Alert archive / Arkansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 87, NWS Little Rock, AR

May 2, 1997Cleburne County, Arkansas

NWS Little Rock, AR issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 2, 1997, 5:10 PM CDT for Cleburne County, Arkansas. It was in force for 35 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
May 2, 1997, 5:10 PM CDT (22:10 UTC)
Expired
May 2, 1997, 5:45 PM CDT
In force
35 min
Issued by
NWS Little Rock, AR
Area
Whole counties

County Cleburne County, AR

The radar

The Little Rock radar (KLZK), 81 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:09 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, 10.2 hours before the alert went out and 205 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 1997-05-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 496 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 1997-05-02The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 534 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
496 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-404 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
733 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
51 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
534 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
701 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

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, May 2, 12:40 PM CDT, 4 hours 30 minutes before
ARZ003>009-012>018-020>028-030>073-022300-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
1240 PM CDT FRI MAY 2 1997

...SEVERE WEATHER POSSIBLE ACROSS MUCH OF ARKANSAS TODAY...

THE ATMOSPHERE OVER ARKANSAS WILL BE QUITE UNSTABLE IN ADVANCE OF AN
APPROACHING COLD FRONT THIS AFTERNOON. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS MOVED THROUGH MANY PARTS OF THE STATE THIS MORNING...
BUT THE PRIMARY SUPPORT FOR SEVERE STORMS WAS STILL APPROACHING.

A STRONG AREA OF LOW PRESSURE WITH COLD AIR ALOFT WAS OVER THE CENTRAL
AND SOUTHERN PLAINS THIS MORNING.

AS LOW PRESSURE LIFTS NORTHEASTWARD...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE
POSSIBLE THROUGH MOST OF ARKANSAS THIS AFTERNOON. THE THREAT OF SEVERE
STORMS WILL CONTINUE FOR SOME EASTERN AND SOUTHERN PARTS OF THE STATE
EARLY TONIGHT.

PERSONS ACROSS ARKANSAS SHOULD REVIEW SEVERE WEATHER SAFETY RULES.
TUNE TO YOUR LOCAL TELEVSION...CABLE TELEVISION SYSTEM...RADIO STATION
OR NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR THE LATER INFORMATION AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS.

31
Special weather statement, May 2, 12:44 PM CDT, 4 hours 26 minutes before
ARZ003>009-012>018-020>028-030>073-022300-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
1240 PM CDT FRI MAY 2 1997

...SEVERE WEATHER POSSIBLE ACROSS MUCH OF ARKANSAS TODAY...

THE ATMOSPHERE OVER ARKANSAS WILL BE QUITE UNSTABLE IN ADVANCE OF AN
APPROACHING COLD FRONT THIS AFTERNOON. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS MOVED THROUGH MANY PARTS OF THE STATE THIS MORNING...
BUT THE PRIMARY SUPPORT FOR SEVERE STORMS WAS STILL APPROACHING.

A STRONG AREA OF LOW PRESSURE WITH COLD AIR ALOFT WAS OVER THE CENTRAL
AND SOUTHERN PLAINS THIS MORNING.

AS LOW PRESSURE LIFTS NORTHEASTWARD...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE
POSSIBLE THROUGH MOST OF ARKANSAS THIS AFTERNOON. THE THREAT OF SEVERE
STORMS WILL CONTINUE FOR SOME EASTERN AND SOUTHERN PARTS OF THE STATE
EARLY TONIGHT.

PERSONS ACROSS ARKANSAS SHOULD REVIEW SEVERE WEATHER SAFETY RULES.
TUNE TO YOUR LOCAL TELEVSION...CABLE TELEVISION SYSTEM...RADIO STATION
OR NOAA WEATH$ER RADIO FOR THE LATER INFORMATION AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS.

31
Special weather statement, May 2, 1:44 PM CDT, 3 hours 26 minutes before
ARZ025-034-022300-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
140 PM CDT FRI MAY 2 1997

...TORNADO WATCH 233 FOR NORTHEAST ARKANSAS UNTIL 7 PM CDT...

A LINE OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE THROUGH NORTHEAST ARKANSAS
THIS AFTERNOON...SOME PRODUCING STRONG WINDS...LARGE HAIL AND
A POSSIBLE TORNDADO. AT 135 PM...THE STRONGEST THUNDERSTOMMS WERE
LOCATED FROM NEAR LITTLE ROCK TO BATESVILLE TO POCAHONTAS. THIS LINE
OF STORMS WAS MOVING TO THE EAST AT 30 MPH.

JACKSON AND WOODRUFF COUNTIES PLUS 10 COUNTIES EAST AND NORTH OF THESE
TWO COUNTIES ARE IN THE TORNADO WATCH.

PERSONS ACROSS NORTHEAST ARKANSAS SHOULD REVIEW SEVERE WEATHER
SAFETY RULES. TUNE TO YOUR LOCAL TELEVISION...CABLE TELEVISION OR
RADIO STATION OR NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR THE LATEST INFORMATION AND
POSSIBLE WARNINGS.

16

The office that day

Everything else NWS Little Rock, AR issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 2, 12:34 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKCleburne61 min
May 2, 12:48 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKFaulkner, Pulaski62 min
May 2, 2:27 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKBradley48 min
May 2, 4:37 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKMonroe33 min
May 2, 4:42 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKDrew48 min
May 2, 5:22 PM CDTTornado WarningLZKFranklin48 min
May 2, 5:27 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKConway, Faulkner, Van Buren48 min
May 2, 5:27 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKPerry48 min
May 2, 5:36 PM CDTTornado WarningLZKLogan49 min
May 2, 5:46 PM CDTTornado WarningLZKJohnson49 min
May 2, 6:00 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKCleburne, White50 min
May 2, 6:14 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKDrew31 min
May 2, 6:17 PM CDTTornado WarningLZKPope33 min
May 2, 6:22 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKBradley33 min
May 2, 6:37 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKVan Buren33 min
May 2, 6:42 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKWhite48 min
May 2, 6:52 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKPulaski33 min
May 2, 6:54 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKDrew51 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Arkansas, 1997Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1997

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.