Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Watches in 2019

Tornado Watch 121

May 2, 201914 counties in Arkansas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 2, 2019, 2:13 PM CDT for 14 counties in Arkansas. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 2, 2019, 2:13 PM CDT (19:13 UTC)
Expired
May 2, 2019, 7:00 PM CDT
In force
5 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
1.5 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt

Counties Clay County, AR, Cleburne County, AR, Craighead County, AR, Cross County, AR, Greene County, AR, Independence County, AR, Jackson County, AR, Lawrence County, AR, Poinsett County, AR, Prairie County, AR, Randolph County, AR, Sharp County, AR, White County, AR, Woodruff County, AR

The radar

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 127 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:14 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
40%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
10%
Ten or more severe wind reports
40%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
20%
Ten or more severe hail reports
40%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
20%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
70%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 2, 2:36 PM CDTTornado WarningLZKJackson, Lawrence39 min
May 2, 2:43 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningLZKJackson, Prairie, White, Woodruff3 hr
May 2, 3:32 PM CDTTornado WarningLZKJackson43 min
May 2, 3:40 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningLZKIndependence, Jackson, Woodruff3 hr
May 2, 4:06 PM CDTTornado WarningLZKJackson24 min
May 2, 4:11 PM CDTTornado WarningMEGClay, Greene34 min
May 2, 5:54 PM CDTTornado WarningMEGClay, Greene36 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

Little Rock, AR (KBYH), launched 12:00Z, 7.2 hours before the alert went out and 149 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, Little Rock, AR at 12:00Z on 2019-05-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 18 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, Little Rock, AR at 12:00Z on 2019-05-02The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 24 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
18 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-199 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
888 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
24 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
10 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 1, 8:11 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCClark, Columbia, Hempstead, Howard, Lafayette, Little River and 8 more2 hr
May 1, 9:40 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCColumbia, Hempstead, Howard, Lafayette, Little River, Miller and 3 more7 hr
May 1, 11:37 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCClark, Columbia, Garland, Hempstead, Hot Spring, Howard and 11 more113 min
May 2, 1:47 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCClay, Craighead, Cross, Faulkner, Greene, Independence and 8 more118 min
May 2, 4:36 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCClay, Mississippi54 min
May 2, 4:49 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCMississippi5 hr
May 2, 6:37 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCMississippi83 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Arkansas, 2019Every tornado watch in 2019

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.