Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Warnings in 2004

Tornado Warning 37, NWS Memphis, TN

October 18, 2004Clay County, Arkansas

NWS Memphis, TN issued this tornado warning at Oct 18, 2004, 6:12 PM CDT for Clay County, Arkansas. It was in force for 18 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Oct 18, 2004, 6:12 PM CDT (23:12 UTC)
Expired: Oct 18, 2004, 6:30 PM CDT
In force: 18 min
Issued by: NWS Memphis, TN
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Clay County, AR

The radar

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 114 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:12 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Oct 18, 4:05 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 12:00Z, 11.2 hours before the alert went out and 169 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: 1504 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -6 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 520 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 390 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 482 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 3.3
Supercell composite: 16.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS54 KMEG 182312
TORMEM
ARC021-182330-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
613 PM CDT MON OCT 18 2004

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MEMPHIS HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  CLAY COUNTY IN EASTERN ARKANSAS

* UNTIL 630 PM CDT

* AT 613 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A
  THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO 3 MILES SOUTHEAST OF
  GREENWAY...MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH.

* CITIES IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM THROUGH 630 PM CDT INCLUDE...
  NIMMONS...

.IF YOU ARE NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM...TAKE COVER IN AN INTERIOR
ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. PROTECT YOUR BODY FROM FLYING DEBRIS.

.IF IN MOBILE HOMES OR VEHICLES...EVACUATE THEM AND GET INSIDE A
SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER. IF NO SHELTER IS AVAILABLE...LIE FLAT IN THE
NEAREST DITCH OR OTHER LOW SPOT.

.STAY TUNED TO THIS BROADCAST FOR THE LATEST UPDATES AND INFORMATION.
TO REPORT SEVERE WEATHER ONLY...CALL 1 800 4 3 2 0 8 7 5.

LAT...LON 3639 9031 3622 9027 3623 9009 3644 9009

$$

The office that day

Everything else NWS Memphis, TN issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 18, 11:36 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Crittenden	39 min
Oct 18, 12:17 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Phillips	43 min
Oct 18, 3:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Lawrence, Randolph	43 min
Oct 18, 4:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Randolph	40 min
Oct 18, 4:39 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Randolph	51 min
Oct 18, 4:41 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Clay, Greene	49 min
Oct 18, 5:29 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Clay	46 min
Oct 18, 5:37 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Greene	8 min
Oct 18, 6:00 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Craighead, Greene	45 min
Oct 18, 6:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Lawrence	12 min
Oct 18, 6:44 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Greene	31 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Arkansas, 2004 Every tornado warning in 2004 Tornadoes in 2004

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.