Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Warnings in 1999
Tornado Warning 62, NWS Shreveport, LA
NWS Shreveport, LA issued this tornado warning at May 4, 1999, 5:00 PM CDT for Hempstead County, Nevada 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
- May 4, 1999, 5:00 PM CDT (22:00 UTC)
- Expired
- May 4, 1999, 5:50 PM CDT
- In force
- 50 min
- Issued by
- NWS Shreveport, LA
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Hempstead County, AR, Nevada County, AR
The radar
The Shreveport radar (KSHV), 143 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:02 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 4, 5:04 PM CDT | Tornado F1 | Patmos, AR | Damage consisted of numerous snapped and fallen small trees. One barn was severely damaged and two chicken barns were destroyed. |
| May 4, 5:10 PM CDT | Tornado F1 | Bodcaw, AR | Damage was to snapped and fallen small trees. |
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 4, 3:00 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Shreveport, LA (KSHV), launched 12:00Z, 10.0 hours before the alert went out and 138 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
- 1116 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -31 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 498 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 38 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 275 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 392 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 2.0
- Supercell composite
- 12.5
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
999 WFUS1 KSHV 042159 RRA TORSHV ARC057-099-042250- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA 500 PM CDT TUE MAY 4 1999 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SHREVEPORT HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... SOUTHEASTERN HEMPSTEAD COUNTY IN SOUTHWESTERN ARKANSAS NEVADA COUNTY IN SOUTHWESTERN ARKANSAS * UNTIL 550 PM CDT * AT 500 PM CDT... THE SHREVEPORT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO 10 MILES SOUTH OF HOPE ARKANSAS. THE THUNDERSTORM CONTAINING THIS TORNADO WAS MOVING EAST NORTHEAST NEAR 30 MILES AN HOUR. * THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR... PRESCOTT BY 530 PM THIS THUNDERSTORM CAN PRODUCE A TORNADO THAT IS OBSCURED BY RAIN AND DIFFICULT TO SEE. GO TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS.
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.
NWS Shreveport, LA wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at May 4, 3:06 PM CDT, 1 hour 54 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 4, 3:06 PM CDT, 1 hour 54 minutes before
FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA 300 AM CDT TUE MAY 4 1999 CONVECTION CURRENTLY MOVING ACROSS CWA WELL AHEAD OF DRYLINE. MOST STORMS SHOWING SIGNS OF ROTATION WITH A COUPLE OF TOUCHDOWNS ALREADY REPORTED. FEEL THIS IS ONLY FIRST SURGE...WITH ANOTHER BEHIND THIS WHICH WILL KEEP SCATTERED TSTMS GOING INTO THE EARLY EVENING HOURS ACROSS TEXAS AND OKLAHOMA COUNTIES...WITH MODELS A LITTLE A LITTLE FAST. STORMS MAY CONTINUE UNTIL AFTER MIDNIGHT EASTERN MOST LOUISIANA PARISHES. FEEL DRY SURGE BEHIND ALL THIS ACTIVITY WILL END PRECIP CHANCES..SO WORK ZONES WILL HAVE DRY FORECAST WEDNESDAY THROUGH THURSDAY. MOS TEMPS LOOK OK..BUT LOWS LOOK TOO COOL TONIGHT WITH SOUTH WIND CONTAINING THROUGH MOST OF PERIOD. SHV 64/82/54/77 6110 MLU 67/86/59/80 7110 TXK 62/80/51/74/ 6111 TYR 61/80/51/75 5110 LFK 65/85/54/79 6110 14
In the hours before
Local storm report, May 4, 3:46 PM CDT, 1 hour 14 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
346 PM CDT TUE MAY 04 1999
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....PARISH/COUNTY LOCATION....
0215 PM 5 SE TALCO TX TORNADO
05/04/99 TITUS REPORTED BY LAW
ENFORCEMENT
0215 PM 6 SE TALCO TX TORNADO
05/04/99 TITUS *** 1 DEAD ***
TORNADO NEAR BRIDGE CHAPEL
CAUSED DAMAGE. REPORTED BY
S.O.
0300 PM DE KALB TX TORNADO
05/04/99 BOWIE DAMAGE AND INJURIES AND A
CONFIRMED SIGHTING OF
TORNADO REPORTED BY STATE
TROOPER JUST NORTH OF
DE KALB.
03The office that day
Everything else NWS Shreveport, LA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 4, 3:14 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | SHV | Little River | 46 min |
| May 4, 3:47 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | SHV | Sevier | 63 min |
| May 4, 3:59 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | SHV | Howard | 61 min |
| May 4, 4:03 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | SHV | Miller | 47 min |
| May 4, 4:37 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | SHV | Hempstead, Lafayette | 63 min |
| May 4, 5:43 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | SHV | Lafayette | 47 min |
| May 4, 6:03 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | SHV | Columbia | 47 min |
| May 4, 6:56 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | SHV | Columbia | 49 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.