Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Watches in 2003
Tornado Watch 243
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 5, 2003, 12:50 AM CDT for 40 counties in Arkansas; 27 counties in Missouri; 4 counties in Oklahoma. It was in force for 5 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- May 5, 2003, 12:50 AM CDT (05:50 UTC)
- Expired
- May 5, 2003, 6:00 AM CDT
- In force
- 5 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
All 71 counties
Baxter County, AR, Benton County, AR, Boone County, AR, Carroll County, AR, Clark County, AR, Cleburne County, AR, Conway County, AR, Crawford County, AR, Faulkner County, AR, Franklin County, AR, Fulton County, AR, Garland County, AR, Grant County, AR, Hot Spring County, AR, Howard County, AR, Independence County, AR, Izard County, AR, Jefferson County, AR, Johnson County, AR, Logan County, AR, Lonoke County, AR, Madison County, AR, Marion County, AR, Montgomery County, AR, Newton County, AR, Perry County, AR, Pike County, AR, Polk County, AR, Pope County, AR, Pulaski County, AR, Saline County, AR, Scott County, AR, Searcy County, AR, Sebastian County, AR, Sharp County, AR, Stone County, AR, Van Buren County, AR, Washington County, AR, White County, AR, Yell County, AR, Barry County, MO, Carter County, MO, Cedar County, MO, Christian County, MO, Dade County, MO, Dallas County, MO, Dent County, MO, Douglas County, MO, Greene County, MO, Howell County, MO, Iron County, MO, Jasper County, MO, Laclede County, MO, Lawrence County, MO, McDonald County, MO, Newton County, MO, Oregon County, MO, Ozark County, MO, Polk County, MO, Pulaski County, MO, Reynolds County, MO, Shannon County, MO, Stone County, MO, Taney County, MO, Texas County, MO, Webster County, MO, Wright County, MO, Adair County, OK, LeFlore County, OK, McCurtain County, OK, Sequoyah County, OK
The radar
The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 83 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 05:50 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
11 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 5, 12:59 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Faulkner, Pulaski | 46 min |
| May 5, 1:14 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | SGF | Webster | 46 min |
| May 5, 1:28 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | SGF | Webster, Wright | 62 min |
| May 5, 1:32 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Lonoke | 43 min |
| May 5, 1:41 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | White | 34 min |
| May 5, 1:58 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | SGF | Texas | 62 min |
| May 5, 2:48 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Searcy | 27 min |
| May 5, 2:56 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LSX | Iron, Reynolds | 49 min |
| May 5, 3:06 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Stone | 39 min |
| May 5, 3:25 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Izard | 30 min |
| May 5, 3:41 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Sharp | 29 min |
Discussions around it
SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.
The nearest sounding before it
Springfield, MO (KSGF), launched 00:00Z, 5.8 hours before the alert went out and 153 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
- 2099 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -4 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 756 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 74 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 321 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 341 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 4.6
- Supercell composite
- 15.8
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000
WWUS20 KWNS 050547
SEL3
SPC WW 050550
ARZ000-MOZ000-OKZ000-051100-
URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 243
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
1250 AM CDT MON MAY 5 2003
THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF
WESTERN AND CENTRAL ARKANSAS
SOUTHERN MISSOURI
FAR EASTERN OKLAHOMA
EFFECTIVE THIS MONDAY MORNING FROM 1250 AM UNTIL 600 AM CDT.
...THIS IS A PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION...
DESTRUCTIVE TORNADOES...LARGE 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 100 STATUTE MILES EAST AND
WEST OF A LINE FROM 15 MILES WEST NORTHWEST OF FORT LEONARD WOOD
MISSOURI TO 45 MILES SOUTHWEST OF HOT SPRINGS ARKANSAS.
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 237. WATCH NUMBER 237 WILL NOT BE IN EFFECT AFTER
1250 AM CDT. CONTINUE...WW 239...WW 240...WW 241...WW 242...
DISCUSSION...SRN MO SQUALL LINE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE EWD...WHERE
LONG/HOOKED HODOGRAPHS SUGGEST THREAT FOR EMBEDDED
SUPERCELLS/POSSIBLE TORNADOES. FARTHER S...MORE WIDELY SCATTERED
SUPERCELLS WITH A THREAT FOR TORNADOES WILL PERSIST IN VERY STRONGLY
DEEP SHEARED/LCL ENVIRONMENT IN AR.
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 26045.
...CORFIDI
374,0903 340,0915 340,0952 374,0941SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 4, 7:19 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Baxter, Benton, Boone, Carroll, Cleburne, Conway and 21 more | 86 min |
| May 4, 7:34 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Clay, Craighead, Crittenden, Cross, Greene, Jackson and 7 more | 116 min |
| May 4, 9:26 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Clay, Craighead, Crittenden, Cross, Greene, Jackson and 7 more | 2 hr |
| May 4, 9:42 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Baxter, Benton, Boone, Carroll, Cleburne, Conway and 29 more | 93 min |
| May 5, 1:20 AM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Arkansas, Clay, Craighead, Crittenden, Cross, Greene and 7 more | 6 hr |
| May 5, 4:18 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Clay, Craighead, Crittenden, Cross, Greene, Independence and 14 more | 57 min |
| May 5, 4:55 AM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Clay, Craighead, Crittenden, Cross, Greene, Jackson and 9 more | 6 hr |
| May 5, 7:11 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Crittenden, Cross, Lee, Mississippi, St. Francis | 2 hr |
| May 5, 9:56 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Arkansas, Ashley, Bradley, Calhoun, Chicot, Clark and 33 more | 2 hr |
| May 5, 10:38 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Arkansas, Ashley, Bradley, Calhoun, Chicot, Clark and 19 more | 3 hr |
| May 5, 10:40 AM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Arkansas, Ashley, Bradley, Calhoun, Chicot, Clark and 21 more | 5 hr |
| May 5, 1:05 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Cleburne, Conway, Craighead, Crawford, Crittenden, Cross and 21 more | 3 hr |
| May 5, 1:13 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Arkansas, Ashley, Bradley, Calhoun, Clark, Cleveland and 17 more | 2 hr |
| May 5, 3:25 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Arkansas, Ashley, Baxter, Boone, Bradley, Calhoun and 62 more | 7 hr |
| May 5, 5:18 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Ashley, Bradley, Calhoun, Clark, Cleveland, Columbia and 24 more | 117 min |
| May 5, 5:40 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Ashley, Bradley, Chicot, Desha, Drew | 2 hr |
| May 4, 8:05 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Audrain, Bollinger, Callaway, Cape Girardeau, Clark, Crawford and 27 more | 85 min |
| May 4, 9:05 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bates, Benton, Boone, Caldwell, Carroll, Cass and 23 more | 85 min |
| May 4, 10:40 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Bollinger, Cape Girardeau, Franklin, Iron, Jefferson, Madison and 5 more | 5 hr |
| May 4, 11:05 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Audrain, Boone, Callaway, Cole, Franklin, Gasconade and 17 more | 5 hr |
| May 5, 1:30 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bollinger, Cape Girardeau, Iron, Jefferson, Madison, Perry and 3 more | 90 min |
| May 5, 1:46 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | City of Saint Louis | 89 min |
| May 5, 3:41 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bollinger, Butler, Cape Girardeau, Iron, Madison, Mississippi and 8 more | 34 min |
| May 5, 3:50 AM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Bollinger, Butler, Cape Girardeau, Iron, Jefferson, Madison and 9 more | 6 hr |
| May 5, 6:32 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bollinger, Butler, Cape Girardeau, Madison, Mississippi, New Madrid and 4 more | 88 min |
| May 5, 9:19 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bollinger, Butler, Cape Girardeau, Madison, Mississippi, Perry and 5 more | 56 min |
| May 5, 2:35 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | New Madrid, Pemiscot | 7 hr |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Arkansas, 2003Tornado Watches in Missouri, 2003Tornado Watches in Oklahoma, 2003Every tornado watch 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.