Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Watches in 2002

Tornado Watch 5

January 23, 20024 states

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jan 23, 2002, 9:30 PM CST for 4 states. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jan 23, 2002, 9:30 PM CST (03:30 UTC)
Expired: Jan 24, 2002, 3:00 AM CST
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 45 counties

Clay County, AR, Cleburne County, AR, Craighead County, AR, Crittenden County, AR, Cross County, AR, Faulkner County, AR, Garland County, AR, Greene County, AR, Independence County, AR, Jackson County, AR, Lawrence County, AR, Lee County, AR, Lonoke County, AR, Mississippi County, AR, Monroe County, AR, Perry County, AR, Poinsett County, AR, Prairie County, AR, Pulaski County, AR, Randolph County, AR, Saline County, AR, St. Francis County, AR, White County, AR, Woodruff County, AR, Calloway County, KY, Carlisle County, KY, Fulton County, KY, Graves County, KY, Hickman County, KY, Marshall County, KY, Trigg County, KY, Butler County, MO, Dunklin County, MO, Mississippi County, MO, New Madrid County, MO, Pemiscot County, MO, Stoddard County, MO, Crockett County, TN, Dyer County, TN, Gibson County, TN, Lake County, TN, Lauderdale County, TN, Obion County, TN, Tipton County, TN, Weakley County, TN

The radar

The Little Rock radar (KLZK), 114 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:31 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.

Warnings issued inside it

10 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 23, 9:49 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Independence	36 min
Jan 23, 10:15 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Bollinger, Cape Girardeau, Scott, Stoddard	30 min
Jan 23, 10:24 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Clay, Greene, Lawrence	51 min
Jan 23, 11:00 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Dunklin, Pemiscot	45 min
Jan 23, 11:06 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	New Madrid	39 min
Jan 23, 11:32 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Lonoke	43 min
Jan 23, 11:47 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Prairie	28 min
Jan 24, 12:10 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Graves	35 min
Jan 24, 12:26 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Calloway, Marshall	49 min
Jan 24, 1:28 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	St. Francis	32 min

The nearest sounding before it

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 00:00Z, 3.5 hours before the alert went out and 137 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: 876 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -4 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 766 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 62 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 281 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 295 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.7
Supercell composite: 8.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 240321
SEL5  
SPC WW 240316
ARZ000-KYZ000-MOZ000-TNZ000-240900-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 5
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
916 PM CST WED JAN 23 2002

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF

   NORTH AND EAST ARKANSAS                           
   WESTERN KENTUCKY                           
   MISSOURI BOOTHEEL                           
   WESTERN TENNESSEE                          

EFFECTIVE THIS WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND THURSDAY MORNING FROM 930 PM
UNTIL 300 AM CST.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 75 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 20 MILES SOUTH SOUTHWEST OF LITTLE ROCK ARKANSAS TO
70 MILES NORTH NORTHEAST OF DYERSBURG TENNESSEE.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. 
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...THIS TORNADO WATCH REPLACES TORNADO WATCH
NUMBER 3.  WATCH NUMBER 3 WILL NOT BE IN EFFECT AFTER 930 PM CST. 
CONTINUE...WW 4...

DISCUSSION...STRONG/SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUING TO DEVELOP
E/NEWD ACROSS AR INTO WRN KY/TN.  MODELS FORECAST INCREASING LLJ TO
60-70 KT THIS AREA...WHICH WILL CONTINUE FAVORABLE CONDITIONS FOR
SUPERCELLS AND ISOLATED TORNADOES.  ADDITIONALLY SHORT LINES/BOW
ECHOES  WILL ENHANCE WIND DAMAGE POTENTIAL.


AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500. 
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 24040.


...HALES

342,0934 365,0901 365,0873 342,0910

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 23, 7:00 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Hempstead, Howard, Lafayette, Little River, Miller, Pike and 1 more	5 hr
Jan 24, 1:15 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Adair, Allen, Barren, Butler, Casey, Christian and 15 more	3 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Arkansas, 2002 Tornado Watches in Tennessee, 2002 Tornado Watches in Kentucky, 2002 Every tornado watch in 2002

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.