Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Warnings in 2000

Tornado Warning 9, NWS Memphis, TN

February 18, 2000Lee County, St. Francis County, Arkansas

NWS Memphis, TN issued this tornado warning at Feb 18, 2000, 1:59 PM CST for Lee County, St. Francis County, Arkansas. It was in force for 61 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: Feb 18, 2000, 1:59 PM CST (19:59 UTC)
Expired: Feb 18, 2000, 3:00 PM CST
In force: 61 min
Issued by: NWS Memphis, TN
Area: Whole counties

Counties Lee County, AR, St. Francis County, AR

The radar

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 95 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:58 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
Feb 18, 3:00 PM CST	Hail 0.75	Hughes, AR
Feb 18, 3:00 PM CST	Tornado F0	Hughes, AR	A mobile home was overturned. Several homes were damaged.

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
Feb 18, 11:00 AM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 12:00Z, 8.0 hours before the alert went out and 75 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: 84 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -282 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 693 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 519 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 495 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

993 
WFUS54 KMEG 181959 COR
TORMEM
ARC077-123-182100-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
159 PM CST FRI FEB 18 2000


THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MEMPHIS HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  LEE COUNTY IN NORTHEASTERN ARKANSAS
  ST. FRANCIS COUNTY IN NORTHEASTERN ARKANSAS

* UNTIL 300 PM CST

* AT 151 PM CST... STORM SPOTTERS REPORTED A TORNADO SOUTH OF
  BRINKLEY IN MONROE COUNTY. MOVEMENT WAS EAST AT 45 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
  GARRET GROVE AROUND 205 PM CST
  WHEATLEY AROUND 210 PM
  PALESTINE AROUND 220 PM CST
  HAYNES AROUND 225 PM CST
  FORREST CITY AROUND 235 PM CST

.A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR THE WARNED AREA. REMEMBER...
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH
LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING. REMAIN CALM BUT BE ALERT TO RAPIDLY
CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS.



&

The office that day

Everything else NWS Memphis, TN issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Feb 18, 1:22 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Poinsett	33 min
Feb 18, 2:55 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MEG	St. Francis	20 min
Feb 18, 3:06 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Crittenden	29 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Arkansas, 2000 Every tornado warning in 2000 Tornadoes 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.