Alert archive / Arkansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 9, NWS Little Rock, AR
NWS Little Rock, AR issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Feb 20, 1997, 8:48 PM CST for Johnson County, Arkansas. It was in force for 52 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
- Feb 20, 1997, 8:48 PM CST (02:48 UTC)
- Expired
- Feb 20, 1997, 9:40 PM CST
- In force
- 52 min
- Issued by
- NWS Little Rock, AR
- Area
- Whole counties
County Johnson County, AR
The watch it was issued in
The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 20, 6:00 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Springfield, MO (KSGF), launched 00:00Z, 2.8 hours before the alert went out and 151 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 267 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -14 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 593 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 45 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 221 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 270 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.3
- Supercell composite
- 1.6
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, Feb 20, 5:50 PM CST, 2 hours 58 minutes before
ARZ003>009-012>018-020>028-030>073-210145- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 550 PM CST THU FEB 20 1997 ...TORNADO WATCH IN EFFECT THIS EVENING... TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 51 IS IN EFFECT FOR WESTERN AND CENTRAL ARKANSAS UNTIL MIDNIGHT. A STRONG STORM SYSTEM MOVING THROUGH TEXAS THIS EVENING WILL APPROACH ARKANSAS LATER THIS EVENING. SEVERE WEATHER WAS BREAKING OUT ACROSS EAST TEXAS...AND WILL MOVE INTO SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS DURING THE NEXT COUPLE OF HOURS. CONDITIONS ACROSS ARKANSAS ARE UNSTABLE...STORMS THAT DEVELOP IN THE WEST AND CENTRAL AREAS COULD BECOME SEVERE QUICKLY. ALONG WITH THE THREAT OF DAMAGING STORMS IN ARKANSAS...HEAVY RAINS WILL ACCOMPANY SOME OF THE THUNDERSTORMS. RESIDENTS ARE ADVISED TO STAY ABREAST OF DEVELOPING WEATHER THIS EVENING. 34
Special weather statement, Feb 20, 5:51 PM CST, 2 hours 57 minutes before
ARZ003>009-012>018-020>028-030>073-210145- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 550 PM CST THU FEB 20 1997 ...TORNADO WATCH IN EFFECT THIS EVENING... TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 51 IS IN EFFECT FOR WESTERN AND CENTRAL ARKANSAS UNTIL MIDNIGHT. A STRONG STORM SYSTEM MOVING THROUGH TEXAS THIS EVENING WILL APPROACH ARKANSAS LATER THIS EVENING. SEVERE WEATHER WAS BREAKING OUT ACROSS EAST TEXAS...AND WILL MOVE INTO SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS DURING THE NEXT COUPLE OF HOURS. CONDITIONS ACROSS ARKANSAS ARE UNSTABLE...STORMS THAT DEVELOP IN THE WEST AND CENTRAL AREAS COULD BECOME SEVERE QUICKLY. ALONG WITH THE THREAT OF DAMAGING STORMS IN ARKANSAS...HEAVY RAINS WILL ACCOMPANY SOME OF THE THUNDERSTORMS. RESIDENTS ARE ADVISED TO STAY ABREAST OF DEVELOPING WEATHER THIS EVENING. 34
Special weather statement, Feb 20, 8:14 PM CST, 34 minutes before
ARZ003>009-012>018-020>028-030>073-210145- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 820 PM CST THU FEB 20 1997 ...TORNADO WATCH IN EFFECT THIS EVENING... TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 51 IS IN EFFECT FOR WESTERN AND CENTRAL ARKANSAS UNTIL MIDNIGHT. A STRONG STORM SYSTEM MOVED THROUGH NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS LATE THURSDAY AFTERNOON. AT 800 PM...THE STORM SYSTEM WAS MOVING INTO SOUTHERN OKLAHOMA...AND STRONG STORMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE SYSTEM WERE MOVING INTO EXTREME WESTERN ARKANSAS. STORMS IN EXTREME EASTERN OKLAHOMA PRODUCED 70 MPH WINDS EARLIER. A LINE OF STORMS IN WESTERN ARKANSAS WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE EASTWARD AT A SLOW RATE OF SPEED. HOWEVER...INDIVIDUAL STORMS WILL MOVE TO THE NORTH AT NEARLY 45 MPH. THE MAIN THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER IN THE WATCH AREA IS STRONG AND DAMAGING WINDS...AND THE POSSIBILITY OF AN ISOLATED TORNADO. 34
Special weather statement, Feb 20, 8:20 PM CST, 28 minutes before
ARZ003>009-012>018-020>028-030>073-210145- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 820 PM CST THU FEB 20 1997 ...TORNADO WATCH IN EFFECT THIS EVENING... TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 51 IS IN EFFECT FOR WESTERN AND CENTRAL ARKANSAS UNTIL MIDNIGHT. A STRONG STORM SYSTEM MOVED THROUGH NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS LATE THURSDAY AFTERNOON. AT 800 PM...THE STORM SYSTEM WAS MOVING INTO SOUTHERN OKLAHOMA...AND STRONG STORMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE SYSTEM WERE MOVING INTO EXTREME WESTERN ARKANSAS. STORMS IN EXTREME EASTERN OKLAHOMA PRODUCED 70 MPH WINDS EARLIER. A LINE OF STORMS IN WESTERN ARKANSAS WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE EASTWARD AT A SLOW RATE OF SPEED. HOWEVER...INDIVIDUAL STORMS WILL MOVE TO THE NORTH AT NEARLY 45 MPH. THE MAIN THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER IN THE WATCH AREA IS STRONG AND DAMAGING WINDS...AND THE POSSIBILITY OF AN ISOLATED TORNADO. 34
The office that day
Everything else NWS Little Rock, AR issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 20, 7:46 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | LZK | Polk | 3 hr |
| Feb 20, 8:31 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Logan | 64 min |
| Feb 20, 8:34 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Franklin | 66 min |
| Feb 20, 8:51 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Yell | 49 min |
| Feb 20, 9:03 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Garland, Hot Spring | 47 min |
| Feb 20, 9:36 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Dallas | 64 min |
| Feb 20, 10:00 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Conway | 35 min |
| Feb 20, 10:03 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Faulkner | 62 min |
| Feb 20, 10:09 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Pulaski | 61 min |
| Feb 20, 10:45 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Cleburne | 65 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.