Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Watches in 2009

Tornado Watch 274

May 8, 200941 counties in Arkansas; 29 counties in Oklahoma

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 8, 2009, 5:52 PM CDT for 41 counties in Arkansas; 29 counties in Oklahoma. It was in force for 11 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 8, 2009, 5:52 PM CDT (22:52 UTC)
Expired: May 9, 2009, 4:57 AM CDT
In force: 11 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 2.5 in
Strongest gust expected: 60 kt

All 70 counties

Baxter County, AR, Benton County, AR, Boone County, AR, Carroll County, AR, Cleburne County, AR, Conway County, AR, Crawford County, AR, Cross County, AR, Faulkner County, AR, Franklin County, AR, Fulton County, AR, Garland County, AR, Independence County, AR, Izard County, AR, Jackson County, AR, Johnson County, AR, Lawrence County, AR, Logan County, AR, Lonoke County, AR, Madison County, AR, Marion County, AR, Montgomery County, AR, Newton County, AR, Perry County, AR, Polk County, AR, Pope County, AR, Prairie County, AR, Pulaski County, AR, Randolph County, AR, Saline County, AR, Scott County, AR, Searcy County, AR, Sebastian County, AR, Sharp County, AR, St. Francis County, AR, Stone County, AR, Van Buren County, AR, Washington County, AR, White County, AR, Woodruff County, AR, Yell County, AR, Adair County, OK, Atoka County, OK, Bryan County, OK, Carter County, OK, Cherokee County, OK, Choctaw County, OK, Coal County, OK, Garvin County, OK, Haskell County, OK, Hughes County, OK, Jefferson County, OK, Johnston County, OK, Latimer County, OK, LeFlore County, OK, Love County, OK, Marshall County, OK, McCurtain County, OK, McIntosh County, OK, Murray County, OK, Muskogee County, OK, Okfuskee County, OK, Okmulgee County, OK, Pittsburg County, OK, Pontotoc County, OK, Pushmataha County, OK, Seminole County, OK, Sequoyah County, OK, Stephens County, OK, Wagoner County, OK

The radar

The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 51 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:55 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.

What SPC expected

The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.

Two or more tornadoes: 50%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes: 20%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 60%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 30%
Ten or more severe hail reports: 95%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more: 30%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 95%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 8, 7:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Jefferson	49 min
May 8, 7:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Carter, Garvin, Murray	47 min
May 8, 7:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Carter	55 min
May 8, 7:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Cherokee, Delaware, Mayes	62 min
May 8, 8:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Carter, Jefferson, Stephens	59 min
May 8, 8:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Carter, Love	48 min
May 8, 8:44 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	OUN	Carter	3 hr
May 8, 8:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Adair, Cherokee, Delaware	53 min
May 8, 8:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Johnston, Love, Marshall	62 min
May 8, 9:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Jefferson	38 min
May 8, 9:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Okfuskee, Okmulgee	66 min
May 8, 9:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Carter, Love	64 min
May 8, 9:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Jefferson	38 min
May 8, 9:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Carter, Murray	33 min
May 8, 9:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	McIntosh, Muskogee, Okmulgee	61 min
May 8, 9:54 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	McIntosh, Okmulgee, Pittsburg	37 min
May 8, 9:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Cherokee, Muskogee, Wagoner	62 min
May 8, 10:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Marshall	44 min
May 8, 10:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Benton, Washington	54 min
May 8, 10:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Cherokee, Muskogee, Sequoyah	36 min
May 8, 10:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Baxter, Fulton	55 min
May 8, 10:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	McIntosh, Muskogee	30 min
May 8, 10:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Adair, Cherokee	64 min
May 8, 10:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	McIntosh	26 min
May 8, 10:46 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Muskogee, Sequoyah	44 min
May 8, 10:54 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Crawford, Franklin, Madison, Washington	66 min
May 8, 11:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Bryan, Johnston, Marshall	38 min
May 8, 11:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Baxter, Marion	41 min
May 8, 11:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Carter, Garvin, Stephens	40 min
May 8, 11:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Latimer, Pittsburg	40 min
May 8, 11:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Love	48 min
May 8, 11:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Crawford, Sebastian	62 min
May 8, 11:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	McIntosh, Pittsburg	22 min
May 8, 11:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Fulton	29 min
May 8, 11:31 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	MEG	Clay, Greene, Randolph	119 min
May 8, 11:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Crawford, Franklin, Sebastian, Washington	56 min
May 8, 11:40 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Haskell, LeFlore, Sequoyah	50 min
May 8, 11:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Love	48 min
May 8, 11:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Latimer, Pittsburg	25 min
May 8, 11:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Fulton, Sharp	47 min
May 8, 11:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Crawford, Franklin, Madison, Washington	62 min
May 9, 12:15 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Love, Marshall	45 min
May 9, 12:18 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Johnson, Logan, Pope, Scott, Yell	57 min
May 9, 12:22 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Baxter, Fulton, Izard, Marion, Stone	53 min
May 9, 12:23 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Crawford, Franklin, Sebastian	67 min
May 9, 12:42 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Pittsburg	33 min
May 9, 12:44 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	McClain, Pontotoc, Pottawatomie, Seminole	46 min
May 9, 1:03 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Latimer, Pittsburg	42 min
May 9, 1:11 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	MEG	Clay, Greene, Lawrence, Mississippi, Randolph	6 hr
May 9, 1:12 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Johnson, Logan, Pope, Yell	63 min
May 9, 1:25 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Logan, Scott, Yell	50 min
May 9, 1:27 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Scott	63 min
May 9, 2:08 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Conway, Faulkner, Garland, Perry, Pope, Saline and 2 more	52 min
May 9, 2:26 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	MEG	Craighead, Greene, Lawrence, Mississippi, Poinsett, Randolph	6 hr
May 9, 2:39 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Cleburne, Faulkner, Lonoke, Pulaski, Van Buren, White	51 min
May 9, 3:06 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LZK	Cleburne, Faulkner, Independence, Jackson, Van Buren, White	3 hr
May 9, 3:11 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Jackson, Lonoke, Prairie, White, Woodruff	64 min
May 9, 3:24 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Lonoke, Prairie, Pulaski	51 min
May 9, 4:06 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Monroe, Prairie	39 min
May 9, 4:15 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Woodruff	15 min
May 9, 4:33 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Arkansas, Monroe, Prairie	42 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, 10.9 hours before the alert went out and 171 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: 3210 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -9 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 556 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 52 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 141 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 256 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 2.3
Supercell composite: 9.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 8, 4:31 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Benton, Boone, Carroll, Crawford, Franklin, Johnson and 3 more	59 min
May 8, 4:55 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch PDS	SPC	Baxter, Benton, Boone, Carroll, Crawford, Franklin and 10 more	7 hr
May 8, 7:17 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Baxter, Benton, Boone, Carroll, Fulton, Izard and 1 more	58 min
May 8, 8:37 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Clay, Craighead, Crittenden, Cross, Faulkner, Greene and 12 more	53 min
May 8, 9:21 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Clay, Cleburne, Craighead, Greene, Independence, Izard and 10 more	7 hr
May 8, 11:08 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Baxter, Boone, Carroll, Crawford, Franklin, Fulton and 6 more	67 min
May 8, 2:16 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Clay, Craighead, Greene, Lawrence, Mississippi, Poinsett and 2 more	89 min
May 8, 3:24 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Greene, Mississippi	66 min
May 8, 3:42 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Clay, Craighead, Greene, Mississippi, Poinsett	7 hr
May 7, 10:53 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Grant, Kay, Osage, Washington	2 hr
May 8, 12:02 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch PDS	SPC	Alfalfa, Craig, Grant, Kay, Mayes, Noble and 7 more	8 hr
May 8, 3:42 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Atoka, Carter, Coal, Garvin, Haskell, Hughes and 15 more	93 min
May 8, 5:08 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Bosque, Brown, Callahan, Clay, Coleman, Collin and 34 more	7 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Arkansas, 2009 Tornado Watches in Oklahoma, 2009 Every tornado watch in 2009

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.