Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 112, NWS Memphis, TN

May 5, 1999Crittenden County, Arkansas

NWS Memphis, TN issued this tornado warning at May 5, 1999, 6:09 PM CDT for Crittenden County, Arkansas. It was in force for 31 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: May 5, 1999, 6:09 PM CDT (23:09 UTC)
Expired: May 5, 1999, 6:40 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 23:10 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.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 5, 6:10 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Edmondson, AR	Some trees were blown down.

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in.

The watch it was issued in

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

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 5, 2:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 12:00Z, 11.2 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-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: 72 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -256 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1942 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 49 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 77 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 244 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 2.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

999 
WFUS1 KMEM 052308 RRA
TORMEM
ARC035-052340-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
609 PM CDT WED MAY 5 1999


THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MEMPHIS HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 640 PM CDT

* AT 606 PM CDT... DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED AND SPOTTERS REPORTED A
  TORNADO 3 MILES NORTH HORSESHOE LAKE ARKANSAS.  SHERIFF DEPUTIES
  ARE FOLLOWING THE TORNADO AS IT MOVES NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH.

* ON ITS PRESENT TRACK AND SPEED THE TORNADO WILL FOLLOW THE
  MISSISSIPPI RIVER NORTH AND APPROACH WEST MEMPHIS ARKANSAS BY 620
  PM.


  .

.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.



&

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 4, 7:05 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Lawrence	35 min
May 4, 7:24 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Crittenden	31 min
May 5, 2:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Cross	31 min
May 5, 2:56 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Craighead, Poinsett	49 min
May 5, 3:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Mississippi	48 min
May 5, 3:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Crittenden	48 min
May 5, 3:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	St. Francis	48 min
May 5, 5:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Phillips	51 min
May 5, 5:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Lee	49 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Arkansas, 1999 Every tornado warning in 1999 Tornadoes 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.