Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 45, NWS Memphis, TN

January 21, 1999Craighead County, Lawrence County, Arkansas

NWS Memphis, TN issued this tornado warning at Jan 21, 1999, 9:35 PM CST for Craighead County, Lawrence County, Arkansas. It was in force for 50 min. 2 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, 9:35 PM CST (03:35 UTC)
Expired: Jan 21, 1999, 10:25 PM CST
In force: 50 min
Issued by: NWS Memphis, TN
Area: Whole counties

Counties Craighead County, AR, Lawrence County, AR

The radar

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 112 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:38 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, 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.
Jan 21, 10:00 PM CST	Tornado F0	Bay, AR	The tornado started just southwest of Bay and tracked northeast missing the town. Several trees were blown 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, 9:00 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 00:00Z, 3.6 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.

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: 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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMEM 220334 RRA
TORMEM
ARC031-075-220425-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
935 PM CST THU JAN 21 1999


THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MEMPHIS HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  WESTERN CRAIGHEAD COUNTY IN NORTHEASTERN ARKANSAS
  SOUTHEASTERN LAWRENCE COUNTY IN NORTHEASTERN ARKANSAS

* UNTIL 1025 PM CST

* AT 934 PM CST... DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO 7 MILES SOUTH
  OF WALNUT RIDGE OR 6 MILES SOUTHEAST OF HOXIE... MOVING NORTHEAST
  AT 50 MPH.


.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, 8:43 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MEG	Craighead, Greene, Lawrence	47 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, 9:58 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, 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.