Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Watches in 2025
Tornado Watch 303
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 20, 2025, 1:09 PM CDT for 5 states. It was in force for 8 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- May 20, 2025, 1:09 PM CDT (18:09 UTC)
- Expired
- May 20, 2025, 8:45 PM CDT
- In force
- 8 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 2.5 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
All 110 counties
Arkansas County, AR, Ashley County, AR, Bradley County, AR, Calhoun County, AR, Chicot County, AR, Clay County, AR, Cleburne County, AR, Cleveland County, AR, Craighead County, AR, Crittenden County, AR, Cross County, AR, Dallas County, AR, Desha County, AR, Drew County, AR, Faulkner County, AR, Grant County, AR, Greene County, AR, Independence County, AR, Jackson County, AR, Jefferson County, AR, Lawrence County, AR, Lee County, AR, Lincoln County, AR, Lonoke County, AR, Mississippi County, AR, Monroe County, AR, Ouachita County, AR, Phillips County, AR, Poinsett County, AR, Prairie County, AR, Pulaski County, AR, Randolph County, AR, Sharp County, AR, St. Francis County, AR, White County, AR, Woodruff County, AR, Ballard County, KY, Calloway County, KY, Carlisle County, KY, Fulton County, KY, Graves County, KY, Hickman County, KY, Livingston County, KY, Marshall County, KY, McCracken County, KY, Bollinger County, MO, Butler County, MO, Cape Girardeau County, MO, Carter County, MO, Dunklin County, MO, Mississippi County, MO, New Madrid County, MO, Pemiscot County, MO, Ripley County, MO, Scott County, MO, Stoddard County, MO, Wayne County, MO, Alcorn County, MS, Benton County, MS, Bolivar County, MS, Calhoun County, MS, Carroll County, MS, Chickasaw County, MS, Coahoma County, MS, DeSoto County, MS, Grenada County, MS, Holmes County, MS, Humphreys County, MS, Itawamba County, MS, Lafayette County, MS, Lee County, MS, Leflore County, MS, Marshall County, MS, Monroe County, MS, Montgomery County, MS, Panola County, MS, Pontotoc County, MS, Prentiss County, MS, Quitman County, MS, Sunflower County, MS, Tallahatchie County, MS, Tate County, MS, Tippah County, MS, Tishomingo County, MS, Tunica County, MS, Union County, MS, Washington County, MS, Webster County, MS, Yalobusha County, MS, Benton County, TN, Carroll County, TN, Chester County, TN, Crockett County, TN, Decatur County, TN, Dyer County, TN, Fayette County, TN, Gibson County, TN, Hardeman County, TN, Hardin County, TN, Haywood County, TN, Henderson County, TN, Henry County, TN, Lake County, TN, Lauderdale County, TN, Madison County, TN, McNairy County, TN, Obion County, TN, Shelby County, TN, Tipton County, TN, Weakley County, TN
The radar
The Memphis radar (KNQA), 20 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:09 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
- 60%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 40%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 60%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 20%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 70%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 60%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 95%
Warnings issued inside it
72 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 20, 1:23 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Grant, Jefferson, Lonoke, Pulaski | 39 min |
| May 20, 1:53 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Arkansas, Jefferson, Lonoke, Monroe, Prairie | 52 min |
| May 20, 1:58 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Lonoke, Monroe, Prairie | 22 min |
| May 20, 2:05 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PAH | Butler, Carter, Ripley, Wayne | 40 min |
| May 20, 2:08 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PAH | Mississippi, New Madrid, Scott, Stoddard | 52 min |
| May 20, 2:16 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Arkansas, Jefferson | 44 min |
| May 20, 2:20 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Benton, Lafayette, Marshall, Union | 40 min |
| May 20, 2:25 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Mississippi, Poinsett | 50 min |
| May 20, 2:26 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Benton, Carroll, Decatur, Henderson | 49 min |
| May 20, 2:31 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Crittenden, Cross, Poinsett, St. Francis | 44 min |
| May 20, 2:32 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Cleveland, Jefferson, Lincoln | 43 min |
| May 20, 2:37 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Arkansas, Monroe | 53 min |
| May 20, 2:39 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PAH | Ballard, Carlisle, Fulton, Hickman | 51 min |
| May 20, 2:40 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Benton, Decatur, Henderson | 35 min |
| May 20, 2:47 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MEG | Crittenden, Cross, Mississippi, St. Francis | 27 min |
| May 20, 2:49 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Cleveland, Desha, Drew, Lincoln | 41 min |
| May 20, 2:50 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Arkansas, Jefferson, Monroe | 40 min |
| May 20, 2:54 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Benton, Tippah, Union | 18 min |
| May 20, 2:57 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Crittenden, Mississippi, Poinsett | 18 min |
| May 20, 3:00 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Lee, Phillips | 45 min |
| May 20, 3:01 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PAH | Ballard, Carlisle, McCracken | 44 min |
| May 20, 3:04 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Carroll, Crockett, Gibson, Haywood, Henderson, Madison | 41 min |
| May 20, 3:05 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Lake, Obion, Weakley | 40 min |
| May 20, 3:08 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Bradley, Calhoun | 37 min |
| May 20, 3:10 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MEG | Carroll, Gibson, Henderson, Madison | 50 min |
| May 20, 3:11 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Crittenden, Mississippi, Poinsett | 49 min |
| May 20, 3:13 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Crittenden, Cross, Mississippi | 47 min |
| May 20, 3:16 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Phillips | 44 min |
| May 20, 3:27 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Arkansas, Desha, Drew, Lincoln | 36 min |
| May 20, 3:30 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Cleveland, Desha, Drew, Lincoln | 33 min |
| May 20, 3:31 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Arkansas, Monroe | 14 min |
| May 20, 3:34 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAN | Ashley | 56 min |
| May 20, 3:34 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PAH | Caldwell, Carlisle, Crittenden, Graves, Hopkins, Livingston and 4 more | 41 min |
| May 20, 3:37 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | PAH | McCracken | 50 min |
| May 20, 3:40 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Bradley, Drew | 32 min |
| May 20, 3:42 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Henry, Obion, Weakley | 48 min |
| May 20, 3:44 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Phillips | 46 min |
| May 20, 3:49 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Alcorn, Prentiss, Tishomingo | 41 min |
| May 20, 3:50 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PAH | Calloway, Graves, Hickman, Marshall | 40 min |
| May 20, 3:52 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Fayette, Haywood, Shelby, Tipton | 38 min |
| May 20, 3:55 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MEG | Alcorn, Prentiss, Tishomingo | 32 min |
| May 20, 3:57 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | PAH | Calloway, Graves, Marshall | 12 min |
| May 20, 3:58 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Benton, Carroll, Henderson, Henry | 47 min |
| May 20, 4:01 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | PAH | Caldwell, Crittenden, Livingston, Lyon | 16 min |
| May 20, 4:09 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MEG | Benton, Carroll, Henderson | 51 min |
| May 20, 4:10 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | JAN | Ashley, Chicot | 19 min |
| May 20, 4:10 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Benton, Henry, Weakley | 50 min |
| May 20, 4:16 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAN | Ashley | 74 min |
| May 20, 4:16 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Carroll, Crockett, Gibson, Haywood, Henderson, Henry and 2 more | 44 min |
| May 20, 4:18 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PAH | Calloway, Marshall, Trigg | 42 min |
| May 20, 4:21 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | PAH | Calloway | 13 min |
| May 20, 4:26 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Coahoma, Panola, Quitman, Tate, Tunica | 49 min |
| May 20, 4:29 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Fayette, Hardeman, Haywood, Madison | 31 min |
| May 20, 4:34 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAN | Chicot | 71 min |
| May 20, 4:53 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Benton, Carroll, Chester, Decatur, Henderson, Henry and 1 more | 52 min |
| May 20, 4:57 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAN | Bolivar, Sunflower | 63 min |
| May 20, 5:03 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | JAN | Chicot | 57 min |
| May 20, 5:20 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Lafayette, Marshall, Panola | 40 min |
| May 20, 5:34 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MEG | Lafayette, Panola, Tallahatchie, Yalobusha | 41 min |
| May 20, 5:37 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | JAN | Humphreys, Sharkey, Washington | 53 min |
| May 20, 5:41 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Lafayette | 19 min |
| May 20, 5:51 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAN | Carroll, Grenada, Leflore, Sunflower | 54 min |
| May 20, 5:52 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Lafayette, Pontotoc, Union | 53 min |
| May 20, 5:52 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Tallahatchie | 36 min |
| May 20, 6:02 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MEG | Lafayette, Pontotoc, Union | 20 min |
| May 20, 6:10 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Calhoun, Lafayette, Pontotoc, Yalobusha | 50 min |
| May 20, 6:26 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAN | Holmes, Humphreys, Sharkey, Yazoo | 79 min |
| May 20, 6:27 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MEG | Calhoun, Lafayette, Pontotoc | 18 min |
| May 20, 6:39 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAN | Carroll, Grenada, Montgomery | 51 min |
| May 20, 7:21 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAN | Humphreys, Issaquena, Sharkey, Yazoo | 54 min |
| May 20, 7:34 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAN | Attala, Holmes, Leake, Madison | 32 min |
| May 20, 7:39 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Itawamba, Lee, Monroe | 51 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 (KLZK), launched 12:00Z, 6.2 hours before the alert went out and 71 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
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1276 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 59 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 94 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 106 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 19, 8:04 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Boone, Carroll, Crawford, Franklin, Johnson, Logan and 6 more | 86 min |
| May 19, 10:42 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Baxter, Clay, Cleburne, Conway, Craighead, Cross and 26 more | 2 hr |
| May 20, 12:00 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Sebastian | 3 hr |
| May 20, 1:21 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Calhoun, Clark, Columbia, Dallas, Garland, Grant and 19 more | 54 min |
| May 20, 1:57 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Arkansas, Clark, Cleburne, Cleveland, Columbia, Conway and 33 more | 5 hr |
| May 20, 4:21 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Arkansas, Clark, Cleburne, Cleveland, Columbia, Conway and 26 more | 54 min |
| May 20, 12:34 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Arkansas, Ashley, Bradley, Calhoun, Chicot, Clay and 29 more | 116 min |
| May 20, 3:13 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Union | 6 hr |
| May 20, 3:33 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Arkansas, Ashley, Chicot, Crittenden, Desha, Drew and 4 more | 117 min |
| May 19, 7:02 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Logan, Simpson, Todd | 88 min |
| May 20, 1:07 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Ballard, Caldwell, Carlisle, Christian, Crittenden, Daviess and 16 more | 83 min |
| May 20, 2:15 AM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Ballard, Caldwell, Carlisle, Crittenden, Daviess, Hancock and 11 more | 4 hr |
| May 20, 10:19 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adair, Allen, Anderson, Barren, Bath, Bell and 46 more | 2 hr |
| May 20, 12:10 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Bath, Bell, Bourbon, Boyd, Breathitt, Carter and 39 more | 5 hr |
| May 20, 1:48 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Allen, Barren, Butler, Christian, Edmonson, Logan and 5 more | 117 min |
| May 20, 2:36 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Adair, Allen, Barren, Breckinridge, Butler, Caldwell and 30 more | 8 hr |
| May 20, 2:42 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Floyd, Harlan, Johnson, Knott, Lawrence, Letcher and 3 more | 2 hr |
| May 20, 5:13 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bell, Boyle, Breathitt, Clark, Clay, Estill and 25 more | 62 min |
| May 20, 6:27 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Bell, Breathitt, Clay, Estill, Harlan, Jackson and 15 more | 6 hr |
| May 20, 5:08 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Attala, Carroll, Choctaw, Claiborne, Clarke, Clay and 27 more | 2 hr |
| May 20, 5:38 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Calhoun, Carroll, Grenada, Holmes, Humphreys, Lafayette and 7 more | 97 min |
| May 20, 5:50 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Adams, Attala, Carroll, Choctaw, Claiborne, Clay and 27 more | 5 hr |
| May 19, 7:36 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Audrain, Bollinger, Boone, Butler, Callaway, Camden and 39 more | 2 hr |
| May 19, 8:26 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Audrain, Barry, Bollinger, Boone, Butler, Callaway and 52 more | 7 hr |
| May 19, 8:58 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adair, Andrew, Buchanan, Caldwell, Carroll, Chariton and 22 more | 2 hr |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Arkansas, 2025Tornado Watches in Mississippi, 2025Tornado Watches in Tennessee, 2025Every tornado watch 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.