Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Warnings in 1999
Tornado Warning 7, NWS Tulsa, OK
NWS Tulsa, OK issued this tornado warning at Mar 5, 1999, 4:27 PM CST for Crawford County, Arkansas. It was in force for 48 min. 4 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.
The area
The outline the Iowa Environmental Mesonet reconstructed for it; the warning itself named whole counties, with what was reported inside it.
The facts
- Issued
- Mar 5, 1999, 4:27 PM CST (22:27 UTC)
- Expired
- Mar 5, 1999, 5:15 PM CST
- In force
- 48 min
- Issued by
- NWS Tulsa, OK
- Area
- Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction
County Crawford County, AR
What was reported inside it
| Time | Report | Where | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 5, 4:28 PM CST | Thunderstorm Wind | Rudy, AR | A home just north of Rudy near the old 81 loop had its roof lifted off. |
| Mar 5, 4:35 PM CST | Hail 4.5 | Alma, AR | There were several reports of extremely large hail from Alma. The largest report was of giant softball-sized hail, while there were also reports of quarter and golfball-sized hail just north of Alma.Such enormous hail caused widespread damage in Alma. Many ca |
| Mar 5, 4:36 PM CST | Tornado F0 | Alma, AR | Spotters reported a tornado touchdown 2 miles west of Alma. Spotters had followed a wall cloud and then a funnel cloud most of the way across Crawford County which then continued on into Franklin County after the tornado touchdown. The tornado blew down seve |
| Mar 5, 4:41 PM CST | Hail 1.75 | Dyer, AR |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 5, 4:00 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Springfield, MO (KSGF), launched 12:00Z, 10.5 hours before the alert went out and 158 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
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1088 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 61 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 456 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 408 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
999 WFUS54 KTSA 052229 RRA TORTUL ARC033-052315- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK 427 PM CST FRI MAR 5 1999 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TULSA HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR SOUTHERN CRAWFORD COUNTY IN NORTHWEST ARKANSAS * UNTIL 515 PM CST * AT 427 PM CST...RADAR INDICATED A DEVELOPING TORNADO 5 MILES WEST OF ALMA. THIS DANGEROUS STORM IS MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH. * SOME LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM INCLUDE... RUDY... FIGURE FIVE...DYER...CEDARVILLE AND ALMA IN ADDITION TO THE THREAT OF A TORNADO...LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING STRAIGHT LINE WINDS CAN BE EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM. GO TO A SAFE PLACE NOW LAT...LON 3558 9443 3545 9444 3545 9407 3563 9410
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 Tulsa, OK wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Mar 5, 4:00 PM CST, 27 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Mar 5, 4:00 PM CST, 27 minutes before
EASTERN OKLAHOMA/NORTHWEST ARKANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK 400 PM CST FRI MAR 5 1999 PROBLEM(S) OF THE DAY: WHAT TYPE(S) OF SEVERE WEATHER WILL OCCUR? WILL THE CONVECTION BE SCATTERED OR NUMEROUS? SEVERE TSRA ARE DEVELOPING ABOUT WHERE EARLIER EXPECTED...ALONG AND EAST OF U.S. HWY 69. AS COLD FRONT AND UPPER DIVERGENCE SHIFT EAST...SO WILL THE STORMS. ACTIVITY SHOULD CLEAR THE EASTERN EDGE OF THE CWA AROUND 7-8 PM. SUBSIDENCE AND UPPER CONFLUENCE MOVES IN AFTER THAT...SO LOOKS LIKE A MOSTLY CLEAR NIGHT AFTER STORMS MOVE OUT. IN THE MEANTIME...AWIPS ANALYSIS SOFTWARE IS SHOWING LIFTED INDICES AS LOW AS -7 IN EAST CENTRAL OKLAHOMA WITH INSTABILITY AXIS STRETCHING FROM MIAMI TO HUGO. WOULD EXPECT TSRA TO DEVELOP SOUTH AS CAP WEAKENS. LOW WET-BULB ZERO HEIGHTS INDICATE POSSIBILITY OF LARGE HAIL. 18Z ETA SHOWS CAPES REACHING 1500-2400 J/KG ACROSS SE OK/NW AR DUING NEXT THREE HOURS. DEQUEEN ARKANSAS WIND PROFILER SHOWS ONLY A LITTLE DIRECTIONAL SHEAR IN THE LOWEST 3 KM...ALTHOUGH SPEED SHEAR HAS INCREASED AS EARLIER EXPECTED. INCREASED SHEAR IN THE NEXT FEW HOURS WILL SUPPORT SUPERCELLS. YOU GET THE IDEA...SEVERE WEATHER. LARGE CANADIAN HIGH PRESSURE FILTERS IN BEHIND THE FRONT...ALTHOUGH THE CENTER OF THE AIR MASS WILL REMAIN WELL TO THE NORTH. THIS WILL CAUSE WINDS TO GRADUALLY VEER FROM NORTH TO EAST FROM SATURDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. MID-LEVEL CLOUDS ARE POSSIBLE ON SATURDAY NEAR THE TAIL OF THE WEAKENING SYSTEM NOW OVER SD/NEBRASKA. ON SUNDAY...STRONG LOW PRESSURE DEVELOPS OVER THE CENTRAL HIGH PLAINS AND DEVELOPS A LOW-LEVEL JET BY LATE IN THE DAY. THIS WILL CAUSE A RAPID INCREASE IN CLOUDS BY SUN NGT. STRONG ISENTROPIC LIFT...APPROACHING UPPER LEVEL TROUGH...AND RAPID INCREASE IN MOISTURE BRINGS HIGH CONFIDENCE IN RAIN CHANCES MON. AS FOR SNOW CHANCES...LATEST 72HR AVN SHOWS A MORE OPEN 500 MB TROUGH THAN THE 00Z MRF...AND THE VORT MAX IS FURTHER NORTH THAN 00Z MRF. WILL CONTINUE THE IDEA THAT SNOW IS LOOKING LESS AND LESS LIKELY ON MON NGT. STILL BEARS WATCHING AND WILL CONTINUE THE SAME WORDING AS IN THE PREVIOUS FORECAST FOR NOW. CLEARING OCCURS TUESDAY AS UPPER TROUGH MOVES EAST. ANOTHER DISTURBANCE MAY CLIP NRN ZNS WED...BUT LOOKS LIKE MORE CLOUDS THAN PRECIP AT THIS POINT. FCSTID = 22 TUL 39 53 30 49 / 5 0 10 10 FSM 45 58 32 53 / 30 0 0 5 MLC 43 60 34 50 / 20 0 0 10 BVO 36 51 28 48 / 5 0 10 10 FYV 37 53 25 48 / 30 0 0 10 IDB 45 64 36 54 / 30 0 0 10 BYV 37 52 24 47 / 30 0 0 10 MIO 36 51 25 48 / 30 0 0 10 MKO 39 54 30 49 / 5 0 10 10 F10 40 56 32 49 / 10 0 10 10 HHW 44 63 36 53 / 30 0 0 10 .TUL... OK...NONE. AR...NONE. -------------------- EXPERIMENTAL OUTPUT: HAZARDOUS WEATHER EXPECTED NEXT 24 HOURS: CHANCE SUPERCELL THUNDERSTORMS NGM CONFIDENCE: 7 ON A SCALE OF 0 TO 10 ETA CONFIDENCE: 7 ON A SCALE OF 0 TO 10 AVN CONFIDENCE: 8 ON A SCALE OF 0 TO 10 FCST CONFIDENCE: 8 ON A SCALE OF 0 TO 10
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Mar 5, 1:00 PM CST, 3 hours 27 minutes before
ARZ001-002-010-011-019-020-029-OKZ049-053>076-061200- EASTERN OKLAHOMA/NORTHWEST ARKANSAS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK 100 PM CST FRI MAR 5 1999 SEVERE WEATHER WILL BE POSSIBLE WILL BE POSSIBLE LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING IN NORTHWEST ARKANSAS AND PARTS OF EXTREME EASTERN OKLAHOMA. THE THREAT WILL BE PRIMARILY EAST OF US-69...EAST AND NORTH OF A LINE FROM MIAMI TO MCALESTER TO TALIHINA. PEOPLE IN THESE AREAS SHOULD MONITOR THE LATEST WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR THE LATEST INFORMATION FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE. .SYNOPSIS... AN AREA OF LOW PRESSURE AT THE SURFACE WAS LOCATED NEAR BARTLESVILLE OKLAHOMA EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. A COLD FRONT AND DRY LINE EXTENDED SOUTHWARD FROM THE LOW PRESSURE INTO SOUTHCENTRAL OKLAHOMA. THIS LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE EAST THIS AFTERNOON...REACHING SOUTHWEST MISSOURI AND NORTHWEST ARKANSAS BY SUNSET. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS MAY DEVELOP ALONG AND AHEAD OF THE LOW PRESSURE AREA LATE THIS AFTERNOON. .DISCUSSION... ISOLATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING EAST OF US-69. A CAPPING LAYER OF RELATIVELY WARM AIR IN THE MID LEVELS OF THE ATMOSPHERE HAS PROHIBITED THE DEVELOPMENT OF THUNDERSTORMS TODAY. THIS CAP WILL CONTINUE TO PERSIST...BUT IS EXPECTED TO WEAKEN LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING MAINLY NORTH OF I-40. THE ATMOSPHERE AHEAD OF THE COLD FRONT AND DRYLINE IS MODERATELY UNSTABLE WITH CAPE VALUES APPROACHING 1500 J/KG EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. THE STRONGEST AREAS OF LOCALIZED LIFT... OR CONVERGENCE ...HAS BEEN AND IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE TO BE LOCATED JUST NORTHEAST OF THE SURFACE LOW PRESSURE AREA. THIS AREA WILL BE THE MOST LIKELY AREA FOR INITIAL THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT LATE THIS AFTERNOON. SUBSEQUENT THUNDERSTORMS MAY ALSO DEVELOP SOUTHWARD ALONG THE DRY LINE. ANY STORMS THAT DEVELOP WILL BE SEVERE WITH LARGE HAIL AND A FEW DAMAGING WIND GUSTS EXPECTED. GIVEN THE EXPECTED AMOUNT OF INSTABILITY AND STORM-RELATIVE WIND PROFILE...SUPERCELL STORMS WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE. INSTABILITY IS EXPECTED TO REMAIN SUFFICIENTLY LOW TO MAKE TORNADO DEVELOPMENT UNLIKELY...HOWEVER IF TEMPERATURES AND MOISTURE INCREASE MORE THAN EXPECTED...THE THREAT OF TORNADOES WILL INCREASE SIGNIFICANTLY. MOVEMENT OF ANY STORMS THAT DEVELOP WILL BE EAST AT 25 TO 30 MPH WITH POSSIBLE SUPERCELL MOVEMENT SOUTHEAST AT AROUND 20 MPH. .EMERGENCY AGENCY AND SPOTTER ACTIVATION... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED IN NORTHWEST ARKANSAS AND EXTREME EASTERN OKLAHOMA AFTER 4PM TODAY.
Special weather statement, Mar 5, 1:00 PM CST, 3 hours 27 minutes before
ARZ001-002-010-011-019-020-029-OKZ049-053>076-061200- EASTERN OKLAHOMA/NORTHWEST ARKANSAS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK 100 PM CST FRI MAR 5 1999 SEVERE WEATHER WILL BE POSSIBLE WILL BE POSSIBLE LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING IN NORTHWEST ARKANSAS AND PARTS OF EXTREME EASTERN OKLAHOMA. THE THREAT WILL BE PRIMARILY EAST OF US-69...EAST AND NORTH OF A LINE FROM MIAMI TO MCALESTER TO TALIHINA. PEOPLE IN THESE AREAS SHOULD MONITOR THE LATEST WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR THE LATEST INFORMATION FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE. .SYNOPSIS... AN AREA OF LOW PRESSURE AT THE SURFACE WAS LOCATED NEAR BARTLESVILLE OKLAHOMA EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. A COLD FRONT AND DRY LINE EXTENDED SOUTHWARD FROM THE LOW PRESSURE INTO SOUTHCENTRAL OKLAHOMA. THIS LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE EAST THIS AFTERNOON...REACHING SOUTHWEST MISSOURI AND NORTHWEST ARKANSAS BY SUNSET. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS MAY DEVELOP ALONG AND AHEAD OF THE LOW PRESSURE AREA LATE THIS AFTERNOON. .DISCUSSION... ISOLATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING EAST OF US-69. A CAPPING LAYER OF RELATIVELY WARM AIR IN THE MID LEVELS OF THE ATMOSPHERE HAS PROHIBITED THE DEVELOPMENT OF THUNDERSTORMS TODAY. THIS CAP WILL CONTINUE TO PERSIST...BUT IS EXPECTED TO WEAKEN LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING MAINLY NORTH OF I-40. THE ATMOSPHERE AHEAD OF THE COLD FRONT AND DRYLINE IS MODERATELY UNSTABLE WITH CAPE VALUES APPROACHING 1500 J/KG EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. THE STRONGEST AREAS OF LOCALIZED LIFT... OR CONVERGENCE ...HAS BEEN AND IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE TO BE LOCATED JUST NORTHEAST OF THE SURFACE LOW PRESSURE AREA. THIS AREA WILL BE THE MOST LIKELY AREA FOR INITIAL THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT LATE THIS AFTERNOON. SUBSEQUENT THUNDERSTORMS MAY ALSO DEVELOP SOUTHWARD ALONG THE DRY LINE. ANY STORMS THAT DEVELOP WILL BE SEVERE WITH LARGE HAIL AND A FEW DAMAGING WIND GUSTS EXPECTED. GIVEN THE EXPECTED AMOUNT OF INSTABILITY AND STORM-RELATIVE WIND PROFILE...SUPERCELL STORMS WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE. INSTABILITY IS EXPECTED TO REMAIN SUFFICIENTLY LOW TO MAKE TORNADO DEVELOPMENT UNLIKELY...HOWEVER IF TEMPERATURES AND MOISTURE INCREASE MORE THAN EXPECTED...THE THREAT OF TORNADOES WILL INCREASE SIGNIFICANTLY. MOVEMENT OF ANY STORMS THAT DEVELOP WILL BE EAST AT 25 TO 30 MPH WITH POSSIBLE SUPERCELL MOVEMENT SOUTHEAST AT AROUND 20 MPH. .EMERGENCY AGENCY AND SPOTTER ACTIVATION... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED IN NORTHWEST ARKANSAS AND EXTREME EASTERN OKLAHOMA AFTER 4PM TODAY.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Tulsa, OK issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 5, 3:51 PM CST | Tornado Warning | TSA | Crawford | 39 min |
| Mar 5, 4:37 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TSA | Benton | 53 min |
| Mar 5, 4:42 PM CST | Tornado Warning | TSA | Franklin | 33 min |
| Mar 5, 5:10 PM CST | Tornado Warning | TSA | Franklin | 50 min |
| Mar 5, 5:16 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TSA | Crawford, Sebastian | 29 min |
| Mar 5, 5:46 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TSA | Crawford, Franklin | 44 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.