Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Watches in 1998

Tornado Watch 868

October 5, 199833 counties in Arkansas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Oct 5, 1998, 5:45 PM CDT for 33 counties in Arkansas. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Oct 5, 1998, 5:45 PM CDT (22:45 UTC)
Expired: Oct 5, 1998, 11:00 PM CDT
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 33 counties

Arkansas County, AR, Calhoun County, AR, Clark County, AR, Cleburne County, AR, Cleveland County, AR, Columbia County, AR, Conway County, AR, Dallas County, AR, Faulkner County, AR, Garland County, AR, Grant County, AR, Hempstead County, AR, Hot Spring County, AR, Howard County, AR, Independence County, AR, Jackson County, AR, Jefferson County, AR, Lafayette County, AR, Lincoln County, AR, Lonoke County, AR, Miller County, AR, Monroe County, AR, Montgomery County, AR, Nevada County, AR, Ouachita County, AR, Perry County, AR, Pike County, AR, Prairie County, AR, Pulaski County, AR, Saline County, AR, White County, AR, Woodruff County, AR, Yell County, AR

The radar

The Little Rock radar (KLZK), 68 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:44 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.

Warnings issued inside it

3 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 5, 6:29 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SHV	Howard	31 min
Oct 5, 8:43 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LZK	Yell	3 hr
Oct 5, 10:41 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LZK	Conway	3 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Shreveport, LA (KSHV), launched 12:00Z, 10.8 hours before the alert went out and 239 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 43 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -531 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 958 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 207 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 343 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

212 
WWUS9 KMKC 052234
SEL8  
MKC WW 052234
ARZ000-060400-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 868
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
534 PM CDT MON OCT 5 1998

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF

   SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL ARKANSAS                           

EFFECTIVE THIS MONDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 545 PM UNTIL 1100
PM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 80 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 70 STATUTE MILES NORTH AND
SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 30 MILES NORTH OF TEXARKANA ARKANSAS TO 60
MILES EAST NORTHEAST OF LITTLE ROCK ARKANSAS.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. 
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...  CONTINUE...WW 867...

DISCUSSION...SMALL THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE TO DEVELOP AND MOVE NNEWD
TOWARD WEST CENTRAL AND CENTRAL PARTS OF ARKANSAS.  STORMS ARE
FORMING IN A VERY MOIST/UNSTABLE ENVIRONMENT WITH DEW POINTS IN THE
LOW TO MID 70S AND SBCAPE AROUND 3000 J/KG.  EXAMINATION OF VAD AND
WIND PROFILER DATA SHOW SUFFICIENT DEEP LAYER SHEAR AND HELICITY
FOR A FEW SUPERCELLS TO FORM.  IN ADDITION...LINE OF STORMS MOVING
EASTWARD WILL MERGE WITH THE MORE ISOLATED CELLS RESULTING IN
LOCALLY ENHANCED SEVERE POTENTIAL INTO THE EVENING HOURS.   


AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 70 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500. 
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 21035.


...WEISS

345,0940 355,0911 335,0911 325,0940

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 4, 7:15 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Benton, Boone, Carroll, Crawford, Franklin, Howard and 12 more	6 hr
Oct 4, 11:30 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Benton, Boone, Carroll, Crawford, Franklin, Madison and 2 more	6 hr
Oct 5, 4:30 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Benton, Boone, Carroll, Crawford, Madison, Washington	6 hr
Oct 5, 3:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Little River, Sevier	6 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Arkansas, 1998 Every tornado watch in 1998

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.