Alert archive / Arkansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2012

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 343, NWS Little Rock, AR

August 9, 20124 counties in Arkansas

NWS Little Rock, AR issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 9, 2012, 10:51 PM CDT for 4 counties in Arkansas. It was in force for 39 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Aug 9, 2012, 10:51 PM CDT (03:51 UTC)
Expired
Aug 9, 2012, 11:30 PM CDT
In force
39 min
Issued by
NWS Little Rock, AR
Area
Storm-based polygon

Counties Arkansas County, AR, Desha County, AR, Drew County, AR, Lincoln County, AR

The radar

The Little Rock radar (KLZK), 123 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:51 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 nearest sounding before it

Jackson, MS (KJAN), launched 00:00Z, 3.9 hours before the alert went out and 223 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, Jackson, MS at 00:00Z on 2012-08-10Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1206 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, Jackson, MS at 00:00Z on 2012-08-10The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 160 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
1206 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-81 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
953 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
160 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
239 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.8
Supercell composite
10.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Little Rock, AR wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Aug 9, 6:17 PM CDT, 4 hours 34 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 9, 6:17 PM CDT, 4 hours 34 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
617 PM CDT THU AUG 9 2012

.DISCUSSION...

UPDATED FOR 00Z AVIATION DISCUSSION BELOW...

&&

.AVIATION...

MAINLY VFR CONDITIONS TO PERSIST THROUGH THIS TAF PERIOD. COLD
FRONT MOVING SOUTH INTO THE STATE WILL CAUSE WINDS TO SWITCH FROM
SOUTH/SW TO NORTH OVERNIGHT. SOME ISOLATED SHRA/TSRA WILL CONTINUE
TO BE POSSIBLE AHEAD OF THE FRONT THIS EVENING...WITH BEST
POTENTIAL OVER THE NEXT FEW HRS. OTHERWISE...EXPECT MAINLY DRY
CONDITIONS.

&&

.PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 220 PM CDT THU AUG 9 2012/

DISCUSSION...

MAIN CONCERNS THIS FORECAST CYCLE ARE FIRST PERIOD CHANCES OF
CONVECTION AND ANY THREAT OF SEVERE STORMS. THEN NEAR NORMAL TEMPS
FRIDAY AND INTO THE WEEKEND. THEN THE NEXT CHANCE OF RAIN ON
SUNDAY TO MONDAY WITH THE NEXT FRONTAL BOUNDARY. THE WILD FIRE
DANGER CONTINUES TO BE HIGH TO EXTREME DUE TO OVERALL DROUGHT AND
DRY FUELS.

THIS AFTERNOON...THE SURFACE BOUNDARY HAS MADE LITTLE PROGRESS
SOUTH AND IS NEAR THE AR AND MO STATE LINE...THEN OVER NE OK. A
SURFACE LOW WAS TRYING TO FORM OVER WESTERN AR BUT NOT A STRONG
ONE BY ANY MEASURE. NORTH OF THE BOUNDARY...DRIER AND MORE STABLE
AIR WITH A NW TO NE FLOW...WHILE SOUTH OF THE BOUNDARY...A S TO SW
FLOW WITH DEW POINTS IN THE 60S CENTRAL TO LOWER 70S OVER
SOUTHERN LOCATIONS. TEMPS WERE MOSTLY IN THE 90S. AMOUNT OF LIFT
WITH FRONT AND UPPER SUPPORT REMAINS KEY TO AMOUNT OF CONVECTION
THIS AFTERNOON TO EVENING. JET DYNAMICS ARE MARGINAL WITH MAIN
UPPER DIFFLUENCE PUSHED WELL EAST AND LOW LEVEL JET IS WEAK.

SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT

WILL START THE FORECAST WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE MAINLY OVER NORTHERN
AR...WHILE A CHANCE CENTRAL AND SOUTH THIS EVENING. AFTER CONVECTION
INITIATION WILL HAVE TO FINE TUNE COVERAGE AND AMOUNT WITH
POSSIBLE UPDATE. SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE STORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE
OVER THE AREA DUE TO AVAILABLE MOISTURE AND INSTABILITY...
ESPECIALLY OVER SOUTHERN AR A BIT LATER THIS EVENING. MAIN CONCERN
WILL BE DAMAGING WINDS WITH LESSER HAIL THREAT. AS THE FRONT SAGS
SOUTH TONIGHT...CONVECTION CHANCES GO WITH IT AND POP TREND SHOWS
THIS. ON FRIDAY SOME LINGERING CONVECTION OVER FAR SOUTHERN AR BUT
THIS CONVECTION WILL GRADUALLY DRIFT SOUTH OUT OF AR. A COOLER AND
DRIER AIR MASS THEN FILTERS INTO AR AND LOWERS TEMPS A BIT BELOW
TO AROUND NORMAL VALUES. THE SURFACE RIDGE THEN GRADUALLY MOVES
EAST INTO SUNDAY...WHILE SOME RETURN FLOW COMES BACK TO AR ON
SUNDAY. THEN NEXT CHANCE OF RAIN MATERIALIZES LATE SUNDAY AS THE
WEAK FRONT LIFTS AS A WARM FRONT AND THE NEXT COLD FRONT
APPROACHES FROM THE NW ON MONDAY.

LONG TERM...MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY

MODELS ARE IN A LITTLE LESS AGREEMENT FOR THE LONG TERM PERIOD THAN
HAS BEEN SEEN OVER THE LAST FEW DAYS. NAMELY THE DISAGREEMENT IS IN
HOW LONG THE MODELS HOLD ONTO THE PATTERN CHANGE THAT IS CURRENTLY
UNDER WAY AS THE MEAN RIDGE SHIFTS WESTWARD. THE GFS HOLDS ON TO
THIS PATTERN CHANGE AND BRINGS SEVERAL DISTURBANCES THROUGH THE AREA
IN NW FLOW ALOFT. THE EURO BUILDS THE RIDGE EASTWARD BY LATE TUESDAY
EVENING.

HAVING SAID THAT...TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN AROUND SEASONAL NORMS
THROUGH THE LONG TERM...THOUGH POSSIBLY WARMING TO ABOVE NORMAL
READINGS IF YOU BUY THE EUROPEAN. THOUGH SLIGHT TIMING DIFFERENCES
ARE PRESENT...MOST GUIDANCE AGREES UPON BRINGING AN INITIAL
DISTURBANCE THROUGH ON MONDAY. DID LIMIT RAIN CHANCES TO THE SLIGHT
CHANCE CATEGORY B/C OF TIMING DIFFERENCES THOUGH...THEN LEFT SOME
SLIGHT CHANCES IN THE SOUTHEAST MON NIGHT AS THE DISTURBANCE/FRONT
MOVES OUT OF THE AREA. FOR EACH SUBSEQUENT DAY...HAVE BROAD-BRUSHED
20 POPS IN THE AFTERNOONS AND NO MENTION OF RAIN AT NIGHT. WHETHER
YOU BELIEVE THE GFS OR THE WARMER EURO...SUMMERTIME CONVECTION WOULD
BE POSSIBLE ANY AFTERNOON AND LIKELY DIE OFF AFTER SUNSET.

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
BATESVILLE AR     68  87  62  88 /  30  10  10   0
CAMDEN AR         73  93  66  92 /  30  20  10   0
HARRISON AR       64  84  59  86 /  20   0   0   0
HOT SPRINGS AR    73  91  63  91 /  30  10  10   0
LITTLE ROCK   AR  73  90  66  89 /  30  10  10   0
MONTICELLO AR     74  92  66  90 /  40  20  10   0
MOUNT IDA AR      69  90  63  91 /  30  10  10   0
MOUNTAIN HOME AR  65  85  60  87 /  20  10   0   0
NEWPORT AR        69  87  64  87 /  30  10  10   0
PINE BLUFF AR     73  91  66  89 /  40  20  10   0
RUSSELLVILLE AR   69  90  64  90 /  30  10  10   0
SEARCY AR         70  88  64  87 /  30  10  10   0
STUTTGART AR      71  88  66  87 /  30  10  10   0
&&

.LZK WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE.
&&

AVIATION...62
Hazardous weather outlook, Aug 9, 5:00 AM CDT, 17 hours 51 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
500 AM CDT THU AUG 9 2012

ARZ003>007-012>016-021>025-030>034-037>047-052>057-062>069-101000-
ARKANSAS-BAXTER-BOONE-BRADLEY-CALHOUN-CLARK-CLEBURNE-CLEVELAND-
CONWAY-DALLAS-DESHA-DREW-FAULKNER-FULTON-GARLAND-GRANT-HOT SPRING-
INDEPENDENCE-IZARD-JACKSON-JEFFERSON-JOHNSON-LINCOLN-LOGAN-LONOKE-
MARION-MONROE-MONTGOMERY-NEWTON-OUACHITA-PERRY-PIKE-POLK-POPE-
PRAIRIE-PULASKI-SALINE-SCOTT-SEARCY-SHARP-STONE-VAN BUREN-WHITE-
WOODRUFF-YELL-
500 AM CDT THU AUG 9 2012

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR A LARGE PART OF ARKANSAS.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE TODAY AS A COLD
FRONT MOVES INTO THE STATE. SOME OF THE STORMS COULD BECOME STRONG
TO SEVERE DURING THE AFTERNOON HOURS...WITH DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE
HAIL THE MAIN CONCERNS.

EVEN THOUGH THE FRONT WILL BRING RAINFALL TO SOME LOCATIONS...
WIDESPREAD RAINFALL IS NOT EXPECTED...AND FIRE DANGER WILL REMAIN
EXTREME.

FIRE DANGER REMAINS EXTREME ACROSS MUCH OF THE STATE DUE TO THE
ONGOING DROUGHT CONDITIONS. BURN BANS ARE IN PLACE IN MANY COUNTIES
OF ARKANSAS...AND ANY UNCONTROLLED OR ACCIDENTAL FIRE COULD QUICKLY
GROW OUT OF CONTROL.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY

COOLER AND DRIER AIR WILL MOVE INTO THE REGION FRIDAY...AND REMAIN
THROUGH THE WEEKEND. THE NEXT CHANCE FOR RAIN WILL BE EARLY NEXT
WEEK...AS ANOTHER DISTURBANCE MOVES INTO THE REGION.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED.

&&

VISIT NWS LITTLE ROCK ON THE WEB. GO TO HTTP://WEATHER.GOV AND
CLICK ON CENTRAL ARKANSAS.

58

In the hours before

Local storm report, Aug 9, 6:16 PM CDT, 4 hours 35 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
616 PM CDT THU AUG 09 2012

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0550 PM     TSTM WND DMG     ARKADELPHIA             34.12N 93.07W
08/09/2012                   CLARK              AR   UTILITY COMPANY

            TREE LIMBS WERE BLOWN DOWN ONTO A POWER LINE...WHICH
            CAUSED AN OUTAGE.

&&

57
Local storm report, Aug 9, 8:35 PM CDT, 2 hours 16 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
835 PM CDT THU AUG 09 2012

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0832 PM     TSTM WND GST     1 NE MONTICELLO         33.63N 91.78W
08/09/2012  M63 MPH          DREW               AR   OFFICIAL NWS OBS

            THE MONTICELLO MUNICPAL AIRPORT REPORTED A GUST OF 63
            MILES PER HOUR.

&&

MCLAY
Local storm report, Aug 9, 8:43 PM CDT, 2 hours 8 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
843 PM CDT THU AUG 09 2012

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0806 PM     TSTM WND DMG     COLEMAN                 33.77N 91.75W
08/09/2012                   DREW               AR   LAW ENFORCEMENT

            TREES WERE BLOWN DOWN.

&&

57
Local storm report, Aug 9, 9:14 PM CDT, 1 hour 37 minutes before
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Special weather statement, Aug 9, 10:43 PM CDT, 8 minutes before
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Local storm report, Aug 9, 10:44 PM CDT, 7 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
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The office that day

Everything else NWS Little Rock, AR issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 9, 7:57 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKDrew, Lincoln33 min
Aug 9, 8:27 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKDrew33 min
Aug 9, 8:55 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKDrew21 min
Aug 9, 9:05 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKDrew10 min
Aug 9, 10:43 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementLZKLincoln32 min
Aug 9, 11:31 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementLZKDrew44 min
Aug 9, 11:36 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementLZKLincoln44 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Arkansas, 2012Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2012

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.