Alert archive / Arkansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 55, NWS Little Rock, AR

April 20, 2003Arkansas County, Arkansas

NWS Little Rock, AR issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 20, 2003, 3:10 PM CDT for Arkansas County, Arkansas. It was in force for 25 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
Apr 20, 2003, 3:10 PM CDT (20:10 UTC)
Expired
Apr 20, 2003, 3:35 PM CDT
In force
25 min
Issued by
NWS Little Rock, AR
Area
Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Arkansas County, AR

The radar

The Little Rock radar (KLZK), 101 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:14 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 nearest sounding before it

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 12:00Z, 8.2 hours before the alert went out and 144 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Little Rock, AR at 12:00Z on 2003-04-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 339 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Little Rock, AR at 12:00Z on 2003-04-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 128 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
339 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-53 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
777 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
128 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
147 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.3
Supercell composite
1.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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 Apr 20, 2:35 PM CDT, 35 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 20, 2:35 PM CDT, 35 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
235 PM CDT SUN APR 20 2003

.SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY...
PRIMARY SHORT TERM CONCERN FOR TONIGHT IS THE FRONT...FOLLOWED BY
TEMPERATURES...AND SPEED OF MOISTURE RETURN ON WEDNESDAY.

HAND ANALYSIS PLACED COLD FRONT ROUGHLY FROM JBR TO SGT TO ELD AT
18Z. WILL LEAVE SLIGHT CHANCE TSRA FOR THIS EVENING FOR THE
SOUTHEASTERN ZONES TO ACCOUNT FOR SLOW MOVEMENT OF THE FRONT. SYSTEM
WILL MOVE OUT OF THE FORECAST AREA TONIGHT. MAY BE SOME WRAPAROUND
CLOUDS OVER THE NORTH ASSOCIATED WITH A WEAKER BOUNDARY...BUT
NOTHING TO BE TOO CONCERNED WITH.

COOLER AIR WILL FILTER IN BEHIND THE FRONT...AND COOLER TEMPS ARE IN
STORE FOR THE NEXT DAY OR TWO. AREA WILL REMAIN UNDER A NWRLY/NRLY
FLOW FOR SEVERAL DAYS. THIS SHOULD QUELL ANY 80 DEGREE READINGS FOR
A WHILE.

HIGH PRESSURE WILL EASE ON BY TUESDAY NIGHT. FRONTAL BOUNDARY
PROGGED TO STALL OUT CLOSE TO THE GULF COAST...WEAKEN...AND THE
REMNANTS MOVE BACK TO THE NORTH BEGINNING LATE TUESDAY. AS THE HIGH
MOVES EAST...SOUTHEASTERLY FLOW WILL SET UP OUT AHEAD OF THE
APPROACHING BOUNDARY. SUFFICIENT MOISTURE WILL NOT BE OVER THE
FORECAST AREA UNTIL AT LEAST WEDNESDAY...MAINLY OVER WESTERN
ARKANSAS.

LIKE THE MAV AND MET NUMBERS THIS ROUND...AND STAYED FAIRLY CLOSE TO
THEM. FWC SEEMS A BIT TOO WARM. 57.

.LONG TERM...WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY...
WARM FRONT MOVES NORTH WEDNESDAY NIGHT...AS LOW PRESSURE MOVES EAST
IN THE PLAINS. AM HAVING A HARD TIME BUYING INTO THE SOUTHERLY TRACK
OF THE GFS...SO WILL USE A BLEND OF THE PREVIOUS RUN...ALONG WITH
THE CANADIAN AND EUROPEAN MODELS.

AFOREMENTIONED MODELS SHOW SURFACE LOW TRACKING FARTHER NORTH...WITH
PRECIPITATION MOVING OUT OF THE STATE FRIDAY. CLEARING WILL TAKE
PLACE FRIDAY THROUGH SUNDAY...WITH A GRADUAL WARMING OF
TEMPERATURES. 218.

.COORDINATION...
THANKS TO WFO SHREVEPORT FOR COORDINATION THIS AFTERNOON.

FCSTID =   57
HRO   45  67  45  71 /  10   5   5  10
LIT   51  73  48  74 /  10   5   5  10
HOT   51  74  48  75 /  10   5   5  10
PBF   52  75  50  76 /  10   5   5  10

.LZK...NONE.

57/218
Hazardous weather outlook, Apr 20, 2:00 PM CDT, 1 hour 10 minutes before
ARZ003>007-012>016-021>025-030>034-037>047-052>057-062>069-211000-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
200 PM CDT SUN APR 20 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR A LARGE PART OF ARKANSAS.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

A COLD FRONT EXTENDING THROUGH SOUTHEASTERN ARKANSAS SUNDAY
AFTERNOON WILL MOVE SOUTHEASTWARD OUT OF THE STATE TONIGHT.
SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP ALONG
AND AHEAD OF THE FRONT SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. HOWEVER...THE
CHANCES FOR ANY SEVERE WEATHER WILL BE LOW.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY

THE NEXT STORM SYSTEM WILL BRING A CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS TO THE STATE WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED.

22

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 19, 9:33 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKDesha, Lincoln27 min
Apr 19, 10:24 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKArkansas31 min
Apr 19, 10:32 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKJohnson58 min
Apr 19, 10:42 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKJohnson48 min
Apr 19, 10:59 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKMonroe31 min
Apr 20, 1:08 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKBaxter27 min
Apr 20, 1:21 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKFulton39 min
Apr 20, 1:52 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKSearcy28 min
Apr 20, 5:46 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKArkansas29 min
Apr 20, 6:06 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKMonroe29 min
Apr 20, 6:21 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKArkansas29 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Arkansas, 2003Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2003

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.