Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 106, NWS Memphis, TN

May 4, 1999Crittenden County, Arkansas

NWS Memphis, TN issued this tornado warning at May 4, 1999, 7:24 PM CDT for Crittenden County, Arkansas. It was in force for 31 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 4, 1999, 7:24 PM CDT (00:24 UTC)
Expired
May 4, 1999, 7:55 PM CDT
In force
31 min
Issued by
NWS Memphis, TN
Area
Whole counties

County Crittenden County, AR

The radar

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 42 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:24 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
May 4, 5:45 PM CDTTornado WatchSPC4 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 00:00Z, 0.4 hours before the alert went out and 53 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 00:00Z on 1999-05-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 797 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 00:00Z on 1999-05-05The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 405 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
797 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-62 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
556 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
53 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
405 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
571 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
2.4
Supercell composite
13.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMEM 050023 RRA
TORMEM
ARC035-050055-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
724 PM CDT TUE MAY 4 1999


THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MEMPHIS HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  CRITTENDEN COUNTY IN NORTHEASTERN ARKANSAS

* UNTIL 755 PM CDT

* AT 723 PM CDT... DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A DEVELOPING TORNADO
  JUST SOUTH OF JENNETTE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 55 MILES AN HOUR.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
  CRAWFORDSVILLE BY 735 PM CDT
  TURRELL BY 745 PM CDT

.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 tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 4, 3:46 PM CDT, 3 hours 38 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
346 PM CDT TUE MAY 04 1999

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0110 PM    WALLS                     MS    1.75 INCH HAIL
05/04/99   DE SOTO

The office that day

Everything else NWS Memphis, TN issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 4, 7:05 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGLawrence35 min
May 5, 2:14 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGCross31 min
May 5, 2:56 PM CDTTornado WarningMEGCraighead, Poinsett49 min
May 5, 3:17 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGMississippi48 min
May 5, 3:37 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGCrittenden48 min
May 5, 3:37 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGSt. Francis48 min
May 5, 5:09 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGPhillips51 min
May 5, 5:11 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGLee49 min
May 5, 6:09 PM CDTTornado WarningMEGCrittenden31 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Arkansas, 1999Every tornado warning in 1999Tornadoes in 1999

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.