Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Watches in 2004

Tornado Watch 99

April 21, 200458 counties in Arkansas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 21, 2004, 2:40 PM CDT for 58 counties in Arkansas. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Apr 21, 2004, 2:40 PM CDT (19:40 UTC)
Expired
Apr 21, 2004, 9:00 PM CDT
In force
6 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 58 counties

Arkansas County, AR, Ashley County, AR, Baxter County, AR, Benton County, AR, Boone County, AR, Bradley County, AR, Calhoun County, AR, Carroll County, AR, Chicot County, AR, Clark County, AR, Cleburne County, AR, Cleveland County, AR, Columbia County, AR, Conway County, AR, Crawford County, AR, Dallas County, AR, Drew County, AR, Faulkner County, AR, Franklin County, AR, Fulton County, AR, Garland County, AR, Grant County, AR, Hempstead County, AR, Hot Spring County, AR, Howard County, AR, Independence County, AR, Izard County, AR, Jefferson County, AR, Johnson County, AR, Lafayette County, AR, Lincoln County, AR, Little River County, AR, Logan County, AR, Lonoke County, AR, Madison County, AR, Marion County, AR, Miller County, AR, Montgomery County, AR, Nevada County, AR, Newton County, AR, Ouachita County, AR, Perry County, AR, Pike County, AR, Polk County, AR, Pope County, AR, Prairie County, AR, Pulaski County, AR, Saline County, AR, Scott County, AR, Searcy County, AR, Sebastian County, AR, Sevier County, AR, Stone County, AR, Union County, AR, Van Buren County, AR, Washington County, AR, White County, AR, Yell County, AR

The radar

The Little Rock radar (KLZK), 42 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:43 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

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 21, 2:59 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSAFranklin76 min
Apr 21, 3:20 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKLogan30 min
Apr 21, 3:31 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSACrawford, Sebastian59 min
Apr 21, 3:50 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKJohnson, Logan60 min
Apr 21, 4:23 PM CDTTornado WarningLZKLogan, Pope, Yell52 min
Apr 21, 4:28 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSACrawford, Franklin, Sebastian62 min
Apr 21, 5:04 PM CDTTornado WarningTSAFranklin, Sebastian56 min
Apr 21, 5:14 PM CDTTornado WarningLZKConway, Perry46 min
Apr 21, 5:20 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKMarion50 min
Apr 21, 5:26 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKLogan44 min
Apr 21, 5:54 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKPrairie31 min
Apr 21, 6:00 PM CDTTornado WarningLZKConway, Perry60 min
Apr 21, 6:04 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSACrawford, Sebastian56 min
Apr 21, 6:17 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKLogan43 min
Apr 21, 6:33 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKFaulkner42 min
Apr 21, 6:59 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKLonoke31 min
Apr 21, 7:04 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSACrawford, Sebastian56 min
Apr 21, 7:16 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningLZKFaulkner3 hr
Apr 21, 7:17 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKFaulkner, Pulaski43 min
Apr 21, 7:57 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKLonoke, White43 min
Apr 21, 8:19 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningLZKWhite116 min
Apr 21, 8:36 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSAFranklin54 min
Apr 21, 8:46 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKJohnson29 min
Apr 21, 8:59 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKPrairie31 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, 7.7 hours before the alert went out and 228 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, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2004-04-21Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 297 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, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2004-04-21The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 49 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
297 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-107 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
855 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
50 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
49 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-7 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

678 
WWUS20 KWNS 211936
SEL9  
SPC WW 211940
ARZ000-OKZ000-220200-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 99
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
240 PM CDT WED APR 21 2004

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

       MUCH OF ARKANSAS
       EXTREME SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA

EFFECTIVE THIS WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 240 PM UNTIL
900 PM CDT.

TORNADOES...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 85 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 15 MILES NORTH NORTHEAST OF HARRISON ARKANSAS TO 15
MILES SOUTH SOUTHEAST OF EL DORADO 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 98...

DISCUSSION...AIRMASS OVER MUCH OF AR CONTINUES TO DESTABILIZE WITH
SBCAPE VALUES OF 1500-2500 J/KG.  WEAK CAP AND FORCING ALONG SEVERAL
REMNANT BOUNDARIES WILL LIKELY RESULT IN SCATTERED STRONG/SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS IN THE NEXT FEW HOURS.  SUPERCELLS ARE LIKELY...WITH
THE THREAT OF ISOLATED TORNADOES IN STRONGER CELLS.

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 27030.


...HART

362,0913 330,0911 330,0941 362,0943

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 20, 7:22 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBenton, Madison, Washington23 min
Apr 20, 7:50 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCBenton, Carroll, Crawford, Madison, Washington5 hr
Apr 20, 8:57 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBenton, Carroll, Crawford, Madison, Washington2 hr
Apr 20, 10:39 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCrawford, Franklin, Scott, Sebastian3 hr
Apr 20, 10:57 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBenton, Carroll, Crawford, Madison, Washington93 min
Apr 21, 2:13 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBaxter, Boone, Clark, Cleburne, Cleveland, Conway and 30 more92 min
Apr 21, 4:40 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCArkansas, Ashley, Baxter, Benton, Boone, Bradley and 52 more95 min
Apr 21, 6:29 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCArkansas, Baxter, Benton, Boone, Carroll, Chicot and 25 more91 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Arkansas, 2004Every tornado watch 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.