Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Warnings in 1999
Tornado Warning 39, NWS Memphis, TN
NWS Memphis, TN issued this tornado warning at Jan 21, 1999, 8:43 PM CST for Craighead County, Greene County, Lawrence County, Arkansas. It was in force for 47 min. 5 reports 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
- Jan 21, 1999, 8:43 PM CST (02:43 UTC)
- Expired
- Jan 21, 1999, 9:30 PM CST
- In force
- 47 min
- Issued by
- NWS Memphis, TN
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Craighead County, AR, Greene County, AR, Lawrence County, AR
The radar
The Memphis radar (KNQA), 108 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:43 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 21, 8:50 PM CST | Tornado F0 | Marmaduke, AR | A tornado briefly touched down near Marmaduke knocking a few trees and power lines down. |
| Jan 21, 8:55 PM CST | Tornado F0 | Egypt, AR | The tornado started southwest of Egypt and moved northeast into Lawrence county. Two residences were destroyed. An antenna was blown down. |
| Jan 21, 9:05 PM CST | Tornado F0 | Sedgwick, AR | The tornado that started near Egypt in Craighead county continued to move northeast into Lawrence county. The tornado damaged one home in Lawrence county. A farm shop was destroyed. |
| Jan 21, 9:20 PM CST | Tornado F0 | Jonesboro, AR | The tornado started just north of Jonesboro and moved northeast. The tornado produced little damage. |
| Jan 21, 9:40 PM CST | Tornado F0 | Lake View, AR | The tornado started in the northeast corner of Craighead county near the town of Dixie and travelled northeast into Greene county. Several trees were knocked down by the tornado. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 21, 2:30 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | 7 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 00:00Z, 2.7 hours before the alert went out and 149 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
- 725 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -18 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1259 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 51 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 185 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 283 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.8
- Supercell composite
- 3.9
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
999 WFUS1 KMEM 220242 RRA TORMEM ARC031-055-075-220330- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN 843 PM CST THU JAN 21 1999 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MEMPHIS HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... WESTERN CRAIGHEAD COUNTY IN NORTHEASTERN ARKANSAS GREENE COUNTY IN NORTHEASTERN ARKANSAS LAWRENCE COUNTY IN NORTHEASTERN ARKANSAS * UNTIL 930 PM CST * AT 840 PM CST... DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO 14 MILES SOUTHWEST OF ALICIA AND 13 MILES SOUTHWEST OF CASH...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH. * THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR... ALICIA BY 855 PM CST CASH BY 850 PM CST HOXIE BY 910 PM CST WALNUT RIDGE BY 915 PM CST FONTAINE BY 915 PM CST .THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. IF YOU ARE IN ITS PATH YOU SHOULD PREPARE FOR DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55 MPH...LARGE HAIL...AND DEADLY LIGHTNING. PEOPLE OUTSIDE SHOULD MOVE TO A PLACE OF SAFETY... PREFERABLY INSIDE A STRONG BUILDING BUT STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Memphis, TN issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 21, 6:16 PM CST | Tornado Warning | MEG | St. Francis | 34 min |
| Jan 21, 6:31 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Poinsett | 49 min |
| Jan 21, 6:34 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Lawrence | 61 min |
| Jan 21, 6:37 PM CST | Tornado Warning | MEG | Crittenden | 48 min |
| Jan 21, 6:45 PM CST | Tornado Warning | MEG | Clay | 50 min |
| Jan 21, 6:49 PM CST | Tornado Warning | MEG | Mississippi | 46 min |
| Jan 21, 7:00 PM CST | Tornado Warning | MEG | Lawrence, Randolph | 50 min |
| Jan 21, 7:29 PM CST | Tornado Warning | MEG | Clay | 46 min |
| Jan 21, 7:32 PM CST | Tornado Warning | MEG | Craighead, Poinsett | 48 min |
| Jan 21, 7:53 PM CST | Tornado Warning | MEG | Greene | 47 min |
| Jan 21, 8:07 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Lee | 48 min |
| Jan 21, 8:21 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | MEG | Lawrence, Randolph | 119 min |
| Jan 21, 8:27 PM CST | Tornado Warning | MEG | Clay | 48 min |
| Jan 21, 8:32 PM CST | Tornado Warning | MEG | St. Francis | 48 min |
| Jan 21, 8:47 PM CST | Tornado Warning | MEG | Cross | 48 min |
| Jan 21, 8:58 PM CST | Tornado Warning | MEG | Crittenden | 47 min |
| Jan 21, 9:12 PM CST | Tornado Warning | MEG | Mississippi, Poinsett | 48 min |
| Jan 21, 9:28 PM CST | Tornado Warning | MEG | Clay, Greene, Randolph | 47 min |
| Jan 21, 9:35 PM CST | Tornado Warning | MEG | Craighead, Lawrence | 50 min |
| Jan 21, 9:58 PM CST | Tornado Warning | MEG | Mississippi | 47 min |
| Jan 21, 10:08 PM CST | Tornado Warning | MEG | Craighead | 47 min |
| Jan 21, 10:08 PM CST | Tornado Warning | MEG | Poinsett | 47 min |
| Jan 21, 10:15 PM CST | Tornado Warning | MEG | Clay | 50 min |
| Jan 21, 10:20 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | MEG | Cross, Poinsett, St. Francis | 4 hr |
| Jan 21, 10:20 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | MEG | Craighead, Greene, Lawrence, Randolph | 4 hr |
| Jan 21, 10:20 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | MEG | Clay | 4 hr |
| Jan 21, 11:51 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Craighead, Mississippi, Poinsett | 44 min |
| Jan 22, 2:56 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | MEG | Craighead, Mississippi, Poinsett | 4 hr |
| Jan 22, 2:56 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | MEG | Cross | 4 hr |
| Jan 22, 3:09 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | St. Francis | 46 min |
| Jan 22, 5:23 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Crittenden | 47 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.