Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Watches in 2003
Tornado Watch 254
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 5, 2003, 1:05 PM CDT for 27 counties in Arkansas; Dunklin County, Missouri. It was in force for 3 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- May 5, 2003, 1:05 PM CDT (18:05 UTC)
- Expired
- May 5, 2003, 4:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 3 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
All 28 counties
Cleburne County, AR, Conway County, AR, Craighead County, AR, Crawford County, AR, Crittenden County, AR, Cross County, AR, Faulkner County, AR, Franklin County, AR, Greene County, AR, Independence County, AR, Jackson County, AR, Johnson County, AR, Lawrence County, AR, Logan County, AR, Mississippi County, AR, Perry County, AR, Poinsett County, AR, Pope County, AR, Scott County, AR, Searcy County, AR, Sebastian County, AR, St. Francis County, AR, Stone County, AR, Van Buren County, AR, White County, AR, Woodruff County, AR, Yell County, AR, Dunklin County, MO
The radar
The Little Rock radar (KLZK), 76 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:07 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
2 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 5, 1:15 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Crittenden | 45 min |
| May 5, 3:02 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Mississippi | 43 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 12:00Z, 6.1 hours before the alert went out and 192 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
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 2241 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 74 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 17 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 67 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000
WWUS20 KWNS 051803
SEL4
SPC WW 051805
ARZ000-MOZ000-052100-
URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 254
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
105 PM CDT MON MAY 5 2003
THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF
CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST ARKANSAS
MISSOURI BOOTHEEL
EFFECTIVE THIS MONDAY AFTERNOON FROM 105 PM UNTIL 400 PM CDT.
...THIS IS A PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION...
DESTRUCTIVE TORNADOES...LARGE HAIL TO 3 INCHES IN DIAMETER...
THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE
POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.
THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 40 STATUTE MILES NORTH AND
SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 15 MILES SOUTH SOUTHWEST OF FORT SMITH
ARKANSAS TO 40 MILES EAST SOUTHEAST OF JONESBORO 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...CONTINUE...WW 250...WW 251...WW 252...WW
253...
DISCUSSION...GIVEN THE VERY UNSTABLE AND WEAKLY CAPPED AIR MASS OVER
CENTRAL AR...AND INCREASED LARGE SCALE ASCENT...SUPERCELLS SHOULD
DEVELOP IN THE NEXT FEW HOURS OVER WW. ACTIVITY WILL HAVE THE
POTENTIAL TO PRODUCE VERY LARGE HAIL AND TORNADOES...SOME OF WHICH
COULD BE QUITE STRONG INTO THIS EVENING.
AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 3 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 25035.
...EVANS
354,0942 361,0895 350,0895 343,0942SPC 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, 12:50 AM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Baxter, Benton, Boone, Carroll, Clark, Cleburne and 34 more | 5 hr |
| 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, 1:13 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, 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.