Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Watches in 2026

Tornado Watch 170

April 28, 202646 counties in Arkansas; 8 counties in Oklahoma; 12 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 28, 2026, 10:45 AM CDT for 46 counties in Arkansas; 8 counties in Oklahoma; 12 counties in Texas. It was in force for 8 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Apr 28, 2026, 10:45 AM CDT (15:45 UTC)
Expired: Apr 28, 2026, 7:00 PM CDT
In force: 8 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 3 in
Strongest gust expected: 65 kt

All 66 counties

Arkansas County, AR, Ashley County, AR, Bradley County, AR, Calhoun County, AR, Chicot County, AR, Clark County, AR, Cleveland County, AR, Columbia County, AR, Conway County, AR, Crawford County, AR, Dallas County, AR, Desha County, AR, Drew County, AR, Faulkner County, AR, Franklin County, AR, Garland County, AR, Grant County, AR, Hempstead County, AR, Hot Spring County, AR, Howard County, AR, Jefferson County, AR, Johnson County, AR, Lafayette County, AR, Lincoln County, AR, Little River County, AR, Logan County, AR, Lonoke County, AR, Miller County, AR, Monroe County, AR, Montgomery County, AR, Nevada County, AR, Ouachita County, AR, Perry County, AR, Pike County, AR, Polk County, AR, Pope County, AR, Prairie County, AR, Pulaski County, AR, Saline County, AR, Scott County, AR, Sebastian County, AR, Sevier County, AR, Union County, AR, White County, AR, Woodruff County, AR, Yell County, AR, Choctaw County, OK, Haskell County, OK, Latimer County, OK, LeFlore County, OK, McCurtain County, OK, Pittsburg County, OK, Pushmataha County, OK, Sequoyah County, OK, Bowie County, TX, Camp County, TX, Cass County, TX, Franklin County, TX, Gregg County, TX, Harrison County, TX, Marion County, TX, Morris County, TX, Red River County, TX, Titus County, TX, Upshur County, TX, Wood County, TX

The radar

The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 114 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 15:47 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: 50%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes: 40%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 70%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 60%
Ten or more severe hail reports: 70%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more: 50%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 95%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 28, 11:32 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	McCurtain	58 min
Apr 28, 12:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Montgomery, Polk, Scott	27 min
Apr 28, 12:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Johnson, Logan, Pope	52 min
Apr 28, 12:53 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Clark, Hot Spring, Montgomery, Pike	36 min
Apr 28, 1:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Lonoke, Monroe, Prairie, White, Woodruff	62 min
Apr 28, 2:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Faulkner, Lonoke, Pulaski	27 min
Apr 28, 3:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	McIntosh, Okfuskee, Okmulgee, Pittsburg	27 min
Apr 28, 3:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Arkansas, Desha, Jefferson, Lincoln	27 min
Apr 28, 3:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	TSA	Choctaw, Pushmataha	39 min
Apr 28, 4:05 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Choctaw, Pushmataha	25 min
Apr 28, 4:22 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	TSA	Choctaw, Pushmataha	38 min
Apr 28, 4:25 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Choctaw, Pushmataha	50 min
Apr 28, 4:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Haskell, Latimer, LeFlore	48 min
Apr 28, 4:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Haskell, Latimer, Pittsburg	45 min
Apr 28, 4:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Sebastian	41 min
Apr 28, 4:54 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	TSA	Choctaw, Pushmataha	51 min
Apr 28, 4:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	McCurtain	64 min
Apr 28, 4:58 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Choctaw, Pushmataha	47 min
Apr 28, 5:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	TSA	Haskell, Latimer, LeFlore	45 min
Apr 28, 5:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	TSA	Sebastian	44 min
Apr 28, 5:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Franklin, Sebastian	45 min
Apr 28, 5:19 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SHV	McCurtain	56 min
Apr 28, 5:22 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	TSA	Crawford, Franklin, Madison, Washington	38 min
Apr 28, 5:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Logan, Scott	38 min
Apr 28, 5:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Howard, Sevier	38 min
Apr 28, 5:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Johnson, Newton, Pope, Searcy	47 min
Apr 28, 5:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Polk	46 min
Apr 28, 5:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Sebastian	15 min
Apr 28, 5:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Little River, Sevier	27 min
Apr 28, 5:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	TSA	Franklin, Madison	18 min
Apr 28, 6:03 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SHV	Howard, Sevier	42 min
Apr 28, 6:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Little River, Sevier	4 min
Apr 28, 6:17 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SHV	Little River, Sevier	43 min
Apr 28, 6:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Johnson, Newton, Pope, Searcy	38 min
Apr 28, 6:28 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SHV	Howard, Sevier	28 min
Apr 28, 6:39 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LZK	Scott, Yell	14 min
Apr 28, 6:42 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SHV	Hempstead, Howard, Sevier	48 min
Apr 28, 6:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Cleburne, Conway, Faulkner, Pope, Van Buren	39 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

Springfield, MO (KSGF), launched 12:00Z, 3.8 hours before the alert went out and 278 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1333 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 54 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 29 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 180 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.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 27, 7:23 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Baxter, Boone, Cleburne, Conway, Faulkner, Fulton and 17 more	2 hr
Apr 27, 8:10 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Clay, Fulton, Randolph	2 hr
Apr 27, 8:23 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Baxter, Boone, Cleburne, Conway, Faulkner, Fulton and 28 more	6 hr
Apr 27, 9:48 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Clay, Craighead, Crittenden, Cross, Greene, Lee and 4 more	7 hr
Apr 27, 10:09 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Clay, Cleburne, Craighead, Greene, Independence, Jackson and 8 more	2 hr
Apr 27, 10:46 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Cleburne, Independence, Jackson, Stone	59 min
Apr 28, 1:00 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Crittenden, Cross, Jackson, Mississippi, Poinsett, Woodruff	2 hr
Apr 28, 9:33 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bradley, Calhoun, Clark, Cleveland, Columbia, Dallas and 20 more	117 min
Apr 28, 10:01 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Baxter, Benton, Boone, Carroll, Crawford, Fulton and 7 more	119 min
Apr 28, 10:15 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Baxter, Benton, Boone, Carroll, Cleburne, Fulton and 13 more	9 hr
Apr 28, 1:08 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Baxter, Benton, Boone, Carroll, Cleburne, Fulton and 11 more	2 hr
Apr 28, 1:40 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Ashley, Chicot	65 min
Apr 28, 1:54 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Ashley, Chicot	8 hr
Apr 28, 2:18 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Craighead, Crittenden, Cross, Lee, Mississippi, Phillips and 2 more	57 min
Apr 28, 2:32 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Clay, Craighead, Crittenden, Cross, Greene, Lee and 4 more	7 hr
Apr 28, 3:18 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Arkansas, Ashley, Bradley, Calhoun, Chicot, Clark and 37 more	117 min
Apr 28, 4:18 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Baxter, Benton, Boone, Carroll, Clay, Fulton and 8 more	87 min
Apr 28, 5:26 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Clay	94 min
Apr 28, 5:45 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Arkansas, Baxter, Boone, Bradley, Calhoun, Clark and 50 more	7 hr
Apr 28, 5:52 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Baxter, Boone, Clark, Conway, Franklin, Garland and 20 more	113 min
Apr 28, 4:49 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Caddo, Carter, Cleveland, Comanche, Cotton, Garvin and 10 more	3 hr
Apr 28, 5:31 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Atoka, Bryan, Carter, Cleveland, Coal, Comanche and 16 more	6 hr
Apr 28, 7:46 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Atoka, Bryan, Carter, Coal, Cotton, Garvin and 8 more	119 min
Apr 28, 12:07 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Jefferson, Love, Marshall	113 min
Apr 28, 1:09 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Atoka, Bryan, Carter, Coal, Garvin, Hughes and 8 more	9 hr
Apr 28, 2:26 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Atoka, Bryan, Carter, Choctaw, Coal, Jefferson and 5 more	94 min
Apr 27, 8:35 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Camp, Collin, Dallas, Delta, Franklin, Hopkins and 10 more	115 min
Apr 28, 4:50 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Collin, Dallas, Denton, Hood, Palo Pinto, Parker and 2 more	85 min
Apr 28, 6:44 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Val Verde	2 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Arkansas, 2026 Tornado Watches in Texas, 2026 Tornado Watches in Oklahoma, 2026 Every tornado watch in 2026

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.