Alert archive / Arkansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2000

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 220, NWS Little Rock, AR

May 18, 2000Scott County, Arkansas

NWS Little Rock, AR issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 18, 2000, 3:56 PM CDT for Scott County, Arkansas. It was in force for 49 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 18, 2000, 3:56 PM CDT (20:56 UTC)
Expired: May 18, 2000, 4:45 PM CDT
In force: 49 min
Issued by: NWS Little Rock, AR
Area: Whole counties

County Scott County, AR

The radar

The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 55 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:56 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.

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 18, 3:15 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Springfield, MO (KSGF), launched 12:00Z, 8.9 hours before the alert went out and 228 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: 1080 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -78 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 944 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 64 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 364 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 412 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 2.3
Supercell composite: 12.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Little Rock, AR wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 18, 4:00 AM CDT, 11 hours 56 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 18, 4:00 AM CDT, 11 hours 56 minutes before

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In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 18, 12:21 PM CDT, 3 hours 35 minutes before

ARZ003>007-012>016-021>025-030>034-037>046-052>055-190300-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
1221 PM CDT THU MAY 18 2000

...SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER OVER MUCH OF NORTHWEST HALF OF
ARKANSAS THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING...

THE RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER INCLUDES THOSE AREAS NORTHWEST OF A LINE
THAT STRETCHES FROM GURDON TO SHERIDAN TO JUST NORTH OF BRINKLEY.

A COLD FRONT WILL BE MOVING ACROSS ARKANSAS FROM NORTHWEST TO
SOUTHEAST LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THIS FRONT WILL RUN INTO
ENOUGH MOISTURE AND WARM AIR THAT IT MAY TRIGGER ISOLATED TO
SCATTERED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS.

STRONG AND GUSTY WINDS FROM THE SOUTH AHEAD OF THE FRONT WILL AID
IN THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING.
CONDITIONS WILL BE RIPE FOR PRODUCING STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS AND SOME
LARGE HAIL.

EVERYONE IN THE AREA AFFECTED SHOULD REVIEW SEVERE WEATHER SAFETY
RULES AND EMERGENCY PLANS.

STORM SPOTTERS...AMATEUR RADIO OPERATORS AND EMERGENCY MANAGERS MAY
NEED TO BE ACTIVATED LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING.

49

Special weather statement, May 18, 3:26 PM CDT, 30 minutes before

ARZ003>006-012-013-021-022-030-037-038-040-041-182230-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
326 PM CDT THU MAY 18 2000

...TORNADO WATCH FOR MOST OF NORTHERN AND WESTERN ARKANSAS...

A TORNADO WATCH WILL BE IN EFFECT UNTIL 1000 PM CDT FOR MOST OF
NORTHERN AND WESTERN ARKANSAS.

AN ELONGATED AREA OF LOW PRESSURE ENTERED NORTHWEST ARKANSAS DURING
THE AFTERNOON. THIS LOW PRESSURE SEPARATES MOIST AIR OVER ARKANSAS
FROM DRIER AIR OVER OKLAHOMA. FARTHER TO THE NORTHWEST...A COLD FRONT
WAS APPROACHING ARKANSAS.

STORMS HAD ALREADY BEGUN TO DEVELOP BY MID-AFTERNOON. THESE STORMS
ARE EXPECTED TO BECOME MORE NUMEROUS AND INCREASE IN INTENSITY
FROM LATE AFTERNOON INTO THE EVENING.

A FEW TORNADOES COULD AFFECT ARKANSAS. IN ADDITION...DAMAGING
THUNDERSTORM WINDS AND LARGE HAIL ARE EXPECTED.

PEOPLE IN THE AREA COVERED BY THE WATCH SHOULD BE ALERT FOR RAPIDLY
CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS AuND LISTEN FOR WARNINGS AND OTHER
CRITICAL WEATHER INFORMATION.

28

The office that day

Everything else NWS Little Rock, AR issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 18, 4:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Boone	28 min
May 18, 4:38 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LZK	Scott	37 min
May 18, 4:44 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LZK	Boone, Marion	46 min
May 18, 4:49 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Newton	41 min
May 18, 5:01 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LZK	Newton	44 min
May 18, 5:09 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LZK	Yell	51 min
May 18, 5:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Baxter	46 min
May 18, 5:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Fulton	49 min
May 18, 6:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Baxter	34 min
May 18, 6:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Stone	31 min
May 18, 6:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Fulton	49 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Arkansas, 2000 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2000

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.