Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 67, NWS Shreveport, LA

May 4, 1999Columbia County, Arkansas

NWS Shreveport, LA issued this tornado warning at May 4, 1999, 6:03 PM CDT for Columbia County, Arkansas. It was in force for 47 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, 6:03 PM CDT (23:03 UTC)
Expired: May 4, 1999, 6:50 PM CDT
In force: 47 min
Issued by: NWS Shreveport, LA
Area: Whole counties

County Columbia County, AR

The radar

The Shreveport radar (KSHV), 102 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:02 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, 6:15 PM CDT	Tornado F2	Taylor, AR	A supercell developed under favourable atmospheric conditions. A partial roof was removed from a frame home. One mobile home was heavily damaged. Numerous trees were snapped or uprooted. Damage estimates include timber damage.
May 4, 6:43 PM CDT	Tornado F3	Magnolia, AR	Two frame homes were demolished, several frame homes suffered roof damage, 1 church and 3 businesses suffered roof and frame damage. Many trees were snapped and uprooted. Damage estimates includes timber damage.

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, 11.1 hours before the alert went out and 95 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: 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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KSHV 042302
TORSHV
ARC027-042350-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
603 PM CDT TUE MAY 4 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SHREVEPORT HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  COLUMBIA COUNTY IN SOUTHWESTERN ARKANSAS

* UNTIL 650 PM CDT

* AT 602 PM CDT... THE SHREVEPORT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER
  RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO OVER LAKE EARLING.  THE THUNDERSTORM
  CONTAINING THIS TORNADO WAS MOVING EAST NORTHEAST NEAR 35 MILES AN
  HOUR.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  TAYLOR ARKANSAS AT 615 PM
  MAGNOLIA ARKANSAS AT 630 PM

THIS TORNADO HAS A LONG HISTORY OF PRODUCING DAMAGE SINCE ITS BIRTH
NEAR OIL CITY LOUISIANA.  THIS IS AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS WEATHER
SITUATION.

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, 2 hours 57 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 4, 3:06 PM CDT, 2 hours 57 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, 2 hours 17 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.
03

The 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, 5:00 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SHV	Hempstead, Nevada	50 min
May 4, 5:43 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SHV	Lafayette	47 min
May 4, 6:56 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SHV	Columbia	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.