Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Warnings in 2001

Tornado Warning 17, NWS Tulsa, OK

May 20, 2001Crawford County, Sebastian County, Arkansas

NWS Tulsa, OK issued this tornado warning at May 20, 2001, 7:42 PM CDT for Crawford County, Sebastian County, Arkansas. It was in force for 63 min. 3 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: May 20, 2001, 7:42 PM CDT (00:42 UTC)
Expired: May 20, 2001, 8:45 PM CDT
In force: 63 min
Issued by: NWS Tulsa, OK
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

Counties Crawford County, AR, Sebastian County, AR

The radar

The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 7 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:42 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 20, 8:02 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Ft Smith, AR	Unconfirmed reports of softball size hail could not be confirmed.
May 20, 8:25 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Ft Smith, AR	Thunderstorm winds blew down several trees.
May 20, 8:29 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Greenwood, AR	Brief tornado spin-up from updraft area that passed south of Fort Smith. Damage occurred on Fort Chaffee Military Reservation. Numerous trees were downed in an open field, but no structural damage to buildings was reported.

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 20, 6:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Springfield, MO (KSGF), launched 00:00Z, 0.7 hours before the alert went out and 181 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: 1724 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -4 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 670 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 178 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 232 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.7
Supercell composite: 8.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS54 KTSA 210043
TORTUL
ARC033-131-210145-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
742 PM CDT SUN MAY 20 2001

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TULSA HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  SOUTHERN CRAWFORD COUNTY IN NORTHWEST ARKANSAS
  NORTHERN SEBASTIAN COUNTY IN WEST CENTRAL ARKANSAS

* UNTIL 845 PM CDT

* AT 742 PM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH 
STRONG ROTATION 14 MILES WEST OF BONANZA...MOVING EAST AT 
35 MPH.   THIS DANGEROUS STORM COULD PRODUCE A TORNADO AT ANY TIME.  
THIS STORM HAS PRODUCED TORNADOES IN HASKELL COUNTY OKLAHOMA.

* SOME LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM INCLUDE...DYER... 
BLOOMER...JENNY LIND...BONANZA...EXCELSIOR...BURNVILLE...  
WASHBURN...LAVACA...BARLING...GREENWOOD...HACKETT...VAN BUREN AND 
FORT SMITH.

IF YOU ARE NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM...TAKE COVER NOW IF NO
UNDERGROUND SHELTER IS AVAILABLE MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE
LOWEST FLOOR. MOBILE HOMES AND VEHICLES SHOULD BE ABANDONED FOR MORE
SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER. AVOID WINDOWS

DO NOT TAKE SHELTER UNDER HIGHWAY OVERPASSES

LAT...LON 3541 9444 3516 9444 3515 9408 3550 9411

The office that day

Everything else NWS Tulsa, OK issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 20, 7:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Benton, Washington	44 min
May 20, 7:50 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Benton, Carroll	40 min
May 20, 8:06 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Madison	24 min
May 20, 8:15 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Franklin	30 min
May 20, 8:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Carroll	45 min
May 20, 8:36 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Carroll	39 min
May 20, 8:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Madison	37 min
May 20, 8:41 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Franklin	34 min
May 20, 8:45 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Sebastian	45 min
May 20, 11:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Crawford, Sebastian	38 min
May 20, 11:21 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	TSA	Sebastian	84 min
May 20, 11:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Sebastian	46 min
May 21, 12:23 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Sebastian	52 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Arkansas, 2001 Every tornado warning in 2001 Tornadoes in 2001

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.