Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Watches in 2015
Tornado Watch 151
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 9, 2015, 2:40 PM CDT for 19 counties in Arkansas; McCurtain County, Oklahoma; 7 counties in Texas. It was in force for 7 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- May 9, 2015, 2:40 PM CDT (19:40 UTC)
- Expired
- May 9, 2015, 10:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 7 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 2 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
All 27 counties
Bradley County, AR, Calhoun County, AR, Clark County, AR, Cleveland County, AR, Columbia County, AR, Dallas County, AR, Grant County, AR, Hempstead County, AR, Hot Spring County, AR, Howard County, AR, Jefferson County, AR, Lafayette County, AR, Lincoln County, AR, Little River County, AR, Miller County, AR, Nevada County, AR, Ouachita County, AR, Pike County, AR, Sevier County, AR, McCurtain County, OK, Bowie County, TX, Camp County, TX, Cass County, TX, Franklin County, TX, Morris County, TX, Red River County, TX, Titus County, TX
The radar
The Shreveport radar (KSHV), 165 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:41 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
- 30%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 20%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 50%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 5%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 30%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 30%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 70%
Warnings issued inside it
21 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 9, 3:03 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | SHV | Howard | 117 min |
| May 9, 3:15 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | SHV | Howard, Little River, Sevier | 3 hr |
| May 9, 3:27 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Pike | 63 min |
| May 9, 3:29 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | SHV | Hempstead, Howard, Sevier | 46 min |
| May 9, 4:34 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Clark, Garland, Hot Spring, Montgomery | 26 min |
| May 9, 4:47 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | LZK | Clark, Garland, Hot Spring, Montgomery, Pike, Scott and 1 more | 3 hr |
| May 9, 5:11 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | SHV | Bowie, Cass, Morris | 64 min |
| May 9, 5:22 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | SHV | Franklin, Red River, Titus | 38 min |
| May 9, 5:30 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | SHV | Franklin, Morris, Red River, Titus | 45 min |
| May 9, 5:33 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | SHV | Bowie | 42 min |
| May 9, 6:12 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | SHV | Little River | 63 min |
| May 9, 6:12 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | SHV | McCurtain | 63 min |
| May 9, 6:16 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | SHV | Franklin, Red River, Titus | 34 min |
| May 9, 6:17 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | SHV | Little River | 43 min |
| May 9, 6:24 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Dallas, Grant, Hot Spring, Jefferson, Pulaski, Saline | 51 min |
| May 9, 6:58 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | SHV | Hempstead, Little River, Miller | 47 min |
| May 9, 7:14 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | SHV | Little River, Sevier | 61 min |
| May 9, 7:16 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | SHV | Little River, Sevier | 44 min |
| May 9, 7:25 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | SHV | Hempstead, Little River, Miller | 50 min |
| May 9, 7:47 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | SHV | Hempstead, Howard, Little River, Miller, Sevier | 43 min |
| May 9, 8:10 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | SHV | Columbia, Lafayette, Nevada | 50 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
Shreveport, LA (KBAD), launched 12:00Z, 7.7 hours before the alert went out and 167 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
- 1263 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -13 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 612 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 30 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 130 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 156 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.5
- Supercell composite
- 4.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
668 WWUS20 KWNS 091937 SEL1 SPC WW 091937 ARZ000-OKZ000-TXZ000-100300- URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 151 NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 240 PM CDT SAT MAY 9 2015 THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS FAR SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA NORTHEAST TEXAS * EFFECTIVE THIS SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 240 PM UNTIL 1000 PM CDT. * PRIMARY THREATS INCLUDE... A COUPLE TORNADOES POSSIBLE SCATTERED DAMAGING WIND GUSTS TO 70 MPH POSSIBLE ISOLATED VERY LARGE HAIL EVENTS TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER POSSIBLE SUMMARY...BROKEN SQUALL LINE WITH EMBEDDED SUSTAINED STORMS/SUPERCELLS EXPECTED TO MOVE GENERALLY EAST INTO WATCH AREA THROUGH MID-EVENING...WITH A RISK FOR ISOLATED TORNADOES...SEVERE HAIL...AND LOCALLY DAMAGING WIND. THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 110 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 35 MILES NORTHEAST OF DE QUEEN ARKANSAS TO 65 MILES SOUTHWEST OF TEXARKANA ARKANSAS. FOR A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU1). PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... 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 149...WW 150... AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 25030. ...CORFIDI
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 8, 10:43 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Clark, Garland, Hempstead, Howard, Lafayette, Little River and 8 more | 92 min |
| May 9, 9:41 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Howard, Little River, Polk, Sevier | 2 hr |
| May 9, 1:58 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Clark, Conway, Faulkner, Franklin, Garland, Hempstead and 20 more | 92 min |
| May 9, 5:06 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Arkansas, Bradley, Calhoun, Clark, Cleveland, Columbia and 18 more | 54 min |
| May 9, 5:52 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Clark, Columbia, Hempstead, Lafayette, Little River, Miller and 2 more | 83 min |
| May 8, 7:27 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Atoka, Bryan, Carter, Choctaw, Coal, Creek and 18 more | 6 hr |
| May 9, 3:11 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Beaver, Cimarron, Texas | 8 hr |
| May 9, 4:03 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Comanche, Cotton, Greer, Harmon, Jackson, Kiowa and 1 more | 57 min |
| May 9, 5:51 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Beaver, Beckham, Blaine, Cimarron, Comanche, Custer and 14 more | 84 min |
| May 9, 7:36 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Alfalfa, Beckham, Blaine, Caddo, Canadian, Cleveland and 22 more | 6 hr |
| May 9, 11:36 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alfalfa, Blaine, Caddo, Comanche, Cotton, Greer and 7 more | 84 min |
| May 9, 1:21 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Atoka, Bryan, Caddo, Canadian, Carter, Cleveland and 23 more | 10 hr |
| May 9, 3:32 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bryan, Carter, Coal, Cotton, Garvin, Hughes and 10 more | 118 min |
| May 9, 4:52 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Beckham, Greer, Harmon, Roger Mills | 83 min |
| May 8, 8:42 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Andrews, Borden, Callahan, Coke, Coleman, Concho and 28 more | 2 hr |
| May 8, 10:48 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Andrews, Borden, Callahan, Coke, Crane, Crockett and 26 more | 87 min |
| May 9, 2:34 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Andrews, Bailey, Castro, Cochran, Dallam, Dawson and 14 more | 116 min |
| May 9, 6:21 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Brown, Coleman, Comanche, Eastland, Erath, Hood and 6 more | 84 min |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Arkansas, 2015Tornado Watches in Texas, 2015Tornado Watches in Oklahoma, 2015Every tornado watch in 2015
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.