04-22The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 78 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.
Mixed-layer CAPE
714 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-5 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
724 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
49 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
78 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
135 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.3
Supercell composite
1.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KMEM 221229
SVRMEM
ARC031-221315-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
729 AM CDT MON APR 22 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MEMPHIS HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  815 AM CDT
FOR PERSONS IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTHEAST ARKANSAS
 
   ...CRAIGHEAD COUNTY
 
AT 728 AM CDT...DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
OVER CRAIGHEAD COUNTY...JUST EAST OF JONESBORO...MOVING EAST AT 30 MILES
AN HOUR. THE STORM WILL PASS NEAR LAKE CITY AND CARAWAY BY 750 AM.
 
THIS STORM IS LIKELY TO PRODUCE DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 58  MILES AN
HOUR.
 
 
A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR THE WARNED AREA.  REMEMBER
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES
WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING.  REMAIN CALM BUT BE ALERT TO
RAPIDLY CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Apr 22, 4:39 AM CDT, 2 hours 50 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
435 AM CDT MON APR 22 1996

...SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR WEST TENNESSEE FOR TODAY AND TONIGHT...

A COLD FRONT CURRENTLY ACROSS NORTHWEST MISSOURI AND OKLAHOMA WILL BEGIN
TO MOVE EASTWARD TOWARD TENNESSEE TODAY AND REACH THE WESTERN PORTION OF
THE STATE TONIGHT. THE ATMOSPHERE IS MODERATELY UNSTABLE AHEAD OF THE
FRONT AS AMPLE GULF MOISTURE AND A STRONG LOW LEVEL JET ARE IN PLACE. A
STRONG UPPER LEVEL JET WILL APPROACH WESTERN TENNESSEE LATER TODAY WHICH
WILL ALSO HELP TO ENHANCE THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT.

DAMAGING WINDS...LOCALLY HEAVY DOWNPOURS ALONG WITH LARGE HAIL WILL BE
POSSIBLE TODAY AND TONIGHT WITH THESE STORMS.

STAYED TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO AND COMMERCIAL RADIO AND T.V. FOR
FURTHER STATEMENTS ON THIS DEVELOPING SEVERE WEATHER SITUATION.

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Arkansas, 1996Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1996

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.