Alert archive / Arkansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2025

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 247, NWS Memphis, TN

May 16, 2025Clay County, Arkansas

NWS Memphis, TN issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 16, 2025, 6:41 PM CDT for Clay County, Arkansas. It was in force for 64 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: May 16, 2025, 6:41 PM CDT (23:41 UTC)
Expired: May 16, 2025, 7:45 PM CDT
In force: 64 min
Issued by: NWS Memphis, TN
Area: Storm-based polygon
Tornado: Possible
Hail: 1.25 in
Wind: 60.0 mph

County Clay County, AR

The radar

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 124 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:41 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 12:00Z, 11.7 hours before the alert went out and 176 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: 2582 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -44 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 697 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 65 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 189 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 329 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 4.2
Supercell composite: 17.2

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 Memphis, TN wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 16, 2:13 PM CDT, 4 hours 28 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 16, 2:13 PM CDT, 4 hours 28 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.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 16, 5:40 PM CDT, 1 hour 1 minute before

Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Memphis TN
540 PM CDT Fri May 16 2025

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

0926 AM     Tstm Wnd Dmg     1 ESE Routon            36.23N 88.37W
05/16/2025                   Henry              TN   911 Call Center

            Tree down across Van Dyke Road at Routon
            Lane.

&&

MJ

Local storm report, May 16, 5:42 PM CDT, 59 minutes before

Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Memphis TN
542 PM CDT Fri May 16 2025

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

0923 AM     Tstm Wnd Dmg     2 WNW Routon            36.25N 88.42W
05/16/2025                   Henry              TN   911 Call Center

            Trees down at Palestine Road and Herrondale
            East Road.

&&

MJ

Local storm report, May 16, 6:04 PM CDT, 37 minutes before

Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Memphis TN
604 PM CDT Fri May 16 2025

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

0822 AM     Tstm Wnd Gst     5 E Blytheville         35.94N 89.83W
05/16/2025  M60 MPH          Mississippi        AR   ASOS

            Corrects previous tstm wnd gst report from 2
            ESE Gosnell. Blytheville ASOS 5 minute
            observation recorded a 60 mph wind gust.

&&

MJ

The office that day

Everything else NWS Memphis, TN issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 16, 7:24 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Lake, Obion	51 min
May 16, 7:51 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Dyer, Lauderdale	39 min
May 16, 7:56 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Dyer, Lauderdale, Tipton	49 min
May 16, 8:15 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Dyer, Gibson, Henry, Lake, Obion, Weakley	60 min
May 16, 9:08 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Benton, Carroll, Gibson, Henry, Obion, Weakley	33 min
May 16, 3:59 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Clay	46 min
May 16, 4:37 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	MEG	Clay	38 min
May 16, 5:27 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Clay, Craighead, Greene	63 min
May 16, 6:21 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Clay	24 min
May 16, 6:25 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Clay, Greene	50 min
May 16, 7:18 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Craighead, Cross, Greene, Mississippi, Poinsett	42 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Arkansas, 2025 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2025

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.