Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Warnings in 2001
Tornado Warning 21, NWS Tulsa, OK
NWS Tulsa, OK issued this tornado warning at May 20, 2001, 8:15 PM CDT for Franklin County, Arkansas. It was in force for 30 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, 8:15 PM CDT (01:15 UTC)
- Expired
- May 20, 2001, 8:45 PM CDT
- In force
- 30 min
- Issued by
- NWS Tulsa, OK
- Area
- Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction
County Franklin County, AR
The radar
The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 39 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:18 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, 8:17 PM CDT | Hail 1.75 | Ft Chaffee, AR | |
| May 20, 8:40 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Charleston, AR | Thunderstorm winds blew down large tree limbs. |
| May 20, 8:51 PM CDT | Tornado F0 | Branch, AR | A F0 tornado briefly touched down four miles south of Branch. No damage 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, 1.3 hours before the alert went out and 175 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
- 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
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 WFUS54 KTSA 210116 TORTUL ARC047-210145- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK 815 PM CDT SUN MAY 20 2001 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TULSA HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR SOUTHERN FRANKLIN COUNTY IN WEST CENTRAL ARKANSAS * UNTIL 845 PM CDT * AT 815 PM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH STRONG ROTATION 19 MILES WEST OF BRANCH...MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH. THIS DANGEROUS STORM COULD PRODUCE A TORNADO AT ANY TIME. * SOME LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM INCLUDE...ALTUS... DENNING AND BRANCH. STRONG ROTATION WAS REPORTED BY SPOTTERS OVER SOUTHERN FT. SMITH AT 805 PM...ALONG WITH SOFTBALL SIZE HAIL. TORNADOES IN HILLY OR MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN ARE ESPECIALLY DANGEROUS - TAKE COVER NOW! YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO SEE OR HEAR THE TORNADO COMING. LAT...LON 3544 9407 3515 9408 3516 9376 3548 9370
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, 7:42 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | TSA | Crawford, Sebastian | 63 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, 8:30 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, 2001Every tornado warning in 2001Tornadoes 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.